First time with a rotary

[seracis]

I only spent about 20 minutes on 1 side of my truck`s cab area. It`s not perfect, but it`s been a long day and I am beat, so the full deal will have to come later. I bought the only rotary with 100 miles (GMC {Global Machine Company} from Lowe`s) for $75 about a week ago but had to wait on some pads. Thanks to CMA for getting me a yellow cutting, white polishing and wool leveling pad, as well as a backing plate. I had to try it all out just a little tonite, so here`s what happened:



QD ( barely spotted from rain yesterday)

Meg`s #2, yellow on rotary (left a little micro marring)

SFX-2, Sonus DAS orange on PC

Meg`s #9, Sonus DAS green on PC

Meg`s #20



I probably could have skipped the SFX-2 step but I wanted to see how big of a difference each step made. There are still some deeper scratches left, but I want to get it out in the sun to get a better look at it before I go hog-wild. It`s no April Extreme Detail entry, but it`s a start.



before:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/seracis/DSCN0596.jpg



after:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/seracis/DSCN0599.jpg



before:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/seracis/DSCN0597.jpg



after:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/seracis/DSCN0600.jpg



before:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/seracis/DSCN0598.jpg



after:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/seracis/DSCN0601.jpg

[imported_Burlyq]

How do you like your Rotary, compared to PC which I`m assuming you have used before? Also, how do you like SFX?

[wannafbody]

for a newbie with a rotary i`d suggest staying away from Megs#2 as its fairly aggressive and was designed for single stage paint-the rotary does make the work faster:)

[seracis]

I`ve used the PC for probably 6-8 hours total since I got it. Only had the rotary turned on for maybe 4-5 minutes and it did more than I was expecting. I think I`m in love with what the rotary can do in such a short time. I kept it on it`s lowest rpm (1000) and made sure to spin off of the angles (sounds right in my head). I think I need a step more aggressive and my paint would be about as perfect as it`s gonna get. I`m thinking about DACP or PB SSR 2.5. I can`t get much at all locally. We have 2 auto paint stores and 1 of them is O`Reilly`s. That`s where I got #2, #9, #3 and #26. My buddy gave me a new bottle of #20 tonite, so I thought I`d try it out. My truck is a rolling guinea pig. It has #16 on the left side of the hood, Wolfgang sealant on the right, and WG topped with #16 in the middle. I wanted to see what both looked like after a while. I don`t know how much longer I can stand the dusty spots from the rain. I don`t want to QD because the wax content could alter the outcome. Now my truck has #20 on the left front fender and driver`s doors. I can`t see much of a shine difference but the slickness is very obvious.



As for my experience with the SFX line of polishes, I`d have to say that the SFX-3 removed most of the swirls from my hood via PC, the SFX-2 removed the micro marring from the PC/orange/#9, and the SFX-1 has only been used once on my wife`s Odyssey with no noticable difference (I wasn`t near the Autopian I am now, which isn`t much), but now I might notice something different. Her paint is in near perfect condition. I put a fresh coat of #26 on it 3/29. We`ll see how it holds up. I want to try the SSR line as well as Menzerna IP, but the wife says I gotta take it easy on the product collection for a while. Anyone out there wanna trade some SSR/IP for something I`ve got? Check the list in my sig.

[seracis]

What would you suggest in place of #2?

[MS22]

Check you local yellow pages for some auto body supply shops. You`ll never know so many of these places existed and most of them do carry some decent stuff from Megs and 3M. DACP with the rotary at 1200-1400 works great; follow up with some #80 or #82 and you are good to go.

[seracis]

Actually, I can name every single body shop in town and none of then carry (sell) anything. I`ve seen the work they do and it`s nowhere near autopian, so I don`t need any advise from them. The yellow pages list one place, O`Reilly`s. This is a town of 50K people and you see what kind of selection I have. Thank God for the internet.

[Accumulator]

The 3M PI-III stuff is pretty user-friendly with the rotary too. I like the RC (05933) and the MG (05937). These also work great by PC/hand.