New toy for christmas

[cherrybeard]

Hi, santa bought me one of these...

 

http://www.kingdomtools.co.uk/images/thumb/868658.jpg

 

900-3000rpm but with a speed control saying 1-6 rather than the actual speed. It comes with a really soft sheeps wool bonnet which i assumed would be for buffing off wax and stuff but apparently is for heavy compounding?! Glad i didnt jump in feet first there!

 

and some of these...

 

Polishing pads

 

I got a white, blue and a red one.

 

 

Ive been reading about machine polishing, the techniques etc but am confused about a few things.

I will be using g3, g10, 3m imperial hand glaze and either turtlewax ice or megs gold class.

 

G3 - The white pad description says that it is a polishing and buffing sponge but goes well with g3 so i assume this combo is fine? Any of you used g3 by machine? Not sure how long to work it, what speed, how much lubricant water/spray?

 

G10 - I think ill start with the red sponge and then use the blue if i think not much is happening?

 

Glaze - Always applied and buffed this off by hand. Would/could i use the machine for either step? If so what type of sponge?

 

Wax - Any mileage in buffing this off with the machine since i could leave the wax to haze for longer before removing it.

 

Speed of machine - Whats the maximum speed i should be using on the machine?

 

Wooly bonnet - When exactly should i use this one?

 

I know some of you have this same model polisher but not sure if you use the same products so any help would be appreciated as ill be starting both cars in 2 days! Girlfriend also got me a pucka camera so can take some nice pics too.

 

p.s. the supra is racing red but kinda pink in a few places with loadsa very shallow swirls everwhere. I got it back to red before summer by hand but certain areas have faded again. The escort paint is perfect although very minor swirls to deal with so was thinking just a light go over with the g10 for this one.

 

cheers people

[Shiner]

Hi mate,

 

first of all, you will need to thoroughly read this guide.

 

As regards to the pads / plates, I would probably get rid of them.

You need a 3m backing plate

And various pads (green = compounding, yellow = polishing, blue = finessing)

 

If you've not bought any polish yet, I'd say don't buy Farcela, it's hard to break down, and marr's easily. I'd suggest 3m, but that's expensive. So have a look on www.cleanyourcar.co.uk for various polishes (You may want to Menzerna products as it spreads easily)

 

With the machine, generally:-

 

1 Pass on speed 1 to spread the product

3-4 passes on speed 1.5 to start breaking it down.

as many passes as required on speed (2or3 depending on the paint hardness) until the polish turns clear.

 

Then a couple passes on speeds 2, then 1.

 

Don't use the wool IMO

 

HTH

[cherrybeard]

Hi shiner, cheers for the advice, id actually already gone outside to start it! I read that guide about three times before starting and used a very similar process to what you suggested. The technique i used was as follows (obviously after washing and claying each panel properly).

 

Soak the pad and wring it out.

X pattern of G3 on the pad.

Mist spray of water on the pad and two or three on the area to be polished. (about 2-3ft)

Make a few blotches over the area i want to start on.

Speed 1 on the rotary and quickly spread it out over the desired area. About 2-3 passes on this speed.

Once the polish started going clear i went up to speed 2 and done another 3-4 passes, possibly going up to speed 3 if it was a really pink area!

Back down to speed 2 for a few passes.

Back to speed 1 for a few passes.

Finally a few more passes on speed 1 with virtually no polish on the panel, just continual sprays of water.

 

Notes on water usage........

I was aware of G3 being very aggressive and so as soon as i felt the polish start to dust up or the panel go a little dry (even after a few passes on speed 1), i used a few mists of water spray to wet the area again. Im not sure whether you need to do a few passes whilst the polish is fairly dry or not or whether to keep the panel constantly wet. I went for the safe option and misted the pad and panel almost after each pass of the area and more frequently on faster speeds. This seemed to have a negative effect since the polish 'dissolved' quicker the more water you used and im not sure whether the product was able to do its stuff before being washed away.

 

However the results were better than i expected and i didnt get any buffer trails, holograms, swirls (the old swirls were completely gone as well!) or other unwanted side effects.

 

I followed each area immediately with the G10 and used the exact same technique as for the G3, although im not sure that the G10 made much more of a difference. I used the medium grade pad for both polishes.

 

Well, theres my experience with G3 on the machine so if anyone has any input or comments then id appreciate that. Can i put 8MP pictures up on here or should i turn the quality down a bit?

[hamspeed]

Definitely put some pictures up they're always useful. Good thread, the 206 has gone quite Pink in a couple of area's and I want to restore the colour before its sold... Would you recommend Facela overall? I was thinking of using Autoglym Colour Renovation but i'm not sure its abrasive enough for the jobs that need doing... Edited January 4, 2009 by hamspeed

[mykez69]

do you wash the polishing pads after used them?

[cougaruk]

Where in essex are you......i could show you if you want

 

Kev

[cherrybeard]

Hamspeed - i would definitely recommend farecla to do the job. I really did think that the pink faded paint meant a respray but i did it by hand over the summer and they all disapeared, only problem was the scratches it left behind. Now ive got the rotary, there are no scratches from compounding and its a hell of a lot easier! Still very time consuming, i only managed the bonnet, front wings and part of the front bumper over the course of a 3-4 hour time slot i had.

However, i only recommend G3 since its the only thing ive tried so take that as you wish. All i know is that it done the job i wanted it to do.

 

Mykez - If i wasnt going to use them for 15 mins or so, i kept the pad wet so the polish didnt dry on it. Afterwards i soaked them in soapy water (car shampoo) and then in plain water and they didnt lose any shape or softness etc. New to all this still, but it worked for me.

 

Cougar - would be excellent if you could watch me do a panel and see if im doing it completely wrong! Im in rochford but dont want to put you out so i'll visit soon, thanks for the offer!

[mykez69]

thanks matey, i never really thought about how to clean pads

[Trig]

Im a fan of Menz PO85RD3.2, its a med to light cut (about a 6 out of 10 I think) and is very good at getting swirls out, and the majority of random scratches when you dont want to risk using something like a compound to avoid striking through the clearcoat.