I just wanted to understand exactly what polishing accomplishes....

Like most people, over time my car develops swirl marks. Normally I just use this as an indicator that it's time for a fresh coat of Zaino Z5 which does a great job of hideing them. So here's my question about polishing....

If I was to follow Richards DVD on polishing my car, would the swirl marks be gone? In otherwords, even if the car didn't have any wax on it, the swirl marks wouldn't be visible?

Mitch

 

Provided they are just swirls and not scratches then YES. Polishing actually REMOVES the swirls - why you'll hear Richard say "Swirl-free finish" about a zillion times...

 

Indeed... even waxed with good product, your car will look EVEN BETTER when polished up. My car was fairly flawless from the dealership when I bought it - I was pretty **** about checking it. But it looked MUCH BETTER after a quick polish with a random orbital polisher, let me tell you - like a mirror. The color was just so much richer afterwards (I have a metallic color). After the opolish and two coats of Prima Epic wax, it was (and still is) a thing of beauty.

And best of all, you get to use POWER TOOLS on your car. Win/Win!

 

after polishing, the car will look SUPER shiny and clean as if it had wax on it.

so all or most imperfections of the paint will be gone at this stage. any
deeper ones you will 'hide' with wax.

 

My wife bought me the Meguiers cordless obital buffer and polishing kit about 2-years ago. Sounds like I need to take the time to learn to use it.

(heading to online store to order Richards DVD on polishing)

 

Oh DUDE... you're going to have SO much fun...

PS - I need to get your wife around mine.

 

She'll be very happy that I'm finally going to put it to good use. The only time I actually used it is when my sister backed her rental car into a bush. There were long scratches down the entire side of the car. But with Scratch-X (the only product I had) and the cordless buffer the scratch came out in about 10 minutes. The rental car agency didn't say a word when she returned it. (she was very happy with me)

 

Scratch-X, I've come to learn, is actually a very good product. According to Heather over at Detailers Paradise, it's actually not QUITE as agressive as Prima's Swirl, making is somewhere in-between that product and their "Finish" polish. I've used it (by hand) on my Suburban with great results, so I can't wait to seee how good it looks after a treatment with the RO.

 

I really like Scratch-X too. It took a "scuff" mark from when another door hit my door and the paint transferred right off in maybe 5 minutes by hand.

I need to finally get out the PC today though. I just hauled a spa cover 50 miles strapped to Clara's roof. Nothing major, just exacerbated the swirls that I was already covering up

 

Which reminds me, I need to order some Swirl and White pads soon.

Need to check if the size works on the Griots back plate.

 

I really need to take a stab at my A-pillars. They are so nasty swirly.

I need to go check my blue tape supply before I do anything though.

 

I used some Polish3 in orange my 3" orange pad and it turned out great.

 

I can not type...

 

I used M80 on the 8006 (I think?) and my pillars now look great.

I need to go take some pics but the sun is setting. Clara looks better than the day I got her. Ultra-shiny.

 

Remember too that if your RO came with a screw-on WHITE pad that you CAN use that with Swirl or Scratch-X! Most people (myself included) simply put this pad in the box in favor of the Velcro-backed, larger pads, but in truth the "factory" white pad is good for lighty damaged (small swirls, etc) paint using a medium polishing product. For me that was great news - that little tid-bit of info increased the number of pads I have to use with my RO by 25%!

According to Detailers Paradise you can get awesome results with Swirl and the white pad if you allow the product to "break down" for a minute or two while you work the surface. Since the pad itself has such a fine "tooth" the product can also become smoother as its worked, resulting in a deep shine. Of course, for heavier swirls/scratches, you'll probably want to move up to an orange "cutting" pad - just be aware that a more agressive pad may leavebehind a light haze that you can easily remove with Finish and a white pad.

 

I saw the order, thanks!

Unfortunately, you may have less than spectacular results with the cordless orbital. Most of the Pros that bought it on Meguiarsonline thought it would make a great portable tool, however, it doesn't have the power of the PC, so your correction abilities will be very limited. The fact it got out a scratch on a rental may give some hope however, so since you have the tool, all you can do is try it. However, I don't think it is variable speed, nor will allow you to apply the kind of pressure needed to buff out swirls without the polisher bogging down.

Now as others have said, yes, polishing paint is a combination of using abrasives that reduce or eliminate swirls and or using pads of varying aggressiveness. Depending on whose system you choose, the Meguiar's system keeps a constant pad aggressiveness and varies the chemicals (essentially 3 choices). Other systems like Prima, use the Lake Country pads which are very different and offer a larger combination of aggressive pads to aggressive chemicals. Finding the right combination to solve your problem is key.

Check out this thread that compares the cordless to the corded PC
http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums...ead.php?t=7958



Richard

 

i wonder how long the battery lasts per charge and how long it needs to
sit on the charger? (too lazy to check)

 

It fits great. Used the black pad and epic on a customers car.

 

thanks for the info!

 

I really like epic with the black pad for light colored cars...I still like BoS for dark...it is warmer

 

yah, my IB looks fantastic with BofS. silver looks good
with bofs too, imho. not shiny, but a deep warm glow.

but on a color like my civic, bofs didn't do much as far as appearance.

 

Yeah, matching wax with paint color is very important. Also, understanding what others like is also important. Epic is much shinnier...which I find many people like.

 

yah, most people like shiny stuff... if we were to compare this to sound,
they like the boombox sound with lots of low and lots of high.

i tend to like a more flat (natural) sound..thus, the natural wax.

 

Much agreed. I like balance...I just wish I could learn that with my diet.

 

hehehe