rotary buffer users

J

jvmagic

New member
Hi,

The first time I used a rotary buffer was in the early 90's after a friend of mine painted my car a candy color (3 stage House of Kolor paint scheme).
I saw him doing it on his car and I jumped in and did my car. I used 3m products (compound, glaze, finish) and I must say it came out pretty nice:). I was 19 at the time.

20 years later here I am with a family and 5 cars...just had a 90' vert mustang painted black (PPG 2-stage) 2 months ago. I need to cut and buff it. I have a black 2000 eclipse that I have polished with a Dewalt 849 rotarty buffer but it seems I got some swirl marks or halograms (not sure how to differentiate the two). I don't want to do this to the Mustang.
I used the dewalt on low 1000 rpm - 15000rpm settings.

I used some not so popular brand compound, glaze, and finish glaze so I'm not sure if this has much of an affect or not. Please chime in.

I feel like a got much better results when I knew very little about cut and buff 20 yrs ago (compared to my 2000 eclipse). My candy burgandy came out pretty damn good after the cut and buff.

I'm thinking I should use nothing but 3m products and then the rotary buffer for the compound....then perhaps purchase a cable 7424 DA buffer (though I rather not spend more on machines). I'm not sure it's fair to compare what I did with my Eclipse to what I did with my candy car yrs ago.
I don't mind attempting the whole process on my newly painted mustang if most of you think it may be ok. I have seen/read on the do's and don'ts. Please chime in.

Thanks in advance.
 
one possible explanation might be that the 90s job was a single stage paint with no clearcoat on top. newer clear coat jobs are certainly different. if the new car is not too marked up just start low aggression and using the same brand especially one like 3 m would always be a good suggestion. i am old enough to have used rotaries and random orbitals and the new randoms sure do great work with less worry. the new pads help too. lots of mfg progress in last 20 years. good luck with this it should look be you tee full when done
 
:welcome: To Autopia Forums!

3M offers some great products and in fact, a few years ago they acquired the Meguiar's company.

Personally, I like rotary machines and have used them since the late 60's. If used properly their results can be spectacular.

Rotaries can be used with a variety of wool, foam / wool, and foam pads and most products today can be used on both rotaries and dual action polishers.

Paint

  • How long ago was your car painted?
  • Was the new paint a single stage or the more newer two stage paints of today?
  • Do you intend to wet-sand the finish prior to buffing?
 
Hi JV, I use a rotary all the time. The best straight up advice I could give you (I would get a D/A and use it if your not use to a rotary get griots its better than PC)But if you don't want to buy a new machine. Meguires make M105/M205 that is a tried and true combo on a rotary. Not knowing the condition of your paint to begin(pictures maybe?) I'd start with M205 and a mirror glaze polishing pad. Everything I'm mentioning here you should be able to buy locally. See what results your getting there and if you need to go more aggresive you could step up to a compounding pad I think megs is red. If your compounding with M105 make sure your spritzing your pad with water and keeping it as flat as possible at about 1000rpm. When polishing with M205 I work at about 1400 still spritzing the pad lightly with water and keeping the pad flat as possible. I would use smaller 6' pads and get the matching backing plate. Make sure you mask off all trim on the car because rotary sling can get messy and M105 is dust city. Clean your pads inbetween panels and check results as you go. Good luck if you have any other questions feel free to ask!
 
BobbyG said:
:welcome: To Autopia Forums!

3M offers some great products and in fact, a few years ago they acquired the Meguiar's company.

Personally, I like rotary machines and have used them since the late 60's. If used properly their results can be spectacular.

Rotaries can be used with a variety of wool, foam / wool, and foam pads and most products today can be used on both rotaries and dual action polishers.

Paint

  • How long ago was your car painted?
  • Was the new paint a single stage or the more newer two stage paints of today?
  • Do you intend to wet-sand the finish prior to buffing?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply.

  • Car was painted 2 months ago.
  • It is a two stage paint job (PPG)
  • Yes, I will need to wet sand ( I assume 1500, 2k, and maybe 2500)
Please advise what products, pads, etc...you recommend.

Photos coming soon.
 
Here is the thing (a couple things to consider)...

3M makes great products, we sell the complete range of them. One of the biggest advantages of 3M products (which are commonly used in body shops) is that they make polishing seem easy. This is achieved by the use of durable filling agents (in my testing) which will mask paint defects for an extended period of time.

If you are trying to achieve great results, without the the use of temporary fillers, with a rotary polisher you are going to need:

  • experience
  • proper tool selection

Achieving a true, swirl free, high gloss finish with a rotary is not something you can do the first time out, the second time out, and probably not the third time as well. It is an art form and it requires dedication to learn.

To get you started I would look at picking up Menzerna polishes, specifically FG400, SI1500, and SF4000.

I would recommend using Lake Country pads. Purple Foamed Wool, Orange 6.5 Inch High Gloss and Black 6.5 Inch High Gloss. (use wool with FG400, SI1500 with orange, and SF4000 with black).

You will need 3-4 of each pad.

Always polish a section at a time and keep the pad flat on the surface. The section size should be about 2 ft x 2 ft. Use a small amount of pressure and move the polisher at a medium pace over the section. Reduce speed and pressure as the polish begins to clear. Clean your pad frequently and switch to a fresh pad often.
 
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