first try with a rotary

David Fermani said:
Why did you post before and after pictures then? It clearly looks polished and each picture looks different.
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Its a before and after of the rear wing, not the rear 3/4! Inthat the polishes area is the wing, not the C pillar where there is spider webbing evident in the after picture. Where is the spider webbing on the wing section though?



I guess you are convinced in yourself that the PC will not remove defects, thats fair enough... I have had no problems thoroughly removing defects by PC given plenty of time and patience as is clearly illustrated by the pics I posted above.
 
Dave KG said:
Its a before and after of the rear wing, not the rear 3/4! Inthat the polishes area is the wing, not the C pillar where there is spider webbing evident in the after picture. Where is the spider webbing on the wing section though?



I guess you are convinced in yourself that the PC will not remove defects, thats fair enough... I have had no problems thoroughly removing defects by PC given plenty of time and patience as is clearly illustrated by the pics I posted above.



Rear wing before:





Rear wing after:

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I'm not trying to attack you :argue . I just trying to completely understand and be open minded to your results. I don't see a "wing" above, I see a quarter panel. Are you calling them the same thing? I see slight spiderwebbing throughout the entire panel. It looks 110% better, but it's not defect free. I'm impressed with what you can accomplish with a PC, but based on the pictures, it could be better. Again, I'm just judging based on the pictures and not my own 2 eyes in person.
 
David Fermani said:
I'm not trying to attack you :argue . I just trying to completely understand and be open minded to your results. I don't see a "wing" above, I see a quarter panel. Are you calling them the same thing? I see slight spiderwebbing throughout the entire panel. It looks 110% better, but it's not defect free. I'm impressed with what you can accomplish with a PC, but based on the pictures, it could be better. Again, I'm just judging based on the pictures and not my own 2 eyes in person.
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I fear we have hijacked the thread here... sorry.



The rear section of the car I would refer to as the full rear 3/4. The lower part below the window line and back to the bootlid is the rear wing. Running parallel to the back window is the rear C-pillar.



I would be more than happy to discuss this car and the techniques I used on it and let you see the full picture set by PM (I dont want to further hijack this thread), though this was done last June... I do all my work by rotary polisher as well these days, but the PC did get there for me on this one. Drop me a line by PM, and I'll let you see this car as I like discussing my detailing but dont want to further hijack this thread. :up
 
Dave the area of the rear of the car which you are showing a before and after shows one with a lot of swirling and the after has none. Period. It is obvious to me that you did not intended to polished the area behind the window, as it looks the same in both pics. Great job .
 
Sorry Paradigm, nice work with rotary. I switched from the PC to the rotary( Hitachi as well ) a couple months ago, and haven't looked back. What size of pads are you using? Now that I'm using 6" - 6.5" pads I don't have the same control problems any more. I got the 4.75" BP so I can use all my PC pads. I first started with 7.5" LC CE VC pads they're not bad and I liked how you can use the edge in tight areas, but the smaller pads are better especially when learning. Happy rotering.
 
The rotary is great for fixing up the swirls and scratches. But for marring and holograms, nothing beats falling back to the PC with a polish/light cut pad and a mild swirl remover like SSR1.
 
aaron33 said:
The rotary is great for fixing up the swirls and scratches. But for marring and holograms, nothing beats falling back to the PC with a polish/light cut pad and a mild swirl remover like SSR1.
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aaron33 have you tried a Rotary for marring and holograms? Because myself and many others on this forum have found quite the opposite. If you do a search on this you will find extensive testing with pics. Don't get me wrong the PC works great I used one for years, but it does not compare to a rotary.
 
DSVWGLI said:
aaron33 have you tried a Rotary for marring and holograms? Because myself and many others on this forum have found quite the opposite. If you do a search on this you will find extensive testing with pics. Don't get me wrong the PC works great I used one for years, but it does not compare to a rotary.
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I agree, the best finishes I have achieved in terms of crystal clarity have been using my rotary polisher as opposed to the PC - slow the speeds down, take time and thoroughly work a quality finishing polish and in my eyes, nothing beats a rotary... On solid black, a colour that wouls show up any imperfections, this is the finish I got with a rotary:









A PC will achieve excellent defect correction with enough time and patience, where it falls down is in the absolute clarity of the finish - its still excellent, but for me a rotary just takes it to the next level.
 
I used the rotary (SSR2.5 and light-medium pad)and it removed all the swirls and scratches that would have taken over 18 passes with the PC. I was left with holograms on the paint. Just a few passes with SSR1 and a polishing pad was all it needed for a mirror finish.



I'm not saying that a PC is better than a rotary. For swirls and scratches, I'd go rotary. After using the rotary, the resulting marring/holograms, I'd rather use a PC with SSR1 and a light polish pad to correct rather than a rotary with the same pad-product combo.
 
aaron33 said:
I used the rotary (SSR2.5 and light-medium pad)and it removed all the swirls and scratches that would have taken over 18 passes with the PC. I was left with holograms on the paint. Just a few passes with SSR1 and a polishing pad was all it needed for a mirror finish.



I'm not saying that a PC is better than a rotary. For swirls and scratches, I'd go rotary. After using the rotary, the resulting marring/holograms, I'd rather use a PC with SSR1 and a light polish pad to correct rather than a rotary with the same pad-product combo.
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"The few passes with SSR1 and a polishing pad" was that with a rotary? As far as marring/holograms from using a rotary, that is usually from not breaking down the polish enough and moving the buffer too quick. With correct use the rotary will not give you marring and holograms. The PC is almost fool proof and is very hard to induce marring/holograms. So for most people the PC is the machine to use, but for an experienced user the rotary is the buffer of choice. And as far as the learning curve with the rotary, I never found it that difficult. The first time I used a mild polish and a finishing pad I had not induced any marks or holograms at all and the finish was much clearer than I could ever get with my PC. I haven't looked back since. If your not getting the results you want with the rotary you just need to practice a little more.
 
DSVWGLI said:
"The few passes with SSR1 and a polishing pad" was that with a rotary? As far as marring/holograms from using a rotary, that is usually from not breaking down the polish enough and moving the buffer too quick. With correct use the rotary will not give you marring and holograms. The PC is almost fool proof and is very hard to induce marring/holograms. So for most people the PC is the machine to use, but for an experienced user the rotary is the buffer of choice. And as far as the learning curve with the rotary, I never found it that difficult. The first time I used a mild polish and a finishing pad I had not induced any marks or holograms at all and the finish was much clearer than I could ever get with my PC. I haven't looked back since. If your not getting the results you want with the rotary you just need to practice a little more.
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The SSR1 and polishing pad was with a PC. The PC is foolproof and safe, but it doesn't give me the amount of correction I want. I'm a noob rotary user, but after using it, I don't want to go back to the PC for swirl correction.
 
aaron33 said:
The SSR1 and polishing pad was with a PC. The PC is foolproof and safe, but it doesn't give me the amount of correction I want. I'm a noob rotary user, but after using it, I don't want to go back to the PC for swirl correction.
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And after more practice you woun't want to go back to the PC for final finishing either. If you keep the rpm's below 1200 and move the buffer at about 4" per second untill the polish is worked in, the finish should be perfect. Use a SSR1 with a finishing pad.
 
DSVWGLI said:
And after more practice you woun't want to go back to the PC for final finishing either. If you keep the rpm's below 1200 and move the buffer at about 4" per second untill the polish is worked in, the finish should be perfect. Use a SSR1 with a finishing pad.
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Yep, I would agree - I always thought when I first got my rotary that I would still be suing the PC for final finishing, but since honig my technique with the rotary to finish down crystal sharp and hologram free by rotary, the PC never comes out of its box anymore...



The PC does itself leave a very very fine micromarring as it can struggle to fully break down a polish which the rotary doesn't struggle with, ultimately the rotary will get the more crystal sharp finish. On solid dark colours, if you inspect a finish very closely that has been done by PC you will very likely see a very very fine micromarring which is not evident in the rotary finish.
 
paradigm said:
Dave KG...with a finish like that on black i wouldn't want to ever drive the car again! it would have to sit in the garage. hehehe
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Cheers. :)



That was actually a really frustrating detail as it was badly swirled before hand, and I speng ages getting the car to look like that, then I opened the garage to roll it outside for photos and it was dark... Roll on the summer! :up
 
OK, I had graduated from the PC, thought I knew a thing or two and used the rotary without issues on several cars. Then, I got cocky and careless, ignored all reason and took the paint off a small section of trim on my mom's old Caddy. I felt very humble, stupid, mad at myself and scared just like when I still lived with the devil woman (I'm 48 now). So I'd love some advice, cheaper than a therapist you know. I'm so paranoid after screwing up, I've gone back to the PC. Now, say I have a car with swirls, and I use Meg's #83 on a LC orange pad - with the 600-900-1200-900-600 speed method. Do you think this would finish up fine enough for LSP? Thanks in advance guys!
 
Trim or any other plastic piece (including bumpers) need to be handled with car when using a rotary. Even by producing the same heat\friction one used on the same car but on the sheet metal panels can cause a burn through or the paint to lift.



That said you did mention that you sorta forgot yourself and, well things happen.



The leason's in life aren't always without some pain, and you've got to pay to play.

I don't think anyone (who is honest) that has been using a rotary polisher over the years can say they never made a mistake.



Learn from it and move on.



MorBiD
 
Thanks MorBid! I may screw up again down the road, but I won't make the same mistake twice (well I did get married twice - hey that don't count!) Anyway, what do you think about the swirl problems? One step or should I plan to do two, orange pad, then polish with white pad.
 
I don't use Meg's # 83 and the only use I've ever gotten out of my PC is carpet cleaning and LSP application\removal. So I'm probaly not the one to ask on this.



That said, from what I've read in the threads about #83 it's a dual action Cleaner Polish. Moderate abrasive power removes light to medium contamination. A touch more aggressive than Meguiar's Swirl-Free Polish.



You may need to follow the LC pad with a polishing or finishing pad with a less aggressive product afterwards. Or try the # 83 with a polishing pad first and see where that gets you cause if it gets the swirls out you should be ready for the LSP.



MorBiD
 
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