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Car Polishers Buffers - What do ya think?

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Bret

Bret

Yoda
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Ok I got a cheap-arse Craftsman orbital polisher for Christmas last year and for simple stuff its fine. But I just don’t trust it (or my abilities to use it) properly without burning through the paint.

So I was doing some searching and have hear they’re pretty good for breathing new life into tired old paint. So what do you guys think of the Porter Cable Polisher/Buffers?

Here’s the link: Porter Cable 7424 Car Polisher & Buffer.

It looks like what I need but I'd like to have some imput first before I lay down a couple hundred bucks.

Thoughts & suggestions welcome?

Thanks,
Bret
 
I have the exact unit you linked to. It's of good quality.

Orbital polishers are useless for just about everything. I can't give mine away.

Don't worry about burning through the paint, it takes a lot to do that even with a real tool like the dual action one in your link. Just use a mild cutting compound rather than something super aggressive.

If you find yourself up my way, I'll let you try the tool out before buying. There is plenty of polishing needed around here! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
 
Steve_S is spot on.

You don’t have to worry about cheap, low power orbitals doing any harm because they don’t do much of anything at all. You can use them to “spread stuff around” but they’re useless for products that need to be worked against a finish.

The Porter-Cable is in the middle ground, powerful enough to be useful but gentle enough to be super safe.

The PC doesn’t have the power to remove truly severe paint defects, though. It only makes sense that removing really bad defects requires processes that are powerful enough to be potentially harmful to the finish. But for general maintenance and correction of mild to moderate defects it’s a great tool.


PC.
 
Well the Porter Cable 7424 seems to be the ticket for what I want to do for now and I’m just searching the web for the best deal. So far the Autopia kit seems to be the best bang for the buck.

Anyway I’m pretty sure a wet sanding would probably be the best for some of the imperfections and a re-spray for some small spots is the only fix. But I've had some success with clay on the rest of the body at getting rid of some of the swirl marks and oxidation in the paint.

So I think the PC polisher/buffer will speed things up and get the paint on my cars in to a good enough condition that I can live with until I decide if I want a partial or full re-spray.
 
Bret, I have that Porter Cable machine as well. Great tool, does exactly what it says on the box. You won't burn the paint with it, no worries.

FYI, Griots Garage carried that machine for a while, and now they have the newer, updated model with their own label on it.

https://www.griotsgarage.com/catalog.jsp?L1=L1_1000&L2=L2_1004

For a buck twenty-nine for the machine, that's a deal, and you can order their kit including the whole enchilada here, for just under two hundred......

https://www.griotsgarage.com/catalog.jsp?L1=L1_1000&L2=L2_1004&SKU=11119

Good quality products, good customer service, prompt shipping. I have beeen a customer for a few years now. Wonderful catalog too!
 
Meguiar's also sells this tool under their name. If you attend one of their detailing seminars, you can get the tool for a substantial discount. Free detailing lessons and a major discount on tools and supplies. It's a no-brainer!
 
Steve said:
...FYI, Griots Garage carried that machine for a while, and now they have the newer, updated model with their own label on it....
Click to expand...
Just to avoid any misunderstanding, Griot’s new machine is not related in any way to the Porter-Cable.

It’s a different machine from a different manufacturer that Griot’s is importing.


PC.
 
While shopping, also check Auto Geek. When I got mine it was the best deal around (I usually get my supplies from them anyway). I usually get my supplies from Auto-Geek (if I order on a Monday afternoon I'll get my supplies Tuesday morning, they're close by) - so I've tried some of their Pinnacle products. Everything we've tried with the PC has been outstanding.

You'll be surprised at what even the 7424 will do (even without going to a pure rotary) for restoring the look of some paint. Our Cessna 310 paint stinks. It looks horrible. The paint has always had heavy oxidation, it looks faded and flat. After I got some experience with the 7424 on my old MGTD replica, then the Miata, then the black Corvette, I decided to try it on the twin-Cessna...

I bought a bottle of Mothers "Pre Wax Cleaner" and a bottle of (*gasp*) Nu-Finish. I brought along the original stock polishing pad that came with the 7424 and went to work. In the end I mostly just used Nu-Finish, but on really bad areas like the wing and upper surfaces I hit the paint with the "Pre-Wax Cleaner" first. All buffing was by hand with cheap microfiber cloths. I was as aggressive as I could be with the 7424 but didn't manage to do any harm.

Wing, before:
p926808011-2.jpg


Wing, after:
p691168108-2.jpg


Fuselage/Door, before:
p798340585-2.jpg


Fuselage/Door, after:
p808952073-3.jpg


Fuselage half-done
p1055702289-2.jpg
 
obtw,

Even though DA polishers are easy and safe to use it never hurts to get few tips from a seasoned pro.

A friend of mine produces a video on how to detail with the DA polisher. The video features the Porter-Cable but the technique for using other machines, Festool, Makita, Bosch, Cyclo, Griot’s, etc is the basically same.

The video goes over hand techniques as well.

How-to Use the PC for Show Car Results


PC.
 
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