Question for PC users that switched to Rotary?

SpeedEuphoria said:
yeah just stay away from using the edge of the pad, when getting into the tight spots. Also wool is much more user friendly imo
Click to expand...



Doesn't wool create more heat?
 
I think you've got your answer. If money is tight then buy a cheap Chicago Electric rotory for thirty bucks. Of all the detailing tools and products I own there are only two that I wouldn't go without. My rotory and my foam gun. My foam gun eliminates wash induced marring and my rotory provides a shine that my P/C never could. Check out some of the click and brags of Rydawg and RickRack. Then look at the top of the post where they describe how they achieved their awesome finishes. I guarantee that they used a rotory almost every time. I only use my P/C for two things now: applying waxes and removing an occasional hologram.



Patrick
 
Wool actually runs cooler than foam, but you will get buffer swirls or haze from wool if you're using a heavy cut compound. They're easy to correct with foam pad and a good polish.
 
kapinnn said:
+1 on the rotary. I've been using it for a few months but what a difference! I would have picked one up much sooner if I knew how easy it is to use. If you are having trouble with flat pads skipping you might want to change to Edge Wave or LC CCS pads, they skip a bit less. That's the only issue I had with the rotary.



I only use my PC for LSPs and carpet cleaning.
Click to expand...

make that +2. I have been using a rotary for about 5 months. I must say i like both my PC and Rotary but there are just some thigns that a PC cant do that a rotary can.
 
not sure what some of you guys are doing or how long it takes, but I can do a wash, clay, wash, dry, PC remove swirls, apply sealant, dress tires and clean exhaust, wipe off sealant, apply & buff out QD on a WRX Sedan in under 3 hrs. And that's not even "rushing it".



I can't see the Rotary taking alot of time off of that.



I have been able to do that to a WRX rushing it in 2.5 hrs or so, and with help of a friend or my wife, cut that down to just under 2 hrs.



I have the $30 Chicago Electric Rotarty and I just don't like it. Compared to my PC, it's bulky, heavy and harder to control (with a Meguiars Red Cutting Pad - same pad I've been using with my PC for 3+ yrs now with no similar issues) than my PC.



My $.02
 
MikeWinLDS said:
I'd like to see what people have to say about going straight to rotary from nothing...
Click to expand...



Noting that I greatly prefer using the Cyclos compared to my rotaries...



I learned on a Milwaukee rotary/wool pad back in the '70s, the days of single stage. I was one of those dealership prep kids :soscared: but I did good work (if I do say so myself :o ), never messed anything up badly enough to need paint, and was the only guy that they let work on dark colors. But holograms aren't the same issue with ss that they are with b/c, and today I do my final polishing with the PC/Cyclo to make sure I finish up hologram-free.



IMO it's a matter of the individual operator. You gotta have a knowledge base to work from, and a certain mindset and degree of physical coordination. After not touching a rotary for ~20 years and having *never* used on on b/c, I took the Makita out of the box and used it on my beloved S8 without any problems, but that's me.
 
blue-sun said:
not sure what some of you guys are doing or how long it takes, but I can do a wash, clay, wash, dry, PC remove swirls, apply sealant, dress tires and clean exhaust, wipe off sealant, apply & buff out QD on a WRX Sedan in under 3 hrs. And that's not even "rushing it".



I can't see the Rotary taking alot of time off of that.



I have been able to do that to a WRX rushing it in 2.5 hrs or so, and with help of a friend or my wife, cut that down to just under 2 hrs.



I have the $30 Chicago Electric Rotarty and I just don't like it. Compared to my PC, it's bulky, heavy and harder to control (with a Meguiars Red Cutting Pad - same pad I've been using with my PC for 3+ yrs now with no similar issues) than my PC.



My $.02
Click to expand...



:eek: :eek: man i wish i could say the same, i must be doing something wrong. What you described would take me double the amount of time on a moderately swirled car.
 
blue-sun said:
not sure what some of you guys are doing or how long it takes, but I can do a wash, clay, wash, dry, PC remove swirls, apply sealant, dress tires and clean exhaust, wipe off sealant, apply & buff out QD on a WRX Sedan in under 3 hrs. And that's not even "rushing it".



I can't see the Rotary taking alot of time off of that.



I have been able to do that to a WRX rushing it in 2.5 hrs or so, and with help of a friend or my wife, cut that down to just under 2 hrs.



I have the $30 Chicago Electric Rotarty and I just don't like it. Compared to my PC, it's bulky, heavy and harder to control (with a Meguiars Red Cutting Pad - same pad I've been using with my PC for 3+ yrs now with no similar issues) than my PC.



My $.02
Click to expand...



On cars that dont need alot of correction(newer) I am right there with you, about an hour on prep,engine, wheeels and wash, I then do the interior and about 2 hours tops to complete the exterior when the inside is done.



Anything that needs correction I use my Makita or for light colored cars, it takes about 20-30 min to one step a silver avg condition 2002 or so vehicle with a rotary, dark cars i use my PC for quick polish or one steps.



The reason you may not like your rotary could be the brand, I hate dewalts and millwalkii

if you were to use a metabo or makita(lighter) you may have a different experience.
 
I feel a little guilty because I have a metabo rotary (12-175) which I never use. All of my cars are honda's with soft paint so I'm able to get excellent correction with a PC and the finest of polishes.



I wanted to get a rotary after reading the posts here but I find the PC easier to use. All I seem to do with the rotary is create holograms so I figured why bother when the PC is doing its job. This is just my experience but for me the rotary was a waste.
 
sabirk- Don't feel bad, you may well find the Metabo handy some day. I hardly ever use mine either but I don't regret the purchase of it or the Makita- when I need them I have them.



And it sounds like your Honda is like my Mazda- sure no point in using a rotary if less aggressive machines do the job just fine.
 
Rotary is the ONLY way to got for a serious detailer that needs to do any real paint correction. You may want to consider a Makita BO6040 or Festool 150RQ for the best of both worlds.
 
I think I may have to get a proper rotary soon.



I took the PC to my Protege. I did a mini-detail on it right when I first got it and got some/most of the swirls out. I did another detail on it last night, did the DACP x2 on the entire car and while most of the swirls came out, there are sections where the PC didn't faze the swirls. ugh!
 
blue-sun said:
I think I may have to get a proper rotary soon.



I took the PC to my Protege. I did a mini-detail on it right when I first got it and got some/most of the swirls out. I did another detail on it last night, did the DACP x2 on the entire car and while most of the swirls came out, there are sections where the PC didn't faze the swirls. ugh!
Click to expand...



Noting that the protege and my MPV come from different places, I'll take a wild guess and say that "gee, they're both Mazdas" anyhow. Try a 4" pad with the PC, that's *always* enough for the MPV if I do numerous passes. I'd be just a little leery of taking the rotary to it, the clear is *VERY* thin.



It'll take more than two passes though, but then it probably would by rotary too, if only because you'd need to be sorta gentle with that paint.
 
Accumulator said:
Noting that the protege and my MPV come from different places, I'll take a wild guess and say that "gee, they're both Mazdas" anyhow. Try a 4" pad with the PC, that's *always* enough for the MPV if I do numerous passes. I'd be just a little leery of taking the rotary to it, the clear is *VERY* thin.



It'll take more than two passes though, but then it probably would by rotary too, if only because you'd need to be sorta gentle with that paint.
Click to expand...





Don't get me wrong, the swirls come out, but not as easily and not as many came out.



Some did very easily, and some didn't. . .



The car has 115k on it already, I drive 100 miles daily, so I'm not too worried about it actually. The car's a trooper, that's for sure!
 
jw said:
I'm still having a tough time deciding if I should make the switch to the rotary or spend some more time with the pc. Does anyone that switched to a Rotary wish they wouldn't of, or people who switched but still prefer the PC?



Thanks
Click to expand...

I think the time you will wish you didn't switch is the time you burn some paint or trim piece.



If the PC does the amount of correction you need, why switch? If you feel you want to make the jump to the rotary in order to see for yourself, it hardly matters what anyone else says. :)



My two cents, but things like rubber/plastic trim can pretty easily be burned by a foam pad. And paint on things like plastic bumpers can fairly easily be burned as well. But it's a great tool and if you need one, you need one. But if you don't, there's nothing wrong with the PC.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by jw

I'm still having a tough time deciding if I should make the switch to the rotary or spend some more time with the pc. Does anyone that switched to a Rotary wish they wouldn't of, or people who switched but still prefer the PC?



Thanks



When I got my Makita- it was right up there with sliced bread! But like Aurora40 said - you'll have that "oh my God" moment when you see the paint peel right off a plastic trim piece and then you'll realize that you aren't rotary master - time to respect the machine, learn from your mistake and move on. My situation is I detail part-time, I get a lot of my business from a friend that sells used (really used) cars. I'm scared to put the rotary on these, the few times I did, I felt like an elephant walking on eggshells. The clear was so thin already, I was nervous as hell that I would burn right through it. I've found some light polish (Malco Nano) or Poliseal - both used on a orange LC pad on the PC works good, and has a nice safety net. I want to move up to a Cyclo, if you're on the fence about a rotary - consider a Cyclo, they're around $263-265 and Danase offers free shipping.
 
I dunno...IMO it's perfectly possible to not have that OMG moment with the rotary :think:

Takes a certain mindset, but IMO it's like using a chainsaw- mistakes can be very serious but they don't necessarily ever have to happen.



Tape/remove all trim; pay close attention to what you're doing *every second* (consider taking breaks so you stay fresh and focused); err on the side of caution/resist the "just a little more..." temptation; give prior thought to what you'll do if the pad skips or something otherwise goes wrong.



I'm no rotary-Meister, but I can honestly say I've only had two incidents of damage:



'84 Volvo- I put a lot of the blame on the panel's having been badly repainted (burned a small area of clear in an instant at ~1200 rpms with polishing pad/3M 05937 while somehow not damaging the adjacent paint at all).



'97 M3- I took the paint off maybe 1/2" of a painted plastic trim panel's edge. I knew I was being mighty aggressive for the piece in question but it was so scratched up I woulda had it repainted had the marring not come out. As it was I touched up the damage and it looks a lot better than before I started. Still, this is a perfect example of "just a little more" getting somebody in trouble. And there's simply no way I could do that car's clear with a PC/Cyclo; it's taking *many* passes with the rotary/HT-EC/cutting pad/high rpms.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top