Polish by hand or machine? -- NEWB

[altimaser]

until now i`ve been waxing hand polishing my cars by hand . aside from being tiresome i`m afraid of machine waxing because i saw royally screw up his hood when was a little kid





i`ve musterd up enough courage to try on my old truck



what should i use?



I have a 6" inch orbital is it too small for a whole car?

do you have to change the polishing pad often..



i`ve seen 8 - 9 - 10 inch orbital versions are they better?



and then there`s polishers that pretty well work like a sander



any advise is greatly appreciated

[Imatk]

I`m not sure about the machine you have.



I have a PC 7424, got it from Autogeek in a "starter kit" and it has worked beautifully.



I would highly recommend it:



Optimum Porter Cable 7424 Kit Remove swirl marks and paint flaws (http://www.autogeek.net/optimum-porter-cable-kit.html)

[joshtpa]

Loved the title of this thread

[Imatk]

Loved the title of this thread



Indeed :cooleek:

[joshtpa]

I would recommend a PC. They really are easy to use and do a great job.

[Changeling]

until now i`ve been waxing hand polishing my cars by hand . aside from being tiresome i`m afraid of machine waxing because i saw royally screw up his hood when was a little kid





i`ve musterd up enough courage to try on my old truck



what should i use?



I have a 6" inch orbital is it too small for a whole car?

do you have to change the polishing pad often..



i`ve seen 8 - 9 - 10 inch orbital versions are they better?



and then there`s polishers that pretty well work like a sander



any advise is greatly appreciated







Personally , I believe Jessica Simpson should answer this one!

I`m having trouble, and lack her experience, but as a registered "Autopian" I will answer the call if necessary , if I can just get off the dam floor!:wow: :LOLOL

[ben_r_]

Loved the title of this thread

LOLOLOLOL Seriously!

[jsab9191]

Hand job +1

[the other pc]

...I have a 6" inch orbital is it too small for a whole car?

.....

i`ve seen 8 - 9 - 10 inch orbital versions are they better?... The 6� is far better. The contours of normal cars are much easier to follow with the smaller pads. The larger orbitals are slow, clumsy and underpowered (that’s not how you want your tool to be when you change over from hand jobs).



If your’s is an inexpensive orbital it should work fine for waxing and light cleaning but probably doesn’t have the capacity to do serious defect correction. For that you need more power, like you’d get with a Porter-Cable, Makita, Festool or DeWalt.






...and then there`s polishers that pretty well work like a sander... That would be the Porter-Cable, Makita, Festool and DeWalt. They’re primarily designed as sanders but also make excellent buffers.





PC.

[Changeling]

until now i`ve been waxing hand polishing my cars by hand . aside from being tiresome i`m afraid of machine waxing because i saw royally screw up his hood when was a little kid





i`ve musterd up enough courage to try on my old truck



what should i use?



I have a 6" inch orbital is it too small for a whole car?

do you have to change the polishing pad often..



i`ve seen 8 - 9 - 10 inch orbital versions are they better?



and then there`s polishers that pretty well work like a sander



any advise is greatly appreciated





You will have to tell everyone what "Orbital polisher" you have by name and model number. This is the only way they can evaluate it`s effectiveness in a detailing atmosphere. I sure as heck don`t know 1/10 of what most of the experts know on this site, but I am willing to help you the best I can and I am sure the rest of the guys would be glad to fill in where I am lacking, a wide area!



Since you were a little kid there have been some advancements in this field that are astounding in some ways, and actually "Static" in other fields, but on a whole things have moved forward.

Machine polishing/waxing seems to be on your mine, please correct me if I am wrong. It is also one of "my" necessities whether I like it are not, due to health.

Most people that are looking for mild correction to paint and/or, wax/sealant application or using either a Porter cable random orbit machine or a Cyclo machine with two heads.

It all depends on witch way you want to go. The Cyclo is absolutely a class act. You need two pads (it`s a two head machine) , works extremely well, I think has been around for a "long" time and will probably be here for a hell of a lot longer!

The PC, works great, and is a single head machine. If you are a dude (young guy) it won`t probable matter between the Cyclo and PC (abbreviation for Porter Cable PC). However the Cyclo is a lot smother than a PC.

This just about ends my expertise on the matter but there are some really advanced users of the "Cyclo" on Autopia, namely, "Accumulator". he is extremely experienced in this machine and can tell you just about anything you want to know!

Good luck, Changeling

[SuperBee364]

Loved the title of this thread



Me too... thought I`d logged on to one of my "secret" forums by mistake!

[JasonD]

I have edited the title of this thread, and removed all of the ot posts and comments. You guys should be ashamed of yourselves, lol. :wall