Oscillating Buffers

[LikeCDoos]

Does anyone use one of these. A friend of mine told me about these this weekend and he said they don't leave swirl marks. That was my reason for never using a orbital buffer was because of the swirl marks. But if this is true about not leaving swirl marks it would sure be nice to get one because hand waxing takes so much time. Let me know what you guys have heard of any personal experiences. A link to a good deal on one would be great too. thanks guys

[bimmerphile]

I use a random orbital buffer (same thing I think) works great, no swirl marks, and an uber nice shine. Just make sure you can replace the pad/cover easily.

[LikeCDoos]

how much did you pay? where did you purchase

[nando]

I have one that I haven't used yet. I might put it to use this summer at the BMW concours show, but I have to get over my preference for rubbing my hands all over the body of my car. 8)

[UNHCLL]

Dont be a sissy.

On my last E30 (Chapels Current car) I hand rubbed a cleaner, and then Meguiars once every 2 weeks.

Hand rubbing out the car does 2 things:
-Lets you see any possible new "dings/dents/scratches"
-builds upper arm stamina.

Spare me the masterbation jokes...
:roll:

[LikeCDoos]

when i wax my car i usually first clay bar, cleaner, polish, and then wax. all those steps take awhile and it would be nice to save some energy/time.

[///M42 sport]

There's a reason why only professionals use orbitals. Its the only effective way "work" out damaged paint and swir marks.

Hand waxing doesn't create enough heat to "cut" into the paint so only serves to cover up imperfections.

I think a good compromise is to get a porter cable. They make the random orbital #7446 that is considered pretty safe. If you go this route your gonna have to get specific pads and end up spending about $200 on machine a pads, not to mention specific cleaners and waxes.

I've been thinking about the cost benefit of time saved with a ROM or doing it by hand but the $$ solves that problem. heh.
________
SICK FROM PRILOSEC

[bimmerphile]

when i wax my car i usually first clay bar, cleaner, polish, and then wax. all those steps take awhile and it would be nice to save some energy/time.

1st- don't claybar any more than once every 6 months
2nd- if you read the HD cleanse or Zymöl Cleaner Wax bottle, it says to use it every 3-4 months or so.
3rd- apply polish by hand
4th-buff with buffer
5th- still apply the wax by hand. If you ever start using some good wax (like zymöl estate glazes) literally apply it by letting the wax melt in your hand.
6th- buff with buffer
7th- any final "detailer" or "color" enhancer also should be done by hand.

[LikeCDoos]

i only claybar everyother time i wax, wich would turn out to be around 6 months, maybe a bit less. I'm up at school so it's been forever since my last good wash and wax. I think i'm going to stay away from buffers, i don't want to mess up my paint.

anyone have any suggestions to cleaning the rockerpanels other than soap and water? i'm thinking of repainting but would rather just clean them up if i could. you can see in my sig pic that the rockers are the dirtiest part of the car.

[Clay'87IS]

Tire gel? I use that sometimes after I wash them and wipe them off with a towel. Just put it on and wipe it off, dont gook it all up.

[Jb325is]

when i wax my car i usually first clay bar, cleaner, polish, and then wax. all those steps take awhile and it would be nice to save some energy/time.

1st- don't claybar any more than once every 6 months
2nd- if you read the HD cleanse or Zymöl Cleaner Wax bottle, it says to use it every 3-4 months or so.
3rd- apply polish by hand
4th-buff with buffer
5th- still apply the wax by hand. If you ever start using some good wax (like zymöl estate glazes) literally apply it by letting the wax melt in your hand.
6th- buff with buffer
7th- any final "detailer" or "color" enhancer also should be done by hand.

Your right about the claybar and cleaner wax, but it is much easier to apply polish with a buffer and a clean pad. As long as you have a good buffer, and you can adjust the RPM to ~1000 you will get great results. But you MUST have a good clean finishing pad (I use 3M's) and keep the speed down. If you use cotton applicators they can actually leave marks (not scratches, but a pain nonetheless) if they are exposed to cold, or humid conditions right after the polish is applied. Im talking about a polisher too, not a random orbital, Im not a big fan of RO's, I learned on a polisherl and im stickin to it, you just have to be CAREFUL

[Numbersix]

Read this:

http://www.roadfly.org/magazine/7/porter_cable_buffer.3.html

The P-C is a known standard of random orbitals.

This is what I own: Porter-Cable 7336.

Contrary that what has been said above, a random orbital doesn't introduce much in the way of heat. A novice does NOT want the paint to get hot; heat--usually created by a high-speed direct drive buffer--in combination with the abrasives in the polishing compound can introduce swirl marks, can leave swirl marks or remove paint on body lines, seams, etc where paint is thinner to begin with.

A P-C, even with a wool pad and polishing compound, will be hard-pressed to do this.

[Numbersix]

I should add--

Thanks to the paintwork I had done on the BMW last November, I've yet to buff it. In fact, it's never been effectively polished/ buffed since it was resprayed.

I'm verylooking forward to working on it this spring when the weather gets warmer.

[///M42 sport]

yeah, I was talking about a regular orbital which the pros use.

What kind of wax do you use with the random orbital numbersix?
________
Bigboobs

[bimmerphile]

yeah, I was talking about a regular orbital which the pros use.

What kind of wax do you use with the random orbital numbersix?

you can apply a liquid wax directly on the pad, or use a paste wax by hand and buff it off.