Cheapo Buffer Always Made Swirls

[Pschrink]

A couple years ago I bought one of those cheapo $30 generic made in China buffers at a retail store, whose box claimed it had random motion. After washing and waxing the Olds I owned at the time I began to use it to buff off the wax and to my horror it was producing swirls on the hood like that's what it was made to do. I stopped right there and didn't use it again. The wife got $5 for it during a garage sale. I plan on asking for a PC 100a for Xmas. But my question is, why do the cheapo buffers do such a rotten job and how are they different than the recommended PC 100a ?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Cheapo Buffer Always Made Swirls

Originally posted by Pschrink
A couple years ago I bought one of those cheapo $30 generic made in China buffers at a retail store, whose box claimed it had random motion. After washing and waxing the Olds I owned at the time I began to use it to buff off the wax and to my horror it was producing swirls on the hood like that's what it was made to do. I stopped right there and didn't use it again. The wife got $5 for it during a garage sale. I plan on asking for a PC 100a for Xmas. But my question is, why do the cheapo buffers do such a rotten job and how are they different than the recommended PC 100a ?

All the cheap and inexpensive polishers we've ever seen are random orbital polishers, that is they oscillate, not rotate. If this tool was scratching your car's finish, chances are very good it had to do with the bonnet, the product being used with the bonnet, or dirt already present in the process.

The action of the polisher wouldn't be the root-cause of the problem.

[Pschrink]

So if one uses a good bonnet on a true clean surface, the cheapo machine could do a decent job?

[Pschrink]

No replies or reasons explained why a PC 100a is so much better than a cheapo machine. I musta asked a dumb question. Sorry

[the other pc]

No, it's not a dumb question at all.

If you use a good bonnet or pad on a clean surface with an appropriate product you won't harm the finish. Whether you'll do any good or not depends on what you're trying to accomplish.

The subject comes up quite often. Here's one thread. Here's another.

Hope this helps.


PC.

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by the other pc
No, it's not a dumb question at all.

If you use a good bonnet or pad on a clean surface with an appropriate product you won't harm the finish. Whether you'll do any good or not depends on what you're trying to accomplish.

The subject comes up quite often. Here's one thread. Here's another.

Hope this helps.


PC.

Thanks for digging those two threads up Paul, especially the second one which I have moved to the Hot Topics forum as this question does come up often.

Here is the exact title of the above mentioned thread...

Rotary vs PC vs Regular Orbital Buffer

[Pschrink]

Thank you very kindly.