Does buffer time really matter?

wizardofahs

New member
Anyone else thought a lot about this? What is the ammount of time you have to spend with something like FI-II to get the results out of it? I know people here can spend anywhere from 45 minutes to 3+ hours buffing a car with a PC and FI-II. Does the extra time give extra results?



If no one has the answer i'll volunteer to test this. My guess is after working the compound in for 3 minutes or so it's done all it will, and additional buffing won't really get you anywhere. I noticed this on the viper i did, black paint with a good mix of deep and not so deep swirls. The not so deep ones came out in a few minutes, but the deep ones didn't really seem to budge if i spent any extra time (or even made extra passes). I'll test this with FI-II and bf polish, with my 500 watt work lights and sunlight, with lots of photos. I'm gunna run down to the body shop right now and see if i can get the hood of my civic.. i don't think it's reusable anymore. I'll post updates.
 
The machine your using isn't really going to help you remove deep swirls. Your going to spend too much time polishing that one area and wear down the clear coat around the defect more than you should.



This is why I have invested in a rotary yet for some areas I rather detail by hand, I don't want to wear down good clear coat anymore than I need to.



Try by hand.
 
I don't think there's a set amount of time that I use for buffing a certain area... ("let's see, set the egg timer for 3 minutes, start buffing..........DING! ok, move on to the next panel, set the egg timer...")



So many variables come in to play - I might make a few quick passes over an area if the car doesn't need much work, or I might spent 10 minutes on a panel with my yellow foam pad and FI-II, trying to get the best results. I guess I'm basically saying that it all depends.... :)



I'd also take exception to the comment by joe about not being good at removing deep swirls - whether I spend 10 minutes on an area removing swirls w/the PC or 1 minute with a rotary - the same amount of clear is going to be removed from the offending area. All in all, the PC can do 95% of what a rotary can do, and it does it safer, which is something that I think is immeasurable in terms of benefit to the user.



Just my $0.02. :)
 
It is all about working the product with the buffer. Start off on slow work it around then speed it up a little, working the product into the paint. Each car is different
 
Back
Top