dre2600

Went out last night and picked up a rotary buffer to work on de-swirling/waxing the Civic. Now before anyone says anything, I'm very much aware of the dangers of rotary buffer misuse, so I just gave it a very light once over tonight, looks better, but some of the more persistent swirls are still there. Could anyone furnish me with any bits of wisdom as to rotary buffer operation, particularily polishing styles and specific pad usage.

MrWong

iTrader: (4)

Here are some pointers,

Never press on it, let its own weight sit on car.
Try not to use circular motions, instead go up and down or side to side. But keep it consistant, do not alter your motions.
Try to use liquid wax, it works alot better.


For pads,

Try to use the softest pads possible.


I have a orbital buffer too, but it is not a true orbital buffer it is a "random" orbital buffer, meaning it does not go in circles all the time.

I use it more for buffing than applying the wax. I find with a orbital buffer I always use too much wax, there for I apply the wax by hand first and use it for buffing. It is also recommeneded that you let the wax settle for 30 mins before you buff it.

As for getting rid of your swirls, try to find a swirl remover compound I find Meguires works best.

Once you get rid of the swirls you should wash the car with a very soft wash mit, rinse it off after every pass on the car. Your passes should be linear not circular -> that is what causes swirls.

To be honest swirls will always be there you can never get rid of them totally.

dre2600

I was thinking of getting an random orbital buffer, but decided against it, because I'd heard that though rotary buffers can be tough to work with, they are the best for polishing/swirl-removal.

I've been using that Meguir's swirl removal stuff and it seems pretty decent so far. After I applied that, I topped it off w. 2 coats of Meguir's Gold paste wax and then a layer of Meguirs NXT (just to make it extra shiny). When I think to what you said about 30mins for it to setup, I was a bit hasty polishing off the wax and gave it only about 15mins, I'll have to let it set up longer next time I think..

So far things are looking alright and after each pass with the buffer I use a shop light to inspect the paint to make sure everything went over alright.

How long do you usually let the swirl-removal compound set up for? I left it for 10mins after some pretty heavy buffing w. the rotary buffer and I could still make out some swirls on the paint. Does it require multiple coats? Or extra setup time? The bottle is not terribly descript.