polishing with a machine
 

do most people wax by hand or do they use a electric polisher? AND whats the best machine out there that anybody can use that you can"t hurt your car?

:stirthepot:

I do Zymol by hand every 2-3 weeks. It really doesn't take that long

Get a Porter Cable. Go watch all of the Junkman's videos. That should be all the info you need.

You can't really polish a car by hand. The difference between a job done by hand and one done with a machine is massive.

True. But a good hand job is better than none at all...

You stand a good chance of adding more swirls than you remove trying to polish by hand. If it looks better than before, it's because the fillers in the product are covering up swirls. That's why you have to keep polishing it over and over. The fillers break down over time. Do it once with a machine to remove the swirls and then just keep a coat of wax on it.

Gotcha. I dont do it because it looks bad though. No swirls to be seen yet. I get your point and agree there is a diff.

Then you got lucky and got the one without all of the dealer-installed swirls :rofl2:

Go to detailersdomain and buy one of the Porter Cable combo packs with all of the pads and polishes. It's easier on you, it takes far less time and it does an exponentially better job. Plus, you really can't mess up your paint with a PC like an rotary polisher.

https://detailersdomain.com/Griots-G...Kit_p_990.html

Something like this would do the job like a champ. Just buy a few more pads. Grab one of the Nanoskin Autoscrub pads as well. It acts like a clay bar.

:icon18: I see what you did there!! Lol

The PORTER-CABLE 7424XP works pretty well with variable setting so you don't burn the paint. A little over $100 but you might be able to find one cheaper on the net.

I've had good success with a Turtle Wax random orbital buffer from Walmart that cost about $25 and using foam and microfiber pads. Had it for about two years now and use it on all 4 of our cars.

+1 machine random orbital polisher. Been using the same Porter Cable polisher for several years now and its never done me wrong. Just have to buy replacement pads/backing once in a while....try out different polishes/pads here and there. +1 on Nanoskin also....its a pain trying to get rid of my exhaust stains on the pearl white paint all the time with clay, but the Nanoskin makes everything so much easier.

"Good success" at what? You sure ain't gonna fix any paint damage with that thing!

"Good sucess" at maintaining a "like new" appearance on all our cars, including my 240Z... which was last painted in 1989. It does a better job than you probably give it credit for. The 2008 Versa with 106k miles I traded recently for the 370Z looked great and I got compliments on the paintwork all the time, as does the 2001 Sentra with 150k miles we handed down to my mother in law for Christmas.