tim62

Hi all,

I think I am ready to get into rotary buffer. Can someone please advise me what to get.

Thanks so much in advance.

Tim

animeS2K

I'm assuming you're aware of all the "dangers" with rotaries, right? Well, it's not THAT dangerous, but you do have to be aware. It will take some getting used to if you're used to using a PC, but I seem to have picked it up pretty quickly and LOVE it.

I sprung for the Metabo (got mine at allprotools.com for $238 incl. shipping) since it's one of the lightest out there and built like a tank (German made). Many people like the Makita or DeWalt and Harbor Freight makes a CHEAP rotary for $30-$50... but you get what you pay for...

You'll need a rotary backing plate, but you can use foam pads made for the PC. I got my flexible backing plate at topoftheline.com.

Once you've got all that, it would be good to have rotary-friendly polishes. I'm REALLY enjoying using Menzerna Intensive Polish and Final Polish II. I also got some Optimum Polish from TOL along with my backing plate. I've been using Menzerna IP with a light cut orange pad for heavy swirl removal and getting buffer trails and holograms, but a pass with a white polishing pad and FP2 cleans those up and brings out some serious gloss. Optimum can be used with both pads for similar results. The results of PB's SSR line with rotary is less exciting... Meguiar's polishes would also be good, as would 3M's - it's a matter of what you like and are familiar with.

Get all that, a practice car or two, some good instruction and off you go

Good luck with it. I love it so much more than the PC.

s2ksimon

Dewalt 849 or Makita 9227 with a 7" flexible backing plate , with a 7.5" orange pad gets my vote

I prefer the dewalt as it has exact RPM showing instead of speed

I too am going the route of rotary.. much better in REMOVING swirls as opposed to the Porter Cable and less time.. and my Porter Cable is over worked.. it's had its day..

a few practice runs and you'll be fine..

Ubetit

No reason to jump right to a rotary. Rotary usage really is determined for me mostly by the paint defects present. There is no reason for me to use a rotary on my S2000 or G35, so the PC is my go to machine 95% of the time.


Having said that I love Optimum polish with my rotary and the 6" pads. I did a Mercedes that was a mess just recently. Optimum is easy to work for long periods of time and is ready for an LSP right away in many cases.

s2ksimon

[QUOTE=Ubetit,Aug 31 2005, 10:05 AM]No reason to jump right to a rotary. Rotary usage really is determined for me mostly by the paint defects present.

wanabe

tim-
just want to make sure that you are using the term rotary intentionally...
if you are new at using the machine, you most likely want a random orbital.
porter cable is still pretty much king of the hill for this.
if you really mean rotary (non-random)- which is for more advanced users (because of the possibility of burning paint), then you have great answers above-

Ubetit

s2ksimon, I got that one beat.


Behold the power of automatic car washes and my sister-in-law

s2ksimon

oh gawd !!

tim62

Wanabe,

Thank you for making sure that I used the right term. I have had my PC for about a year now. The PC is still a good machine to have for swirl marks but I feel that it takes for ever to get those off and it will not clean any deeper marks. I think it's time for me to step up and work on something more advance.

Tim

animeS2K

I gotcha all beat



this is what the other side looked like after I was done :