Rotary vs PC and Time

B

Billg

New member
Does it really take significantly less time with a rotary than a pc?



I spent about 5.5 hours on my 330i yesterday with my pc.....

wash / dry / clay/ rise / dry - 1.5 hours

Yellow pad - 1 hour

white pad - 1 hour

hand glaze - 40 min

wax - 40 min
 
It may not have taken less time on your car; but in general if someone is working on even two cars a week they'll save enough time for a third car. For example, if I spend 12 hours on a car about 8-9 of that is correction. I used a PC a long time ago, and I'd guess cars like that would easily take twice as long to correct...and I work quickly.
 
It is my belief that the rotory is infact quciker as it removes the inperfections in the paint as the PC rounds it out from my understanding, also what may take 3-4+ pass's with the PC I can do in 1 or 2 with the rotary. I have only used my Rotary 2x and I did the job quicker with better resaults, by that I mean that it is produces an amazing sharpness in the paint, you just have to be carful not to hit anytrim as it will burn it. As others said I use my PC for sealants, if I dont do it by hand.
 
Billg said:
Does it really take significantly less time with a rotary than a pc?



I spent about 5.5 hours on my 330i yesterday with my pc.....

wash / dry / clay/ rise / dry - 1.5 hours

Yellow pad - 1 hour

white pad - 1 hour

hand glaze - 40 min

wax - 40 min
Click to expand...



In your case:



A) Your car had very little marring, but then why'd you use a Yellow pad?



B) Your BMW has butter soft paint



C) You didn't spend nearly the time it needed.
 
My hood was the only part that I spent much time on today.....the rest of the car was in decent shape.



I started with 4inch pads until the backing place glue came apart then I finished with 5.5 pads. But I defeinitely put more time into the hood and trunk as they needed much more correction. Unfortunately I left buff marks on the hood so I will have to redo that next weekend....
 
From reading this post it appears that I am in the same boat as many others. It appears that it takes too long to efficiently correct minor to moderate RIDS along with light to moderate swirling (if at all) with a PC/UDM than with a rotary.



Just this past weekend, 2-3 days I've been working on the paint on our '03 Corolla. The car has never been painted so I know it has all factory paint, but it does have some RIDS and light swirls from over the years. I've attempting at improving the condition of the paint with the UDM about a year ago but since then new scratches have arisen and the prior imperfections that I had missed are now craving my attention. I've been watching a bunch of movies on YouTube, etc... and am learning on improving my technique with my UDM, but am still not getting some of the results I expect and if I do, it takes SOOO LONG to get them. :cry:



I have been using Optimum's Polish and HyperCompound. I mostly use the Optimum Polish w/ a white or orange pad (trying to reduce compound caused marring and then having to polish those areas down again). I run the speed of the UDM @ 4-5-6 to remove the swirls/scratches and then slow it down (2-3-4) to polish the surface. I have even drawn a straight line on each of my backing plates so that I can moniter if they are rotating while working. I know I have a lot to still learn (please correct me if there was something in my technique that is a no-no), but I think moving up to a rotary is the only option, leaving the UDM for applying sealants and smaller jobs.



If what I have written makes sense, then the next problem is which rotary to purchase? Decisions Decisions :nervous2:
 
I took forever the first time I used the udm. I needed 3 weekends with about 4 hours each weekend to polish out my car. I have 4 kids so I want to spend my time with them instead of polishing out a car. I went ahead and got a dewalt rotary and it takes maybe 3 hours to do the whole minivan. Granted I used the UDM on rock hard GM paint and I used the rotary on soft Honda paint, but still the time savings were substantial. Heck it takes almost as much time taping up the car as it does to do a hood. JUst let the rotary glide on the paint as opposed to putting pressure like on a PC or UDM and you will be rewarded. I'm just using the UDM to apply wax and it does a really good job of applying wax thinly and evenly. Just wish I didn't have to pay $140 for a wax applicator.:rofl
 
I have the pc and it can correct but will take much longer than a rotary. last year i used my pc on my dd and it took my 10 hrs. to get it right. i bought another dd and today i used my makita and it took 3 hrs to get it right and it is a larger car than the one i did last year.
 
work is definitely faster on the rotary than on the PC. It cuts work down by about half. The learning curve isn't that huge, just mind your speed and move quicker than you would with the PC. Pickup a panel from the junk yard and practice on that. The rotary has much better correcting potential than the UDM or the PC. I only use the PC to clean up any holograms left after compounding which is very seldom for me. Any other use for the PC would be the painted plastic panels and parts which the rotary will burn due to the heat generated.
 
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