Buffing and polishing???

C Schomer wrote:
Thanks guys! Can the foam pad that came with the polisher be used w/o a cover? Do I need covers to preserve the foam pad? I figured a had to buy covers. I think I better buy the $13 instruction book for the polisher! Craig

Yes it can. You may want to use more than one pad, though. Polishing, especially aluminum to bright finish is a succession of finer compounds. If you use a coarse compound on your foam pad and then want to use a finer compound, the pad will retain some of the coarser compound, no matter how good you wash it. The instruction book would be money well spent, IMO.

Here's a picture of an aluminum heatsink polished to mirror bright using compounds and similar buffing machines:



Also, to the poster that said he's never burned a finish with a machine, 'attaboy. The thing is, it only takes one time to really put yourself in a bad spot.