Polishing Without The Desired Result

[Trough Lolly]

despite what peanuts on here say, you WILL NOT remove heavier swirls/scratches by hand.

you need a Random Orbital with ATLEAST 2.5mm offset throw to do any sort of paint correction... remember theres polishing, and then theres Paint correction.

You can give a random Orbital to a 9 year old kid and 90% chance they wont burn the paint... RO's are the safest polisher to use for newbie to moderate skill, Then once your confident step upto a Rotary polisher.

All speed adjustable of course.

To the original poster of this thread, if you dont have a polisher, Try get out what you can with a All in one product like Poorboys Polish with Sealant, Then Wax & protect with Prima Banana Gloss Wax.

the banana gloss has fillers, so it hides scratches and swirls VERY good, its one of the best wax/fillers on the market today for ease of use and price.

Hope this helps.

If all else fails, do some research and find a Random orbital for cheap that has a 150mm backing plate and speed adjustable with ATLEAST 2.5mm offset rotation, any less and you wont be able to "correct" paint.. just coat.

Get a Lake Country CCS White pad, Some Menzerna 106ff Cutting liquid, and some quality wax.

All that should come to about $250 max, but you will have flawless paint your mates will envy.

[Panda Eyes]

I heard that maguires scratch x is good for removing 'sun swirl'. yay or nay?

[chippa]

^^^Well said Trough Lolly,were on the same page matey

[Chich]

Trough, I don't know what you would consider a heavy swirl or scratch, but having been in the industry for quite a few years, I can tell you that no swirl mark or light scratch (and by light I mean light to the point where it is only visible in certain light e.t.c) cannot be removed by hand with the right products, and a little patience. I will say, that machine polishing will always be a quicker way to do it, but you can do it by hand also.

[RSK]

the mothers 3 step kit will not remove swirls/scratches.. its a polish and protectant package basically.

you need some meguiars cutting compound such as Meguiar's Swirl X, bear in mind this will strictly do basic things like spider-webbing and swirls, it will not remove the tiny scratches, for something harsher to cut them out youll need to step upto something like Meguiar's Mirror Glaze Medium Cut Cleaner.

All the supercheap/autobarn/repco packs don't offer decent cutting compounds(infact they don't stock them period), only a detailing shop or online detailing shop would stock these. Is meguires ulta cut available at repco/autobahn etc? How about the medium/heavy cut compounds from glare, prima, menzerna

If anything see if you can go to a detailing clinic in your state. They'll teach you about claying, cutting compounds, polishes, waxes, pads, the orbitals to use. Very happy after attending one myself.

[Trough Lolly]

Any place that sells meguiars should be able to order in their profession range, Meguiars have ALOT of products that the average consumer has never seen before..

If the store was to stock all meguiars products it would need a while aisle dedicated to Meguiars.

Alot of their stuff is over-rated... the Next gen stuff is basically all crap. Full of silicone for eg.

Chich - You may be able to remove some swirling by hand, but not medium+ scratches as nearly all cutting products rely purely on SPEED OF ROTATION to break down their product... you simply cannot do it by hand and achieve the same result as a machine.

I was like you, always hated machines due to seeing to many failed results from friends who payed for quality services... but finding someone who actually knows how to use a machine for paint correction is like getting tab to drive 300rwkw, its a rare occasion!

To anyone wanting to know more about paint correction or general detailing, Sign up to www.detailparadise.com.au there is so much information its incredible.. it takes a while to get used to the slang talk of products and methods though!

[XR6TWolf]

Trough Lolly..... thanks a heap for the link to detail paradise.....talk about inspirational! There is some amazing stuff there.

Thanks also to everyone else who has contributed here. I have ordered an RO today along with Menzerna 106ff so (weather permitting) next weekend is detailing time. Hopefully by then my new wheels will have arrived so I can bolt them on to complete the look.

[Chich]

Any place that sells meguiars should be able to order in their profession range, Meguiars have ALOT of products that the average consumer has never seen before..

If the store was to stock all meguiars products it would need a while aisle dedicated to Meguiars.

Alot of their stuff is over-rated... the Next gen stuff is basically all crap. Full of silicone for eg.

Chich - You may be able to remove some swirling by hand, but not medium+ scratches as nearly all cutting products rely purely on SPEED OF ROTATION to break down their product... you simply cannot do it by hand and achieve the same result as a machine.

I was like you, always hated machines due to seeing to many failed results from friends who payed for quality services... but finding someone who actually knows how to use a machine for paint correction is like getting tab to drive 300rwkw, its a rare occasion!

To anyone wanting to know more about paint correction or general detailing, Sign up to www.detailparadise.com.au there is so much information its incredible.. it takes a while to get used to the slang talk of products and methods though!

I don't have anything againt machine polishing at all, I will not deny that it is a quicker way to get a good finish, with less effort IF you know how to use them. I have used so many different products, compounds and finishing products with a machine and by hand, and as I have said, I am yet to come by a swirl or scratch that you cannot use certain products to correct by hand, doing large areas of swirled or scratched paint is not very efficient, and you will be better off using a machine of sorts, which I prefer to use a variable speed buffer to do these types of things, (howevr I am quite experienced in using these machines and would't recommend teaching yourself on your expensive car) products like farecla and ppg's system one are great products to use with a machine, and will acheive a show quality finish if you know what you are doing.

[gilfxr6t]

IMO Menzerna is on another level when compared to Poorboys and Megs for sheer usability and results. Whilst it may be possible to polish a car by hand, there is no point as you will end up taking 500 hours with a poorer finish. With a orb or rotory you create the necessary heat to break the compound down, failure to reach this breaking point will result in either little correction or holograms.

For anyone out there who is looking for a sealant, try Optimum Opti-Seal it’s excellent.

[sark021]

Bought a Meguiars orbital a while back. Didn't use it for a long time as I wasn't confident because I was always used to doing it by hand and was afraid of doing something wrong.

Once I got the courage up, I too was disappointed with the result. But after playing around with it for quite a while, I found out the following:

I was too conservative with the speed, bumping up the speed to 5 out of 6 was the way to go. Using a speed of say 3 was useless. Also, I was too conservative on the grade of pad as I was scared of too much abrasion. I need not have worried about that either.

So with a higher speed, a higher grade of abrasive pad and a product like Scratch -X, the orbital did the trick and got the swirls out and left a very clean smooth finish. Then with a layer of good quality wax and your laughing.

IMHO, I wasted way too much energy (and too little result) doing it by hand and the orbital is the way to go if you get the set-up right and a bit of patience. But for those who think that hand polish is the way to go - go ahead - I'm sure you will benefit from the exercise (remember Danielson: wax on, wax off!).