Body/Paint guys - polisher - UPDATED?

[2Dogs]

All,
I am in the market for a polisher and I need some recommendations.
Electric or Air?
Dual Action?
Size of Disk?
Power rating?
I want a good one for home use. What do y'all use?
Thanks,
Dave

******************UPDATE:*************************************
Progress - sanded the clearcoat off (wet&dry, 600-1000-1500-2000) Needed to spend more time with the 2000....
Purchased a Hitachi variable speed buffer/grinder with 7" disk - awesome piece of equipment!
Using/experimenting with compounds (rubbing, polishing and swirl remover)
The hood looks 100% better but I can see sand marks where I did not use the 2000 sandpaper enough. That will be easy to fix. (easy may be too strong - the entire amount of time sanding may have put the project out of being reasonable)
Cut through to primer a few times when i went too agressive with the 600. Is primer waterproof when I am finished with waxing?
Also purchased the 9" orbital from Sears since it was on sale.
Will use this for final polish/wax. Use Zaino? Any other machine applied waxes?

Overall this project was a great learning experience with more to come. After messing around with everything I attacked some of the serious brush scratches with total confidance and GREAT results.

Bottom line tho - I know the paint and the remaining clearcoat areas are on their last legs and I will investigate a reasonable paint job when I am done with driveability/wheelability upgrades (that means never?).


<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by 96C4and91K5 on 06/18/01 09:58 AM (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[HarryH3]

Re: Body/Paint guys - polisher?

Mine's a 9-inch Craftsman, dual action. It works pretty good, but you have to be careful not to get too close to black trim or any other stuff that you don't want to get wax on. It's good for large areas, but I end up going back and doing the edges by hand.

<font color=black>HarryH3 - '75 K5</font color=black>
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://ThunderTruck.ColoradoK5.com>http://ThunderTruck.ColoradoK5.com</A>
It's a great day to be alive...

 

[Pugsley]

Re: Body/Paint guys - polisher?

If you aren't too experienced, get a standard 9" electric orbital. Craftsman, Black and Decker, and Wen all make nice units, at fairly good prices.

I'm so poor I can't even pay attention

 

[Blue85]

Re: Body/Paint guys - polisher?

Noone should be using wax anymore now that Zaino is on the market. It works better, applies easier, protects better and shines like nothing else in the world. Makes your body panels into colored mirrors and is even affordable. Try <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.zainobros.com>http://www.zainobros.com</A>


<font color=green>If a K-5 is "Built not Bought", why does this stuff cost me so much money?

</font color=green>

 

[HarryH3]

Re: Body/Paint guys - polisher?

Just to be sure... Are we talking about polishers, as in "make it easier to wax my truck" or buffers, as in "make my old, crappy paint shiny again"? Body shops use high speed buffers to shine up new paint jobs and can sometimes restore old ones. But using a high speed buffer without ruining the paint takes a LOT of practice.

Mine's just a polisher that takes some of the work out of waxing a vehicle. Bought it when I had a 4x4 Dodge Van. Seemed like that thing had acres of sheet metal!

<font color=black>HarryH3 - '75 K5</font color=black>
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://ThunderTruck.ColoradoK5.com>http://ThunderTruck.ColoradoK5.com</A>
It's a great day to be alive...

 

[2Dogs]

Re: Body/Paint guys - polisher?

Thanks everyone. As to the use - a little bit of everyting. I will practice on the
Blazer since the paint is trashed and then when I am confidant I will go for the little
woman's Prelude then the Vette
This last week I practiced removing my rotten clear coat on the hood - big patches
just flaking off. The hood is now clear-coat free with a final wet sand of 2000 just
waiting for a good polish. Already looks better.
Dave

 

[Skigirl]

Re: Body/Paint guys - polisher?

I owned a detail shop at one time, and to take off oxidized paint, we used Milwaukee rotary buffers with 9" sheepskin pads and a cutter (like a watered down white rubbing compound). As long as you keep the buffer pad tilted to about 30 - 45 degrees, let only half the pad move over the surface, and keep it moving with mild pressure, it's easy and fast. Compound only works when it's wet, so don't overdo it and dry it out (which leaves crusty dry stuff stuck on the surface) and add compound as needed. The only thing you need to watch carefully for are edges (like on the hood)-if you buff over those with much pressure or sit the buffer on it too long, then you'll burn the paint right off. After the oxidation is removed, we used heavy duty orbital buffers (metal housed, they were great but I don't know if they're made anymore) with polish to finish coat it. Don't use silicon based products, use acrylic based. Silicone will mess up any eventual repainting needed and in order to repaint with success it needs to be removed down to metal. Acrylic based finishes don't have that problem. Orbital buffers take swirl marks out of paint that were put in by using a rotary buffer, and gives a nice finish. You can't damage anything with an orbital unless you drop it on the vehicle :-). They just don't orbit fast enough to burn anything. Well, maybe it could burn older riceburner paint... Anyway, we used Milwaukee rotarys because we found that other brands had some vibration through the handles that made them a little unstable. Milwaukees run like cadillacs. When you do the job, just take your time and keep the rotary buffer on edge and moving. It'll come out great. BTW, most Riceburners used to be, and may still be, clear coated with a cheap plastic coating that whitens and flakes with time; they have to because the quality of the paint they use is so poor it would oxidize too fast if unprotected. So you can't really remove what looks like oxidation when it's the clear coating starting to milk out. Polishing up to that point of degradation will make it look better, but there's a point of no return, where the clear coat should just be removed.

 

[HarryH3]

Re: Body/Paint guys - polisher?

Can you get just a basecoat paint to shine? I thought that they intentionally don't have any gloss to them so that the clearcoat will stick to them. Then the clearcoat provides the gloss. You may not be able to polish that paint to a shine.

<font color=black>HarryH3 - '75 K5</font color=black>
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://ThunderTruck.ColoradoK5.com>http://ThunderTruck.ColoradoK5.com</A>
It's a great day to be alive...

 

[Pugsley]

Re: Body/Paint guys - polisher?

You can polish a basecoat to a pretty good shine, but it takes patience and alot of compound. 3M Finesse-it polish will do the job.

I'm so poor I can't even pay attention

 

[2Dogs]

Re: Body/Paint guys - polisher?

Thanks Ski!
The blazer is getting the 'milked out' clear coat sanded off at this time - need the polisher for buffing out after the sanding.
Any brands of chemicals available to the general public that you can recommend?
Dave

 

[2Dogs]

Re: Body/Paint guys - polisher?

Oh fug! I was assuming that the paint would take a polish. Oh well, it looks better even un-polished at this point. My clearcoat was in BAD shape!
Dave

 

[90K5]

Re: Body/Paint guys - polisher?

i don't know if this helps, but there is a guy down the street, with an '87 S10 Blazer. it red on top, gray on bottom. He bought this 4 step Meguiar's stuff, put it on the paint, and it looks like it just rolled off the showroom floor. The paint was all oxidized before, but seriously looks great now. I can't believe how good it looks.

90K5

See my truck at <A target="_blank" HREF=http://albums.photopoint.com/j/Albumindex?u=1329584&a=9886502>http://albums.photopoint.com/j/Albumindex?u=1329584&a=9886502</A>

 

[Skigirl]

Re: Body/Paint guys - polisher?

Dave, Dupont makes a cutter that is pourable, called Number 7 Compound and Cleaner that works very well for oxidation. It's in a green can (pour, not like rubbing compound can). It stays wet long enough for the buffer to do it's job and doesn't clog the pad right away. I've used Maguires and it's pretty good, just was a little oily IMHO, but overall is OK to use too. BTW, when the sheepskin pads get clogged, you can remove the caked on compound by holding the tip of a screwdriver to the pad at an angle as you hold the buffer with the pad up and run it so the stuff spins off. Keeping the pad clean is key to getting a good result. Looks like the polishing stuff mentioned above (Z...something) is pretty good, on cursory inspection. I checked it out briefly on their website and says the right stuff. You might want to try that out when you're ready to polish.

 

[2Dogs]

Re: Body/Paint guys - polisher?

Thanks everyone. I will be picking up the 9 inch Craftsman this week. Will post updates on the project if this site stays up

 

[Blue85]

Re: Body/Paint guys - polisher?

When I got my Jimmy, the paint was real oxidized, and had been painted over a couple of times in places. I tried every brand of polish, wax and oxidation "remover" that I could find. The Meguiar's would make it look really good, but only until the next time it was washed. If I used a real gentle car wash soap, I could get a couple of washes before it turned white agian, but all of the cleaning and waxing was too much work. So just keep an eye out and see if that guy's S-10 keeps looking good.

I also had cracking, peeling and chipping in the paint, thanks to GM's great mid-80's paint and 13 years in the Arizona sun. I ended up going the pretty route and had all of the paint taken off and then built back up with base/clear in the original Chevy Navy, but with a late 90's silver in the center instead of the original lighter blue. The hard top is also base/clear in the same blue. Since I had a blank slate to work on, I had the paint done like the 89-91 two-tone and used the 89-91 molding (black ribs with a chrome stripe) and striping (straight along the body line, front to back). Later, I finished it off with an 89-91 grill. NOW it looks good, way better than my checkbook did when I went to pay the bill.

<font color=green>If a K-5 is "Built not Bought", why does this stuff cost me so much money?

</font color=green>

 

[2Dogs]

Taking it to the top - see the *update* section in my original post.


Dave

Don't Be Sexist - Broads Hate That

 

[Skigirl]

Congrats on the job so far. Sounds like you're getting the hang of it. As far as polish goes, like I said before , use an acrylic based product, not silicone. I wouldn't use wax either. Paint never really dries completely, and when wax gets buffed in, because it has a lower melting and oxidation temperature point than paint, it will actually break down (oxidize) the paint faster than if you did nothing at all. At least, that was the theory we learned years ago. So try the Zaino stuff. Just make sure it's not silicone - I think it's acrylic, but call them or check out the site thoroughly. You can probably make the paint (primer?) you have last a year, but you will have some degradation wihout a real paint job. Good luck!