Does a Porter Cable improve results or just take less time?

It certainly is a time saver and really saves you from aches and pains as well. I am glad that I went ahead and bought the machine.



One thing I did notice though...it is not a 100% substitute for elbow grease. When I gave my car its initial spring cleaning with it...a few weeks later I noticed around the edges on the car (areas like the hood and adjacent body panels..trunk included, around the sunroof, etc...) they were not as polished as the rest of the body...kind of neglected looking. So, a little elbow grease is def. going to be needed when using this machine. No complaints though...just a learning curve type thing.
 
My wife dragged a bag with a metal buckle across the trunck of our Silver C about 3 months ago. Scratch was approximately 10" long and deep enough to be quite noticible, but it did not penetrate to deep into the clearcoat. I used the PC and a fairly mild polish that I purchased from Rightlook.com and went to work. After about 15 minutes at the PC highest speed setting, the scratch was about 95% gone and totally unnoticible. finished with Z1 and Z2.



:up :up :up
 
By reading most of these post's it seems like most of you guy's only use the pc to apply the products but not to remove them. Why is that???:confused:
 
<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote' >

By reading most of these post's it seems like most of you guy's only use the pc to apply the products but not to remove them. Why is that???</blockquote>

I don't own a PC (yet) but I am guessing that the PC is best used to spread a product more evenly and to work it into the paint. Also, for any kind of abrasive polish, I would think that it saves a lot of work and possibly gives a better finish than you could get by hand. Removal of almost every other product is usually easier with a MF towel and doesn't require the power and revs of a PC.

However, I would like to know if buffing the top layer with a gray finishing pad actually makes a final difference in shine...?

H
 
It is easy to use it for removal.



Even though the average backing plate is 5 inches, put an eight inch wide by two inch thick foam pad on the backing plate(just get it kinda centered) and then put a 10 or 11 inch terry/velour bonnet over the foam pad, use settings that are the lower speeds and use it to remove and allow some more polishing of the protectant product.



One other thing, when polishing the whole vehicle, think about how you paint a room or a bodyshop painter applies the paint.



The "cut in" first, just like when you paint a room, you "cut-in" around the windows and doors first.



Use this technique when polishing, make sure you "work" the edges first and you will reduce the opportunity to have the "dull" edge areas.



:bounce
 
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