How to Polish/Glaze?

[hawgs74]

Anyone know the best way to apply polish. Do I have to use a buffer or can i do it by hand? Taking a buffer to Scion paint scares me a bit.

:thanks:

[Peej]

I'm not a professional by any means but I do use buffer on mine. I use 2 orbital's, a 5" for applying and a 10" for buffing and have had great results.
I would steer clear of a rotary with this paint by all means.

[J3ST3R]

Anyone know the best way to apply polish. Do I have to use a buffer or can i do it by hand? Taking a buffer to Scion paint scares me a bit.

:thanks:

The best way would be to use an item like the porter cable 7424, its not a high speed buffing wheel, its more along the lines of a orbital. If your paint is not that bad use a very fine polish like a glaze since you wont need any thing real abrasive to remove the surface imperfections or swirl marks.

[THansenite]

I just bought a Porter Cable 7472 and a Sonus SFX buffing pad kit as well as the Sonus buffing and polishing compounds. I haven't tried it out yet (waiting till it gets closer to Ames 4.0) but I have heard nothing but good about it. If you look on www.autopia.org , you can get reviews on it as well as how to use it.

[hawgs74]

I just bought a Porter Cable 7472 and a Sonus SFX buffing pad kit as well as the Sonus buffing and polishing compounds. I haven't tried it out yet (waiting till it gets closer to Ames 4.0) but I have heard nothing but good about it. If you look on www.autopia.org (http://www.autopia.org) , you can get reviews on it as well as how to use it.

Thanks people,
I bought a $20 orbital from WalMart and used some Malco polish I got offline. I think Im gonna take it back and get a better one but for my first attempt I am pleasantly suprised at the results! I am going to have to add polishing to my regimen.

[THansenite]

Yea, I would be very careful. I got my PC 7472 for $110 online and the pads were $60. Paying the extra to get a quality buffer and pads is well worth it if you consider the cost of having to get you car repainted from paint burn from a cheap buffer. Be very careful with buffers as they can burn the paint very easily if you aren't careful.

[J3ST3R]

Yea, I would be very careful. I got my PC 7472 for $110 online and the pads were $60. Paying the extra to get a quality buffer and pads is well worth it if you consider the cost of having to get you car repainted from paint burn from a cheap buffer. Be very careful with buffers as they can burn the paint very easily if you aren't careful.

Agreed, I have the Porter Cable as well and it was well worth the money with the results you get! Remember too that the care and effort you put into detailing the car will directly show in the results...so give yourself plenty of time to do it right.

[um_lunchbox]

Here is my 2 Cents on the matter ...

Option 1 - for best results pay a pro .... Most body shops will do it for $50 - $150

Next buy a clay bar. I believe the goal you are trying to achieve is removing swirl marks and slight paint oxidation not remove orange peel from the clear coat. A clay bar is like mildly wetsanding your vehicle. As long as you dont drop the bar, use water and then polish it back with wax, you'd be amazed at how well it will look.

Finally, if you are going to use a high speed polisher, get one that has variable speeds. Ideally I polish my vehicles at about 1800 rpm. The key here is always keep the pad moving and never apply to much pressure. Otherwise you will burn the paint, especially the edges.

Remember polish/glaze is not a wax, once your done you wil have to wax your vehicle to keep that look.

Laterz ..

Ivan

[Peej]

A friend of mine owns a body shop and suggested a product made by 3M called "Finesse-It" I picked up a bottle this past weekend in order to get both boxes ready for the Scion Backstage event last Monday night. The results were unbeleivable especially on the RS4. I even had one of the Scion corporate guys come up and ask about it and question whether the car had been repainted because as he put it "I've never seen the colors pop like that before!" I have to say once I finished it and pulled it out of the garage I was amazed at how good it turned out and I too have never seen it pop colors like it does now.
Definitely worth the $20 I spent on it...worked great on the BOP as well.

Once done, I put a good coat of wax on it and there ya have it.

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o241/peej82/XB003.jpg

[bucsfanvic]

I've been detailing cars for about 10 years now. If you have any questions feel free to email me at victor-g1@comcast.net with dark colors i would stay away from any kind of buffers with wool pads if you don't have experience. Buffers are just used for filling in scratches and moving paint around. Orbitals are just good for applying wax. With a black car there are a couple of steps to take for a mirror finish. email me and let me know what you're up against and I can walk you through it. Don't go buying any equipment because alot of people use them for the wrong reason. If you use a polisher like porter cable(garbage by the way) with a wool pad. you'll get lots of buff marks and yeah when you wax they disappear, but when the wax starts to come off, they come right back. Let me know, I know some great stuff that I use and can help you so you don't have to spend a fortune at a detail shop. That goes for anyone. feel free to email me. Later.

victor