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Thinking of buying a polishing machine


foggy147
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The G220's are not to bad mate, i've got 3 of them in the van :) They should have got over the 'issues' they had when first released of dodgy bearings and speed switches failing, hence V2 coming out.

 

If you are going to get one i would recommend the Menzerna kit over the Sonus. Also factor in that you will need the smaller backing plate to go with it for tighter areas, and therefore smaller pads to.

 

Do not be fooled that by having one of these will decrease the amount of time it takes to polish a car. It comes down to what you are trying to achieve. If you just want some gloss then fine, if you are trying to 'correct' the paint, it takes an awful long time.

 

You will also really want to practice on other panels first before taking it to a supra as you have a nice car. To be fair, you would seriously have to go some to damage paint with one of these, compared to a rotary, but it still doesnt mean you can just pick it up and be completely confident and satisfied with the results.

 

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Edited by Stonkin (see edit history)
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The G220's are not to bad mate, i've got 3 of them in the van :) They should have got over the 'issues' they had when first released of dodgy bearings and speed switches failing, hence V2 coming out.

 

If you are going to get one i would recommend the Menzerna kit over the Sonus. Also factor in that you will need the smaller backing plate to go with it for tighter areas, and therefore smaller pads to.

 

Do not be fooled that by having one of these will decrease the amount of time it takes to polish a car. It comes down to what you are trying to achieve. If you just want some gloss then fine, if you are trying to 'correct' the paint, it takes an awful long time.

 

You will also really want to practice on other panels first before taking it to a supra as you have a nice car. To be fair, you would seriously have to go some to damage paint with one of these, compared to a rotary, but it still doesnt mean you can just pick it up and be completely confident and satisfied with the results.

 

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

 

Thank you for such an informed reply stonkin:) So what advice would you give for me being such a noob with something like this? Is there any particular techniques I should follow?

 

My main aim is just to get the car looking as best as possible in regards to polishing and waxing, the car only really has a few swirl marks and to me seems in good condition. Just seems that sometimes after cleaning, polishing and waxing I still feel it could be shinier, or maybe it's just because I have a colour that's not the norm lol.

 

Also can these literally only be used to polish?Or can you also use to put the wax on and buff?

Edited by foggy147 (see edit history)
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Foggy i recently bought a Kestrel DAS6 and still havnt used it yet, do you want to borrow it?

 

Hey mate yeah that would be great!, do you think you will ever use it?As if not and if it does a good job id happily buy it off you if you don't want it anymore? Gvie you a chance to check out the car with it's refurbed alloys too lol

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Your welcome Foggy, my advice would be 2 options.

 

1. If you do go for it, as above, i would get the menzerna kit, i didnt fully read it but believe it comes with cutting and polishing pads so also factor in finishing pads. If your going to these lengths, you may also want to look into clay bars, glazes, pre wax cleansers and of course decent waxes if you dont have already.

As far as using the equipment, always start with the least abbrasive polish and pad and work your way up if not recieving the results you require. But remember that it could also quite likely be down to technique and not product. You should never remove more paint/clearcoat than you need to by rushing in with too abbrasive products. Spread the polish on slower speeds, then work your way up to break the polish down, applying adequate pressure to keep the pad rotating at a certain speed, generally 1 or 2 revolutions per second, drawing a thick line on the backing plate will help hugely with this. Then work your way back down to refine the finish. Keep work areas small, around 1 to 1.5 foot square or the polishes will not be broken down correctly. Always remember to keep relaxed, if you are tense it will be very uncomfortable to use and not give good results.

 

It takes a lot of time to get confident with them, to learn what polish and pads are required and what techniques are required for what products, but if you put the time in you will get good results :)

 

2. Get a professional to detail the car for you and then you maintain it from there which will be a totally different task compared to what you are used to, ie, you will find it far far easier to create a good finish yourself, in less time. It will also probably cost similar to buying all the stuff once you add it up plus extras you will want once you start dyving in. You also need to consider how often you would use a piece of equipment like this compared to its cost.

Edited by Stonkin (see edit history)
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Your welcome Foggy, my advice would be 2 options.

 

1. If you do go for it, as above, i would get the menzerna kit, i didnt fully read it but believe it comes with cutting and polishing pads so also factor in finishing pads. If your going to these lengths, you may also want to look into clay bars, glazes, pre wax cleansers and of course decent waxes if you dont have already.

As far as using the equipment, always start with the least abbrasive polish and pad and work your way up if not recieving the results you require. But remember that it could also quite likely be down to technique and not product. You should never remove more paint/clearcoat than you need to by rushing in with too abbrasive products. Spread the polish on slower speeds, then work your way up to break the polish down, applying adequate pressure to keep the pad rotating at a certain speed, generally 1 or 2 revolutions per second, drawing a thick line on the backing plate will help hugely with this. Then work your way back down to refine the finish. Keep work areas small, around 1 to 1.5 foot square or the polishes will not be broken down correctly. Always remember to keep relaxed, if you are tense it will be very uncomfortable to use and not give good results.

 

It takes a lot of time to get confident with them, to learn what polish and pads are required and what techniques are required for what products, but if you put the time in you will get good results :)

 

2. Get a professional to detail the car for you and then you maintain it from there which will be a totally different task compared to what you are used to, ie, you will find it far far easier to create a good finish yourself, in less time. It will also probably cost similar to buying all the stuff once you add it up plus extras you will want once you start dyving in. You also need to consider how often you would use a piece of equipment like this compared to its cost.

 

I can't imagine I would use it more than maybe once every couple of months. It's annoying the fact my car is parked on a drive and not in a garage so as soon as we have any bad weather it just makes it looks like it's had a wash and dry rather than a polish or wax.

 

My cousin does valeting for toyota and he's definately more adept at it than the average joe blogs car cleaner out there as he's a perfectionist and put's the time and effort into making sure it's right so I'm sure he could help in using the machine polisher properly.

 

From your point of view for a guy who doesnt have a garage to store the car do you think it's worth going to this sort of effort? I do always put a polish on the car everytime I clean the car which is always at least once a week without fail so I suppose I do more than what alot of people probably would

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Any effort to maintain a good looking car is worth the effort mate, garage or not :)

 

Also, may just be confusing terms. But when you say you polish it every time you wash it, do you actually mean polish or wax? You will not need to polish it each time, and if you are then you would be better waxing as it will last longer than just a polish sitting on the paintwork unprotected, and even then you would not need to wax every time. Once a month would be fine. You could then top it up with various spray detailers/sealant inbetween waxing such as Zaino Z8 or Red Mist.

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Hey mate yeah that would be great!, do you think you will ever use it?As if not and if it does a good job id happily buy it off you if you don't want it anymore? Gvie you a chance to check out the car with it's refurbed alloys too lol

 

 

Sorry mate i will definateley be using it as i have quite a few cars to do, its just fiding the time when its dry and i'm not in work.

 

Just gimme a shout when you need it as its at my dads.

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Any effort to maintain a good looking car is worth the effort mate, garage or not :)

 

Also, may just be confusing terms. But when you say you polish it every time you wash it, do you actually mean polish or wax? You will not need to polish it each time, and if you are then you would be better waxing as it will last longer than just a polish sitting on the paintwork unprotected, and even then you would not need to wax every time. Once a month would be fine. You could then top it up with various spray detailers/sealant inbetween waxing such as Zaino Z8 or Red Mist.

 

I usually polish but now and again I put wax on as well, the wax I use is just the meguires spray on stuff which is obviously probably not the best wax out there it's just very easy to use. Maybe the option of getting it detailed pro[erly and then maintain it might be cheaper, will have to weigh up the different options. Ive seen the work you do and everytime I see it always looks amazing and if you could get my car to look half as good i'd be over the moon lol!

 

Neil - if the weather gets better would be good to do it on sunday afternoon but if thats to soon just let us know whenevers best for you, nice one :)

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Neil - if the weather gets better would be good to do it on sunday afternoon but if thats to soon just let us know whenevers best for you, nice one :)

 

I will pick it up from my dads tonight so just any night after tonight will do. I wont need it back for a couple of weeks.

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I will pick it up from my dads tonight so just any night after tonight will do. I wont need it back for a couple of weeks.

 

Cheers bud saved me a fair wad of cash there :)Will come and collect tomorow night then if thats ok?Just pm me your postcode again.

 

Will pick up some good compound, in fact stonkin theres a question for you do you think the best polishing compound will be? Sorry for all the questions!

Edited by foggy147 (see edit history)
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Dont go mad with it believe me i did the same when i started buffing. Its so very easy to burn the paint by spending to much time in one place. Lubrication, slow speed and patience is what you need to have when doing stuff like this.

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right in the middle of what i call the silly season , peeps see work done on DW and forums by the likes of us pros , and spend a fortune on getting the kit which is only half the battle because they then dont know how to use it , ok its not rocket science , but it does take time to know what combos to use , then they get fed up because the results are crap and end up selling the gear at a huge loss .

personally i would always suggest to get the car done properly by a pro , and in the process he will then show you what products you need and correct technique to keep it swirl free .

so yes you will have an initial outlay , but save money in the long run.

foggy , what you doing about the foam lance ?

Edited by peter richards (see edit history)
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