Buffing and polishing???

[C_Schomer]

I just got a Porter Cable 7346 6" polisher and it came bare... no cover or polishing materials. I only have the foam polishing pad and a sanding disc. What I know about using this thing for polishing could be put on the point of a pin! I know I need polishing covers/rouges or liquids and that's it. I wonder if I should have gotten cotton wheels to use on a drill. I have no idea what to buy and searches aren't helping much. I want to polish my once mirror finished alum. treadplate bed, a clouded head light and maybe my FG 5er. Can someone get me going in the right direction, please? TIA! Craig

[down_home]

There aren't but one or two I let near my Mercedes with buffer/polisher... but only near.
They painted it, the whole side from a pencil size dent. Went over it with Overall. Looked beautiful until it was washed once and the sun got it hot and dust from the road. Swirls all over the place and in holes. Repaint twice til right and no Overall that makes paint looks os slick when it isn't.
Hand polish unless it is damaged and hand wax after washing off the polish.

[C_Schomer]

OK, it's all making some sense, now. I will also buy the book. I was at the Rock Star carwash, one day, on Dysart and watch a guy polishes somebody expensive sports car with a rotary. It took me awhile to figure out why he was working on one stop over the front wheel so long. He put serious swirls in it and he was trying to fix them. Craig

[westend]

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.

[C_Schomer]

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

[deandec]

I am no expert!!

But I have run an old two speed rotary polisher over most of my rig for many hours. I have yet to burn any paint with the wheel.

As previously said, get foam pads or wool pads that use hook and loop attachment. The pads will stay on the machine and last longer than those drawstring type pads.

Just as sand paper has different grits, polish and rubbing compounds do also to a degree..

Rubbing Compound (Compounding) is quite aggressive in surface removal.

Polish is less so (Polishing). I kind of view polish as a 1500 grit or higher wet/dry sandpaper grit level when polishing my painted and gelcoated motor home.

Pads are sold for varying levels of aggressive polishing or compounding. I think the wool pads are more aggressive than the foam pads and I use wool only for compounding.

I have had good luck with the Mcguiar's polishes but am not knowledgeable enough to compare them to 3M.

[Garry_Gayle]

Get the hook & loop backing pad if it did not come with it, I use either Meguiars, 3M or Lake Country foam pads for waxing and polishing.

[westend]

These guys have a pretty good selection of pads and such. I use cotton covers over a foam pad and rubbing/polishing compounds to get aluminum mirror bright. You'll want to start with a more abrasive rubbing compound and then move towards finer compounds. 3M makes the best rubbing compounds, IMO.
BTW, use a slow speed if you are going to polish any painted surfaces. That machine has a pretty fast top end RPM and could burn in some situations.