Here come the laughs...

FSUfan

New member
Okay I am gonna get killed on this I know, but it the interest of saving money right now (and my marriage for spending said dollars) I have a question. Years ago I bought an Orbital Buffer. It is a 10" model and made by Ryobi. I want to get PC, but the cost is holding me back. I really want to do some things to my '96 Accord which has not been garaged since I bought it... Bought it as a beater, but now want it to look good. Swirls and minor scratches everywhere. Could I use the orbital buffer to do a good three step polish process if I perhaps over-lapped the terry cloth bonnet with a MF? Thanks for your help and if anyone thinks more details of the buffer is helpful let me know and I will get it down from the shelf in the garage and take a look. Let the giggling commence!

:buffing:
 
Does it look like this?





30e83bc5-73f0-4ace-b206-33e1878bcf43_4.jpg
 
EisenHulk said:
Does it look like this?



Similar... the handle is a bit different, but otherwise yea that is the one.



DETAILS (for those who care)



10" Orbital diameter

3200RPM No load speed

Weight is 5 lbs.
 
You aren't going to be able to get much correction with that thing. If I were you, I would buy a good, filling glaze, and filling wax and try to conceal as much as possible until you are able to get a PC.
 
LOL too funny...I sold my Craftsmen version of that at my last garage sale. told the guy "this is great for detailing cars". $10 and I threw in some extra bonnets and what not. still not a bad deal.
 
weekendwarrior said:
You aren't going to be able to get much correction with that thing. If I were you, I would buy a good, filling glaze, and filling wax and try to conceal as much as possible until you are able to get a PC.



Yea I figure with one speed (@ 3200RPM) I am not going to get much accomplished, but your idea may be worth doing for the time being. I just want to make it not so dull ya know.
 
FSUfan said:
Okay I am gonna get killed on this I know, but it the interest of saving money right now (and my marriage for spending said dollars) I have a question. Years ago I bought an Orbital Buffer. It is a 10" model and made by Ryobi. I want to get PC, but the cost is holding me back. I really want to do some things to my '96 Accord which has not been garaged since I bought it... Bought it as a beater, but now want it to look good. Swirls and minor scratches everywhere. Could I use the orbital buffer to do a good three step polish process if I perhaps over-lapped the terry cloth bonnet with a MF? Thanks for your help and if anyone thinks more details of the buffer is helpful let me know and I will get it down from the shelf in the garage and take a look. Let the giggling commence!

:buffing:



Periodically you will see DavidB mention reconditioned UDM's for sale for about $89. At that price I believe you would still get free shipping. That is a great price which is easier to swallow than the $149 price for a brand new one.



Of course that doesn't cover the cost of pads and polishes you will need.
 
JoshVette said:
Any machine (if you know what you're doing) is better then going at it by hand.



Give it a shot and see what happens....



Got that right... I don't have much to lose so I will probably start somewhere that is not as easy to see and give it a go.
 
Before I became an Autopian I tried one of those 10 inchers to apply sealant but returned it because it was unwieldy on a smaller car. Got a 6 inch buffer/polisher and it was a simple one hand operation - bottle of sealant in one and polisher in the other. Bad thing is you'll need lots of bonnets as they load up quickly and adds greatly to the cost of using this one trick pony. The glaze/sealant suggestion is the one I would use and look at Big Lots for bonnets.
 
citizen arcane said:
Before I became an Autopian I tried one of those 10 inchers to apply sealant but returned it because it was unwieldy on a smaller car. Got a 6 inch buffer/polisher and it was a simple one hand operation - bottle of sealant in one and polisher in the other. Bad thing is you'll need lots of bonnets as they load up quickly and adds greatly to the cost of using this one trick pony. The glaze/sealant suggestion is the one I would use and look at Big Lots for bonnets.



Big Lots... hadn't thought of that... I pass one everyday. Oh and I love your sig... my cars are all black! HAHA... gotta love it
 
bert31 said:
Periodically you will see DavidB mention reconditioned UDM's for sale for about $89. At that price I believe you would still get free shipping. That is a great price which is easier to swallow than the $149 price for a brand new one.



Of course that doesn't cover the cost of pads and polishes you will need.



Funny I just got an email from Perfect Shine that had a 15% off coupon for UDM Kits. hmmm.....:grinno:
 
bert31 said:
Periodically you will see DavidB mention reconditioned UDM's for sale for about $89. At that price I believe you would still get free shipping. That is a great price which is easier to swallow than the $149 price for a brand new one.



Of course that doesn't cover the cost of pads and polishes you will need.



+1 to that, those are steal! ;)
 
I second the idea for a good glaze and wax with fillers. Drag the Ryobi down from the shelf if you like - it'll do a good job on these products, but my guess is it'll be useless in trying to break down any type of polish. Good comment on the size of the pad too - the buffer will be useless around door handles, trim, etc.



FWIW I'll toss out a product recommendation too - Poorboy's Black Hole (or White Diamond, depending on the color of your Accord) and EX sealant w/ carnauba. That'll give you a nice look and a decent amount of protection. You can apply both by hand or Ryobi...or PC/UDM if you decide to make that investment down the road.
 
JoshVette said:
Any machine (if you know what you're doing) is better then going at it by hand.



Give it a shot and see what happens....



I actually think you'd get better results by hand than with one of those big orbitals.. seriously. The problem is that with the huge pad you can't apply enough pressure to have the polish do any work, or rather they are way underpowered to drive the pad when pressure is applied. It might be ok for applying glaze/wax, but the pad will soak up a big amount of product, kind of eating up the saving's on a better machine. Try going at it by hand, it's actually possible if you just break up the work in smaller bites, e.g. one panel a day. Just ask Scottwax, I believe by hand was how he used to polish cars back in the day :)
 
FSUfan said:
Funny I just got an email from Perfect Shine that had a 15% off coupon for UDM Kits. hmmm.....:grinno:



May I inquire as to who or what is Perfect Shine? Do you have a website?
 
Don't listen to pc and rotary snobs, give it a go and see what you get. With the exception of severe paint 'correction' (how did we ever decide that grinding off layers of paint was correcting?) that polisher/buffer will do a very nice job with AIO, chemical cleaners and LSP's. - hands down better, with less wasted product than by hand.

If you find it's not performing as well as you'd like and you have $150 laying around, then set it asside and order a PC.





The perfect shine is an article you can find right here in autotopia - it is a polymer sealant topped with a pure carnuba wax.

http://www.autopia.org/forum/guide-detailing/80221-perfect-shine.html
 
Eliot Ness said:
The Perfect Shine is the Autopia Car Care Shop where the UDM is sold:



Autopia Car Care



Yea, I get emails from them for all sorts of discounts and specials. Father's Day specials and Christmas specials and the like. Since I don't like to frequent the chain auto parts stores I usually get my stuff online and their discounts and specials usually catch my attention. That and when Amazon has deals on packages... a few months ago they had two Meguiars packages, an interior package and an exterior package each with like seven or eight products each for $20. I jumped all over that and got one of each.
 
If you are willing to learn how to use a rotary, Harbor Freight sells one for $39. I've heard they are pretty decent, especially for the money.
 
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