So broke down and bought a rotary buffer
 

at Wally World for 23.98. It's a 10" random rotary buffer that comes with 2 of the bonnets for applying and buffing the wax. I'll be waxing my car first thing tomorrow ( I detailed the outside today with the clay bar until there was no more sunlight left )

Ill post some pictures of everything when I get done and list the products I used (I used my balt for the entire winter including the salty months so I'm hoping it comes out pretty good)

Reserved for Product Reviews

I definitely need to do this

They aren't great, but they'll work fine if waxing is all you'll ask of it.

Yea, all I plan on doing is getting it waxed to get the swirls and minor surface scratches on the clear coat out. And my wife wants her Nissan done later too =(

im sorry if i am seeming like a dick here but i am a professional detailer for a living and i just wanted to clear a couple things up. what you bought is not a "rotary" buffer. you bought a random orbital or as many call it a "DA" (dual action). yes this will work fine for applying wax...that is about it. If you are looking to take any sort of scratches or swirls out, then a rotary is the only way to go. you might be able to get a small amount of the real fine scratches out if you use a good compound and a coarse pad with that DA but you will be there for quite a while. if you ever have any questions dont be afraid to hit me up in a pm or just on here...im always cool with giving some advice :)

^^^that although i dont entirely agree with some of your statements...

a porter cable 7424xp or a flex is a GREAT addition to any detailers bag of tricks. i see more hack detailers using rotarys then porter cables.

i agree the rotary is where its at....yes its the only true way to remove heavy imperfections, swirls, halograms, marring etc etc BUT for just a 2 step polish the porter cable is essentially idiot proof and does the job.

i dont recommend a true rotary for beginners at all.

I wouldn't trust that Wally World piece of shit to polish my cock, let alone the paint on my $24,095 vehicle.

"Break down" and buy a real buffer, like a Porter Cable DA.

this! i also use the 7424xp in certian situations in addition to my dewalt dw849 rotary...a great machine the porter cable is...and yes i also notice the same with hacks.

i am looking at getting a different rotary though. my dewalt has served me well but i am looking at picking up the makita 9227cy. a much better built piece IMO.

im kinda a beginer but i want to remove all the surface scratches out of my black car
what should i get?

Professional help. Seriously if you've never buffed a car you don't wanna learn on a black one, let alone your own, let alone trying to remove scratches. It takes practice , especially with a rotary, and you're gonna need a rotary to take out scratches completely.

This. Ive been working in body shop for almost a year and there just now letting me wet sand/buff. Its dangerous, guys with many years experience still burn through paint. If you have never buffed before dont even attempt it.

In all honesty if you wash the car then claybar it and generally keep it clean then one of the walmart cheapies will be just fine. they are good for waxes polishes and glazes. Heavier cutting compounds not so much. But for your run of the mill waxing and polishing duties it will work just fine. When your ready step upto the porter.

Just pick some good waxes/polishes etc

(been detailing cars for 13 years now)

hahah good to know so how do i learn?

looks like we currently use the same setup lol...minus the fact i have the flex da buffer too hahaha.

in all honesty spend the money on the new flex rotary. you will be VERY happy. ligher then the makita, smaller, and can work with up at a 8" pad. its truely a detailers buffer. flex makes some of the best products ive used. with the dewalt ive found the bearings are crap as ive had mine serviced twice for the same thing, the makita has the same issues and a few extras but a lot of guys love them. flex is next on my list.

go to a local detailer and ask a guy for help, sign up on like detailers domain or autopia and start reading and watching.

to learn with a rotary i had the advantage of working at a body shop for this BUT this is the best hting in the world to go. go to your local body shop and ask for some scrap panels that have good enough surface area left. like a hood, trunk, door, etc etc. they will let them go for ntohing at all. practice wetsanding, buffing, etc etc. if they havent been painted before its a GREAT way to learn and if you mess up who cares its scrap anyways. better a free panel then a 500+ dollar damage bill if you burn something.

this also. i still burn things once in awhile BUT something you should say is that buffing fresh paint or paint that has been redone from a body shop is 100% different then buffing factory clear. most body shops put 2-3 coats of clear where as the factory does like a one and a half coat.

take your time at low speeds....if your using 3m purple or perfect it products i found the best thing to do is a wool pad and 1700-1800, black foam pad and black swirl remover at 1400 rpm, and ultrafina at 1400 rpm. make multiple slow/steddy passes. also after cleaning your foam bads before you do anything take a spray of meguiars final inspection or a detailers spray and give the pad a spritz so that you soften the pad faster. when polishing with the 3m stuff you will notice a rainbow haze on the panels....make one more complete pass after you are done and then its time to wipe. i do whole panels then wipe

so instead of buying one for 200 bucks you think theres places that will expert detail my car for like 200? i just want a good clean wax and to get rid of some light scratches

My suggestion ,SAVE your money, those machines do more harm than good.

Most Popular Machines;

Porter Cable xp- Simple and user friendly.

Flex- For Experience users.

Milwaukee- High Speed for very experienced and Pro's

Porter Cable

https://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g...ble-7424xp.jpg

Flex

https://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g...exLW1503VR.jpg

Milwaukee

https://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g...x/M0155_lg.jpg

Craftsman Model# 10721 or similars J U N K
https://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g...oWax/sears.jpg

I use a pc7424xp and I haven't come across a scratch I couldn't fix minus past paint scratches lol

sounds like some of the exact same things that i do...except i break the panels down in to sections to ensure that i get everything...and i constantly check my work under intense lighting. instead of 3m i use meguiars solo compound at 1000-1500rpm and on rare occasions up to 1700-2000 if it is a really hard paint then move onto a black swirl remover called "midnight express" at 1300rpm. then i go and wax with meguiars gold glass carnauba wax. After that i wipe the whole car down with a plush microfiber and just a tiny spritz of final inspection here and there...the results are nothing less than stellar.

in the future i might switch it up and instead of the meguiars SOLO compound i will go with a combo of meguiars 105 and 205 compounds. this way i can be sure that even the slightest imperfection that may get left behind is taken care of

Well I did finish waxing the car. For the most part it removed most of the swirling and some fine scratches in the clear coat but I'm not 100% satisfied with the results. It looked better than before but not like professional results.

Thanks for the input though. I'm am an amateur when it comes to car care (Never had a car worth keeping clean all the time until now) and I'm just coming down off a deployment.

Oh yea that is very true, we use all 3M products which do great job. I just hate doing edges...I haven't burned through yet and I want to keep it at that. :lol: I also havnt gone over 1000 rpm's.

do you guys do any panels off the car or everything on? i can hit edges at 1800 rpm all day long and not burn through... i never buff with the pad completely flat.....i have a very very slight angle to to it but not enough to were you would notice a lot of it.

the buffer has a edge that it favors to be on that more then likely you wont burn through unless you stay in one place to long.

yeah i break panels down into sections but i complete one panel at a time before moving to the next....yeah i use 3m for the body shop and major correction jobs. 105 205 i use for details and what not or finishing. my favorite is menzerna but because of the economy i had to lower my prices a bit so a lot of my products were changed around to compensate price drop. my biggest surprise is the meguiars synthetic sealent 2.0. i had it on my car for approximately 5 months(with proper prep) driving daily with no wax layers on top. impressed me as i normally use swissvax.

if you need some advice feel free to pm me.