So how are those random orbital buffers as opposed to the high-end rotary-grinder style ones? Are they half decent for polishing and waxing? I noticed they seem to be one rpm (well, opm) and it is usually about 2600 or 2900.

Anyone use these?

 

Yeah, I have a 10' orbital buffer by SIMONIZE. I have used it for the past 6 years. Works awseome!! Here is a pic just after waxing

 

For an amateur, the Porter Cable 7424 polisher is the best thing you can buy.

There are threads about it in several places, like autopia for example.

The rotary buffers can cause a lot of nasty damage if you don't know what you are doing.

 

This is true but once you learn how to use them you can do more with them and get a much better shine than with an orbital. Everyone should have both.

 

I agree, with a rotary you can do much more, including removing more serious defects. But, you need to know what you are doing.

Wity my PC random orbit and some good compounds, I can get what I consider to be very good results for my driver quality cars. If I had a showcar or a Ferrari, maybe I'd feel the need to step it up to rotary. I actually have a Milwaukee rotary, but don't use it, for fear of burning my paint since I am no pro.

 

I 100% agree. If you just want to buff to get swirls out, a 7424 and the proper compound will work just fine.

 

Let's make sure we're all talking about the same machine here. The single speed machine you mention is a far cry from the Porter Cable 7424 that others here have mentioned. The 7424 is a fantastic tool that can do some serious paint correction with the proper chemicals and techniques while being almost idiot proof at the same time. It's nearly impossible to burn through the paint with one of these, unless you're dealing with original paint on a 30 year old car that has been polished countless times and is getting pretty thin.

The rotary that many have mentioned is certainly the ultimate tool, but in the hands of an unskilled user they can do more damage than good and it can be difficult to get a hologram free finish using one if your technique isn't perfect. But it can do a lot more work, correct more serious defects and reduce polishing time significantly.

The cheap 10" random orbital buffers are fine for applying and removing wax, but simply don't have the power to do real serious work, unless the car you're working on has very soft paint. I've seen a case where one did a halfway decent job on a Mazda Miata but those cars have crazy soft paint. On something like a Mercedes Benz with the CeramiClear paint they won't do a darn thing. For the most part they really aren't worth the money, IMHO.

 

I use a Makita 9227c polisher and it works great,add a lil 3m perfect cut III compound and you are good to go!! No worries mate!! Easiest tool i ever used, i even use it on my plenum and rails. For the finale I use auto magic xp car glaze for the best showroom shine!!

 

A pic of someones car on Autopia. 7424 and some polish. You don't need a rotary to see results.

 

I partly disagree. I think that an inexpensive dual action/ random orbital polisher can work and give good results. It is more about the speed of the pad and the orbits per minute. Buffing new paint after wet sand needs a rotary polisher, but after that for swirl or fine scratch or haze removal, almost any lower speed dual action would work well. 3000 is too high for anything on paint though. All the painting guys I have meet usually do not use above 2250 RPM for a rotary polisher.

 

I partly agree. Most modern clear coat finishes are just too hard for a cheap orbital to do the work though, and if the swirls are really bad it just won't get rid of them all like a PC7424 will. Just try putting a little pressure on one and it bog down and stop moving. Hell, even the PC7424 will hardly touch Mercedes CeramiClear paint though - you need a rotary for that.

As for 3000 rpm on a rotary.....yikes!!!! That's a paint burner if ever I saw one!! And no offense to the painting guys you've met, but 99.999% of body shops are production environments, meaning all they want to do is get that new paint buffed out and shiny, then maybe throw a quick glaze on to hide their buffer swirls. They aren't charging people for a perfectly buffed out, swirl free finish so they don't do it. They're paint and body guys, not detailers. There's a big difference, and it is NOT a slam against painters at all. To them time is money, and the more time they spend painting and the less they spend buffing, the more money they make. I've seen plenty of very well done paint jobs that were just covered in rotary holograms and swirls. Nothing at all wrong with the paint, and it's easily corrected. It's just not what paint and body guys do.

 

I am cofused, are we in agreement that a dual ation is best for fine scratchs, swirls and haze? The power of the motor is a consideration also I forgot, and most inexpensive dual actions do not have a great motor.

 

Wow! thanks for the replies guys. For some reason i wasn't getting emails from the site saying there was replies.

I am a little confused though as there seems to be comments on both sides.....it definitely sounds like a rotary buffer is the professional way to go (although i am not aiming for a show car quality as it sees some weather and once you wash it, some swirlies are impossible to avoid). So are they pretty good at removing/reducing swirlies/oxidation? The main goal is to reduce swirlies.

One person mentioned the speed in the low 2000's rpm, however, the orbitals go in opm....what would be the ideal there?

Background:

Being a novice and always done by hand before, there were a few funny spots on the paint last year (acrylic enamel by the way, and red). I used maguiars fine cut cleaner and then saw a redder spot So then i did the whole hood by hand and the red spot is not noticeable now but there are definitely more swirlies now when you catch it in the light. I followed that up with their swirl remover polish and then polymer sealant wax but it didn't reduce them much. Ironically the roof looks better though with much fewer swirlies (made a red spot there to and did the whole roof by hand). I guess it has something to do with how the fine cut cleaner was used? rubbed to long maybe? But anyway, i was hoping an orbital would help this (inexpensive and not show car so don't want to pay big coin for detailing).

Sorry for rambling guys All your help is appreciated!

 

It is critically important that you use the correct chemicals with the correct machine and then have proper technique to tie the whole process together. Fine Cut Cleaner is really not a great product to use by hand, but on a rotary it's awesome. Not so great on an orbital either as it needs the power of a rotary to break it down.

If you're serious about getting an orbital then do yourself a favor and get a Porter Cable 7424. With the right pads and chemicals you can get rid of swirl marks and bad water spotting and produce a near flawless finish. The pictures below are of a detail job I did on a friend's car recently. This is a 2001 model vehicle she's owned since new but parks outside all the time. She waxes it every couple of months but mostly takes it through automatic car washes so the paint looked pretty bad. The first shot shows the kind of swirls and water spotting I had to deal with, the second shot is after I polished half the hood (there is NO wax on it at this point) and the third shot is a representation of how the entire car looked when I was done.

I used a PC7424, Meguiar's M80 Speed Glaze and Meguiar's M20 Polymer Sealant to finish it all off. I never did bust out the rotary for this job. A cheap autoparts-store orbital would never have given a finish like this.