Machine Polishing

[Prince]

Does anyone on here machine polish their cars? What equipment can you recommend? What sort of finish does it give versus hand polishing?

 

[obi_waynne]

It lets you do a lot more and get a much better finish in next to no time at all!

Even with careful hand polishing (not waxing) you end up with streaks and smear marks in the paint. These are eliminated by a machine polisher.

You also have to be careful not to use too much polish and cut right through the paintwork.

When it comes to waxing I think you get a better finish with a machine and a whole car takes a fraction of the time it does by hand.

Don't get a cheap one though they burn out really quickly!

 

[Big Fat Fatty]

and always keep the mop or polishing head wet incase it overheats and leaves a dark burn mark in the paintwork,

if your unsure about it try to find someone who does it regularly and just watch them to pick up tips, (I'm thinking bodyshops or fibreglass manufacturers)

 

[Prince]

I'm thinking about giving it ago in the summer to get rid of swirl marks and bring out some of the original paint.

 

[thexav]

Go for it. I had a cheapo halfords one, it was fairly low speed but the car came up looking great. You need to do a sweeping motion in an arc for the best effect.

 

[MasterAuron]

Finish and correction ability over a large area isn't even comparable to applying by hand. DAS-6 is a good option if you want something that is good value. You need to polish small areas at a time (18"x18" for example) for correction work and stay away from the edges of the panels where the paint is thinner. Apply light pressure and you want to be moving only a couple of inches a second when correcting.

You want to use the least abrasive polish and pad combo that still removes the defects if that makes sense. This will minimise the clearcoat/paint removal. Something like Dodo Juice Lime Prime is great at removing light swirls and minor defects. Anything more serious will need something with more cut. Megs #83 would be ideal.

You won't burn the paint with a DA and nothing too aggressive unless you're a complete tool. There's no need to keep the head wet with any modern polish (not G3 for example) in fact DON'T keep the pads wet as it will affect the working of the polish and may lead to it splattering everywhere. If you are using a dry, dusty polish a couple of quick spritzes with water onto the pad is helpful though, but nothing more.

Just copied and pasted that in the How to: Maintain your paintwork thread! Might get round to finishing that over the next couple of weeks.

Don't forget to protect your paintwork afterwards too Prince, and if you are going for a big correction you'll need to clay first, you'll be shocked at the dirt. Tape up anything you don't want to get polish on because it can stain!

Basically:

Wash (TBM)
Clay
Wash (TBM)
Correcting
Refine if needed
Wash or wipe with IPA
Wax or Sealent

 

[Big Fat Fatty]

I.P.A. is a strong alcohol based solvent, similar to or as strong as Acetone I always thought, won't it eat into the paint?

 

[MasterAuron]

Diluted 50/50 with distilled water.

 

[HDi fun]

Isopropanol will dissolve paintwork used neat.

 

[MasterAuron]

Nope. Not even in its 99% form used neat.

 

[Prince]

Fancy writing a how to MA? What products would you recommend? I use AutoGlym Super Resin Polish for hand use. Will that be ok to use with a machine polisher?

Thanks!

 

[MasterAuron]

It's pretty much as I said up there mate. Nah SRP is just full of fillers, no abrasiveness to it so if you polish the panel and wipe it down with IPA for example you'll take all the SRP off and all your swirls etc would appear again.

You will have a real job doing any damage to the paint with a DA. Just make sure you go nice and slow, small areas at a time, light pressure and polish as evenly as you can.

 

[pgarner]

agree with MA SRP has very little cut on a machine polisher.

the BMW original paint is quite hard so you might find using a DA such as the DAS6 that MA has recommended hard going - took me around 16 hrs to get mine decent last year, although i didnt have any compounding pads.
always start with a light cut pad and polish combo until and work up until you find something that works well.

i use IPA at 70% mix with water. strong enough to remove any fillers that the polish may leave behind

as for damage i think detailing world done a test with a rotary and the pad destroyed itself before the paint was burnt through. a DA creates no where near the heat.


as for a how to you tube has plenty of videos showing basics. my way on my DAS 6 is

spread polish using only the weight of the machine on speed 1-2
work the polish until it breaks down on speed 4-5 with enough pressure so the pad is only spinning maybe 1-2 times a second
then back off to speed 3 to finish off

 

[Big Fat Fatty]

Where I used to work making fibreglass machine covers, we used to use angle grinders and just swapped the cutting disc for a polishing head, I thought it was the done thing until I realised that the companywas just being tight

 

[pgarner]

all a rotary polisher is basically is a angle grinder, abet a slower one

 

[Big Fat Fatty]

that's where my comment about burning came from, the speed of the grinder, I honestly thought they were all the same things having only had experience using grinders.

Cheers mate

 

[Prince]

Thanks for that PG. I will look into the costs of all the equipment and hopefully get onto it during the summer.

 

[pgarner]

costing basic silverline rotary can be had for around £40. not much options on the speed side but would do if your carefull. working up to a couple of hundred for a top line one

backing plates are around £10-20 each - generally you need 2 one around 5.5 -6" and the other around 3"

pads have a couple of polishing and finishing at both 6 and 3" - about £40. treat them like clay if they fall on the ground bin them as any dirt may still be in them even after washing and cause more scratches.

polishes small high cut, large med cut and a large finishing polish.- Menzerna do a sample kit of 4 250mm bottles for around £30.
powergloss - your high cut compounding
intensive - medium cut - i dont find this bad easy to work with
finial finish
and super finish

have a look on detailing world for some guides and get some posts to enable PMs before going into the sales boards. you will find that alot of the more professional guys sell stuff after only a few tries - i picked up a 1ltr bottle of meguires super finish for £10 posted, and 4 pads for £20