Showed up in the mail this afternoon, and I watched it right away. At almost three hours running time with not a lot of wasted time, it would have been a bargain at twice the price.

And as promised, I learned a few new tips, even though I've been detailing with a buffer for 20+ years. In particular, I found out that a lot of the habits I developed during all those years of using a rotary buffer do NOT translate well to using an orbital buffer. Specifically, I think the "arm speed" I've gotten used to using in order to prevent the rotary buffer from heating up the paint is probably a little too fast for an orbital buffer. I think that if I consciously slow down my arm speed when using the orbital, I may be able to remove the same severity of scratches/swirls, while using a lighter polish that what I've been using.

Most of the other techniques shown in the video are pretty close to what I've already been doing, but even if changing my arm speed is all I get out of the video, it will have been more than worth it.

Thanks, Richard!

 

yah, from my own trial and error, it's almost like you do everything in
slow motion but you're actually like going 10x faster then by hand.

 

I've only had a decent orbital for a few months, but last week, I was able to wet-sand some fairly deep scratches out of a friend's car and then use the orbital to remove the 2000-grit sanding haze with nothing coarser than some 3M "Finesse-It" fine-cut rubbing compound on an orange pad, followed up with Menzerna's Intensive Polish on another orange pad and Menzerna Final Polish II on a red pad. (Griot's pads)

The resulting finish was perfect, and if I could do that kind of repair with an orbital, I'm probably going to find that I'm using the old battleaxe (DeWalt DW849 rotary buffer) less and less as time goes on. I can get the same results with either one, but the orbital is so much lighter, and it's virtually foolproof.

 

^^ nice! i think the only way one could really mess up using an
orbital is if they dropped their pad on some sand and used it to
polish their car. well, a little sarcastic, but it's that fool poof as
you said.

i guess the only other tricky part is doing dark color cars to eliminate
micromarring on some paints. i havent noticed this on my black Legacy
though, using Griots pads, polishes, and wax. they have a real fool proof
system, imho.

 

I still can't get the hang of the Griot's "Best of Show" wax. I tried some on my hood tonight, using the orbital. I tried to leave the thinnest coat I could, but after letting it dry to a haze as per the directions, it was still an absolute bear to remove. I mean, it was stuck on there HARD.

I was using a DP Monster Fluffy towel to remove it, and I really wasn't comfortable with the amount of pressure I was having to use to get the wax up. As before, a spray of distilled water helped it come up a lot easier, but I can't help but think that's reducing the effectiveness of the wax somehow.

Maybe I'm still using too much of it, even with the orbital, so I'm not going to give up yet, but so far, I still prefer the Menzerna FMJ.

 

i use very little product and work it in while making at least 5
passes with the orbital until it appears to have evaporated.
then move to the next panel. sometimes i make more like
7-8 passes depending on how much product i have on the
pad.

i don't use much water, if any, and remove the haze by hand with
very little pressure. it takes more effort than Epic/NXT, but not
too much more.

 

It seriously is the thiiiiiiiiinnest coat. But it's not as easy to get off as Epic, which is why I switched (that, and I just like the finish better). What kind of pad are you using?

 

i'm using the Griot's red pad (their waxing pad). It sounds like I still may be using too much. Even if I get my technique down to make it easier to remove, I probably still won't use it on either of the MINIs on a regular basis, but I have a red, white and green Ducati motorcycle that's been completely wet-sanded and buffed out, and I think a carnauba would look awesome on it. Plus, there's less paint on a motorcycle, so if it's a little harder to remove, at least I'm not having to remove as much of it!

 

I'm trying to remember which one is firmer, their white or their red. I have both out in the garage but it's freezing out there. I want to say it's the white. Someone who knows for sure can back me up or correct me.

Anyway, point being, a firmer pad will help you get a thinner coat. But if it makes you feel better, I gave away my BoS to my brother-in-law after using Epic and seeing how easy it really could be.

 

i use the Griots red pad... BoS has a hard shell-like finish that maintains
its slickness for a very long time... which is why i have not had the
urge to remove it from my MCS. plus the warm finish looks great on
the IB.

 

Hi Scott!!! Thanks for the nice comments. That's what our customers have said--regardless of whether they were complete newbies or die hard detailers--they have always found atleast one thing they didn't know, or wasn't doing exactly right.

I use both the PC and the Rotary. Yesterday I worked on a black Lexus. The paint was fairly soft, but to remove the deep swirls and scratches would have taken forever with the PC, but a simple pass with the RB, followed by the PC to remove any buffer swirls, cleaned it right up.

I recently got a chance to try out some top secret products consisting of a special pad system and chemical for the PC, and found that the PC has the capability to almost do what the rotary does in most situations---but completely eliminating the second pass of removing buffer swirls.

Unfortunately, the company decided against launching the product because it didn't work in all situations. However, after using that system, everytime I picked up the rotary, I was also wishing for my PC.

The PC is definitely lighter, easier to control, you can control splatter much more effectively (less need if any to tape), and pretty much foolproof.

Actually Ken, I had a class where a student dropped the orbital while turned on, so it went rattling and banging on a car. And that wasn't his car he dropped it on.

They could also mess up if they lean the polisher on the ground, and it tips over and picks up some contaminants, and didn't realize it, and just used it.

They could also use a cutting pad not designed for the PC and the wrong chemical and haze up their finish.

Have you tried Epic or Meguiar's M21 yet??? They are very similar in terms of application and removal. Except M21 tends to separate whereas Epic stays consistently creamy. It's very easy to apply a thin coat--set the PC to speed 3 and use a W9006 (soft finishing pad) to apply it. Wipes off very easy with the Monster Fluffy. I used two MF's with the Lexus yesterday.

 

lots of failure mods on a pc!

the thing i like about the griots polisher is that the handle is a upside down
U shape so you can safely rest the orbital up-side-down on the handle.

 

Well, the PC has a handle too, but I remove the handle. The handles get in the way of polishing, and have the potential for hitting parts of the car or preventing access. But yeah, the U handle on a PC is nice.