Finishing Technique with a Rotary

[AudiOn19s]

I've made it a personal goal for this year to try my hardest to be able to do my finishing work with a rotary. I've practices on several family cars and had pretty good success BUT the ultimate test is my personal black Audi A4.

While I've come close I'm still not quite there on the Audi to finishing hologram free. The problems is on Audi paint it's not like you can just grab the PC with a finishing combo and get the holograms back out...have to go back to a light cut pad and light cut polish and then back to the finishing step again...so I wind up spending way MORE time than if I would have just progressed to the PC anyhow in the first place.

I can't fault the products...using PO85RD, black and OR blue LC VC finishing pads, 1000 rpm on the DeWalt Rotary....basically it has to be technique and not products.

Just looking for insight from those of you who can finish with the rotary and what helped you most with developing this skill set.

Andy

[usdm]

I cant really speak for anyone since the experience is an individual thing. With that said, here's what works for me.

Before any work is done it is important to insure the surface is a clean as possible via claying, decon system, or even a combination of the two. A clean car insures more easy and effective rotary work every time.

And now...

First off, i like to work with small pads; preferably 6.5 or 6". I like the meguiars pads as they are soft and flexible. LC pads are very good as well, but I find them more effective when used with a D/A machine.

When I work on panels with a rotary (or a D/A), I try to split them into quarters, or split them into more areas if the certain areas are elevated or depressed.

Next comes pressure. Now some folks rely on the weight of the machine to do the work for them. This does work, but it depends on the softness of the paint/ clearcoat. For me, I try to apply about 6-10lbs extra pressure on the machine, and move the machine 3ways: left to right, up and down, and then finally diagonally. This is all done at very slow speeds; about 1-2 inches per second, with overlapping passes.

Once I've made my main passes, that s when I ease up on the pressure. Sometimes depending on the product I'm using, I will slightly lift the machine, to even reduce the weight and start to finish .

After all the passes are done, i wipe down the section, and inspect; best lighting to do this for me is high wattage incandecent or halogen. If I like what I see, i follow thru with the same steps for the next quadrants. If not, I will follow up with either a more aggressive pad/ product, or step down to a less aggressive pad/ product.

I konw its not much, but its all I could think of at the moment. Meguiars does offer a pretty decent overveiw of procedure witha rotary: Meguiar's How to Remove Paint Defects

At the end of the day, just remember the ole' saying, "practice, practice., practice".

Hope this helps you out more. And be sure to take some snaps of your work for us to see.