questions on orbital and swirls

[tomee]

hey guys
i recently picked up a random orbital sander

i am looking at trying to get rid of the light swirls i see in the sun.

do meguairs have a buffing and polishing pad for a 125mm surface?

i hope i didnt make a bad choice in getting the random orbital?

what product should i use to remove those light swirls?

here is a pic of the swirls


any advice glady appreciated

[Mike Phillips]

Hi tomee,

I just posted this to a different thread but it somewhat applies to your questions also.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A couple of things, if you want to remove swirls out of any type of paint, then you have to remove a little bit of paint in order to level or flatten out the surface as best you can.

If you want to do this by hand, then you need to use a product like ScratchX See the below link,

Before


After ScratchX, Deep Crystal Polish and one application of NXT Tech Wax Paste



The power of ScratchX by Hand!

If you want to do this by machine then you can try your orbital buffer, but if it looks similar to one of these,



Then how effective you will be will be determined by how hard the paint is because these type of polishers are not very effective at removing small particles of paint. In fact, you with your hand pushing a foam applicator with some ScratchX against the finish will be more effective in almost every case.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What you can or cannot do will depend upon the type of orbital buffer you have purchased, it's pad size and OPM's, (Oscillations Per Minute). Larger, slow moving polishers are not very effective at removing small particles of paint which is what you have to do in order to remove swirls. They are good for applying or removing a wax, but not a cleaner/polish with the intended purpose of removing paint.

[tomee]

ahh buggar, so ive wasted money getting a random orb?

those light swirls still come up after scratc - x application

but its only when i see it in the sunlight
its not as bad as what you pictured above..

i noticed in this pic below light cobwebbing after scratch-x applied, mine is exactly like that
i want to get rid of them


and my orb does not look like those you showed. i tried to stay away from those polishers
here is a link to my random orb

http://www.gmcompany.com/index.cfm?ppage=products&pparentcategory_uuid=C23BC693-0090-4000-80FB8BFB2552B2EB&pproduct_uuid=CB771ED0-E14B-49C5-AA98F9DF636BA9F8

hopefully meguiars have pads for 125 mm

[Mike Phillips]

Hi tomee,

Here's the buffer you bought, (I right click on the image, highlight, copy and paste the URL Address for the image on their website back to our website using the IMG tags).



I think this polisher will work if the OPM's are fast enough.

The small foam pads Meguiar's offers have a diameter of approximately 6 inches, the Velcro backing is inset on the foam pad and you center your backing plate on this Velcro which insures no part of the backing plate will come into contact with your car's finish.

Best thing to do would be to give it a try and report back here you're results.

Mike

[the other pc]

Hi tomee,

I think there's a good chance that the tool you have will work pretty well.

The 125mm (4.9 inches) backing plate should fit Meguiar's pads ok. I assume that the backing is a hard plastic, if that's the case try not to press down too hard and keep the pressure very even over the pad. The hard plate would tend to exert a lot of uneven pressure if you compress the foam too much. I would worry that it would swirl the finish and maybe damage the pad. IIRC you should try to compress the pad no more than about half its normal thickness (is that about right Mike?).

It has 400W of power, which compares reasonably to the G-100's 444W. It should be able to work product without bogging down like some polishers do. Many common orbital polishers only have around 50W (and that's with 10 inch (254mm) pads).

Speed wise, it says that it's rated at 12000 RPM, no load. Don't know for sure but if that really means that the tool orbits at 12000 OPM that's probably too fast. Luckily it's variable speed so you can crank it down slower (the G-100 is rated for 2,500-6,000 OPM). Can't tell you where to set your dial but it's going to be in the lower end of its speed range.


PC.

[tomee]

thanks for the replies

the other pc: ive set the dial to 1, but i dont know if that is too slow
how do i know im getting rid of the swirls?

also what product do you recommend?
im thinking of getting speed glaze
is that strong enough?

[travisdecpn]

for the swirls in your picture #80 should be sufficient, just be sure not to use too much product and work on a cool surface. If you are working indoors you can use a halogen light to make sure that the swirls are completely removed before you move to the next section.

[tomee]

thanks for that

and should i buy a seperate buffer and polish pad for each step i take?

or can i reuse a pad for another step also?

[travisdecpn]

one pad for each product you use

[tomee]

damn
thes pads aint cheap
just bought a buffing and finishing pad
around $25 to $30 each!

[tomee]

do you guys use two w8006 pads? one for applying product and one for buffing off the product?