wrx-sok

iTrader: (1)

Anyone used or own one of these?
Thinking about buying some sort of mains powered polisher,did a search and discovered the porter cable,are the any good ,and how easy are they to use?

brocks

iTrader: (3)

Just bought myself one of these after starting to get into the detailing side of things.............do a search for Autogeek and then their PC+Poorboys package......works out about £130 for the PC itself+ backing plate and pad.....you also get a load of other products......3 different pad combos, 2 levels of swirl remover, 2 spray and wipe paintwork gloss, 2 microfibres, and 2 extra free pads......postage is another £45 on top of this and mine arrived withing 5 days direct from USA

Product is ONLY available in US at the minute and as such you then also require a step down transformer (yellow box thing), and an extension cable etc.........Autopia, Cleanyourcar and Detailingworld also have in depth videos showing it in use....

AWESOME product and the results CANNOT be achieved by hand polishing/waxing IMHO.....If you go onto RMS Northern Ireland Performance Car Modified Enthusiasts, Track Day, Drifting Cars and visit their car car page, any detail by R6THM shows exactly what this CAN do to a car in the right hands...I have found it to be really easy to use and you cannot damage the paintwork......

brocks

iTrader: (3)

Blue Corsa C - RMS

Black Mr2 Turbo (lots of pics..) - RMS

Few of R6THM's detail jobs just to make things easy for ya LOL The MR2 is quite possibly the best transformation of any car I have seen recently and shows exactly what Porter cable can be used to achieve.......plus Ruth is an absolute star at giving out advice and guidance on which pad/polish combo to use on which car etc.....

bekee

nooooooooooooo way! wooooooooooooooooooooow

wrx-sok

iTrader: (1)

Brocks that's an amazing transformation allright.
Do you find it easy enough to use,i mean could you do any damage with this polisher,It does look very similar to an angle grinder

gojonnyjo

iTrader: (1)

great shine, I have a bluepoint polisher and use it on mine twice a tear, just need to b careful on what stuff you use, some polishes and compounds actually take a layer of the clear or paint off, hence why the the sponge cloth is is the colour of your car, now if you get a grey stuff on your cloth, well thats some laquer, no cars have a good thick coat of paint / clear and if you use this stuff 1 a week, ya can be sure after a couple of years u wil be down to undercoat, after all if it takes the swirls out, basicaly sanding it out.

brocks

iTrader: (3)

The beauty of Porter Cable is the fact that it is "random orbital", cams control the head of the polisher, so it doesnt just spin, it revolves randomly, meaning burning the paint is damn near impossible......

They say to practice, go to a scrap yard and get an old bonnet to practise on first.......I got my mates Alhambra which was fcuked after years of neglect and practised on it LOL. I couldnt make it any worse, and he couldnt believe the way it came up..

Even as a complete novice I found it unbelievably easy to work with.....and there are loads of demo videos on Jon44w.Com, Northern Ireland`s Number One Modified Car and Cruising Site and reallymeansounds to show how to get started.........basically, you cant go wrong.....the system removes the swirls instaed of "filling" them with polish and wax, which is them removed by washing.....

Check Ruths detail jobs as to what products she uses and how she washes the car and clays it first. VERY important to clean the paint surface before PC'ing so you dont grind particles onto the paint.......

I cant recommend this system enough, but you also need to know what each stage of cleansing is and does first.........a VERY basic list of what to do is below...............

1. Rinse car
2. Soap and wash using 2 bucket method ( one with soap, one with clean water for rinsing your WOOLEN WASH MIT....don NOT use a sponge as this is what swirls a car in the first place
3. Rinse and dry using either a drying towel or similar
4. Clay the car, using quick detailer(QD) as a lubricant (Meguiars Quick clay is a good product here, and Meguiars is always known as Megs in detailing circles btw
5. Re wash to remove clay residue
6. Re dry
7. Begin de swirling using PC and pad combo with POLISH.......any POLISH will have a cutting element to it, the degree of cut required matched to the correct pad will remove swirls from the bodywork, always use the least cut possible to protect the clearcoat..........Meguiars#83,#80, Menzerna IP/FF (Intensive Polish, Final finish) etc are amongst the best
8. Glaze coat to bring out the "wet look" that is desired, Autoglym (AG) Super resin polish is good as it does not contain a cutting element, there are many other products availbale
9. Wax....personal preference this and depends on the colour of the car, some waxes are hard wearing and dont need re applied as often, but do not give a "show shine", others are superb for a short time but need to be re applied often as they dont wear well examples are Nattys Blue, P21, any Chemical Guys or Poorboys products
10. Clean wheels and seal with wheel sealant and tyre dressing, dress whell arches with Meguiars "All Season dressing" for a really black wet look
11. Clean glass
12. Hoover and interior


I always use micro fibre cloths to remove wax residue, and for any surface cleaning, and these can be bought really cheaply from Tesco's etc

Once the de swirl is complete, you will only have to wash, dry and wax to keep the finish top notch. I am putting myself up there as people will always ahve their own ways of washing/cleaning thier cars...this is just what I would do when carrying out a "full" deep clean of my car every 6 months or so.....takes afull day, but the results last for months with very little effort after this sort of session..........

fabiostar

run that past me again there..

thats a lot of elbow grease big man. and ill ask the first dumb *** question....clay?? as in what is it.and whats it do..

just before i nip out to the garden and wack the front garden onto the bonnet

fabio

brocks

iTrader: (3)

Detailing clay, removes ALL surface contaminants, prior to using a PC or buffing machine......will remove all bonded material such as bird crap residue and tar spots, means the surface is technically "prepped" prior to putting any product onto the paintwork......claying again does not need done that often , but is a great way to improve the finish on the car and is not that time consuming nor expensive....The Megs kit from Halfrauds is about £12

Thansk Fabio for not taking the pi$$ and actually asking a constructive question .........

Very out of character for you there young man LOL

davey21wagon

that s some difference which i could be arsed doing that to my car

bpm1588

there's a good deal on now with the autopia web-site

Car Polishers: Sonus SFX Ultimate Detailing Machine

not the porter cable but being pushed as being better.also there's a 20% off voucher " SAVEBIG " till the 5th.
i bought a porter cable last year with these guys,great service and what with the dollar being so weak right now a good time to buy.

bekee

bound 2 take a layer of paint off the car tho

wrx-sok

iTrader: (1)

I wonder is there anywhere in the uk that sells them at a good price,
or would i be better getting one from the U.S
Being a Joiner i have a transformer for all my 110volt tools,so no worries there!

tarmac terror

iTrader: (2)

Acording to brilliant polishing solutions from The Polishing Company the 240V version of the Ultimate Detailing Machine should be available from the first quarter of 2008, no indication of price though....

Brian JC

Brocks - washing my Bugeye will never be the same, I'm surprised you have time to look at Scoobynet. Would you believe that I have always used one bucket, including finishing off with the wheels. Thanks for the tips, I really need to start looking after the car. Is there a lazy man's polish?

daddyscoob

Great thread Brocks.... you mentioned in one post Detailing World - anyone interested in this standard of car care should go to that site it's amazing

fabiostar

you all make me sound lazy.which of course i am.to tell the truth and it really is the truth,the last car i had i didnt wash it for 4 years.well the way i looked at it it rains plenty. .

think ill have to get the buff out then

fabio

bpm1588

its not the machine but the compound/polish used that removes paint/lacker.the porter cable just helps you work the product in a way you never could by hand.you would be hard pushed to destroy paint with a random orbital polisher and the correct products but with a rotary you could do some serious damage.

bekee

ahhh i see. it does look fab tho. but the thing is, with the car lookin sooooo well, id be scared 2 leave it anywher incase it got marked . dont get me wrong, im all for keepin a car lookin its best (as best as i can), but i know how gutting it is 2 see some other kunt hasnt had the same respect for ur car, or indeed his own . i like using my scoob as often as i can afford 2 ,. if it was a car i never really used i would take the time 2 do this 2 it, but at the minute im cleanin it every other day, and i didnt buy the car just 2 look at.

petedotuk

Find PORTER CABLE 7424, COMES WITH TRANSFORMER BOX AND GUARD on eBay within Cleaning, Waxing Valeting, Car Care, Car Accessories, Cars, Parts Vehicles (end time 04-Nov-07 19:08:29 GMT)

there is quite a few on flea bay might get 1 (r just talk brocks in2 doin mine )the results look fantastic.

brocks

iTrader: (3)

As posted the Porter Cable 3424 system is ONLY vailable to buy direct from the US at the minute.....which is not bad considering the current exchange rate......they are releasing a system called the "Ultimate detailing" machine at the start of the new year which I believe is just the PC repackaged for the UK market......but it will also carry our price tag with a % going to the government as usual LOL and I expect it to be quite pricey folks......

Did Bushiwarriors car last night.............and used the following method......

Car arrived washed and dried but water marked and swirled......this car is ALWAYS clean and so I thought it would be an easy fix.......but having lit up the halogens hmm.....????

Got working with the PC, and using a Swirlbuster orange pad with Pooorboys Light swirl remover.....which removed 90% of the defects immediately

Had to re do areas with an Orange Lake Country pad and some Poorboys Medium Swirl Remover, and a light cut with Menzerna to sort out a few areas of the bonnet, which were really heavily marked.....

Then a layer of Sonus Final Finish was applied by hand and worked over using the PC and a Black Lake Country polishing pad on the PC, all residue being removed with micro fibres in between......

A quick dress up of the tyres using Meguiars Endurance Tyre Gel, and some of Normans Finish to dress the wheel arches, and yet more Meguiars Glass Cleaner to dress the windows inside and out and it was onto the final layer......

To seal the paint I used a coat of Chemical Guys XXX Hardcore Extreme Wax...this is a brand new wax that I havent used before so will beinterested to see how it stands up to Jims regular washing...again applied with Meguiars applicator pads and removed after around 15minutes this wax was VERY easy to remove and left the car with a really deep wet look finish....

Started this detail at 1700, and finished at 1230am with Jims help and the assistance of Norman yet again in letting us use the "scoobyshack"...I was really plaesed with the final results achieveing around 95% correction....Just have to get Jim to post up the few pics he took now LOL

wrx-sok

iTrader: (1)

Decided against the p.c and went for the festool ro150,its a sander/polisher
meaning i can use it for my work as well (shop-fitter)
Worked out a little more expensive than the p.c £370
Have loads of other festool equipment and believe me they are the best tools available today
Hope to get using it over the holidays
Can anyone recommend a pad/compound combo to remove a little light overspray and swirling ?
Cheers Simon

brocks

iTrader: (3)

Simon, take a look at cleanyourcar.com

I use mostly Menzerna cutting polishes, and Lake Country Pads in a variety of compounds. The swirlbuster pad is particularly effective, and used with Final Finish Menzerna is normally enough to restore most of my paint. G3 cutting compound is more aggressive and can be bought from most local motor factors.........

Most of this stuff is trial and error, working from the least cut necessary up to the desired level of cut to remove swirls etc.....