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Heh, guess I shouldn't have been that worried!! Sure, it still spooks me at times as it behaves much differently than a dual action, but I'll get used to it.
Anyway, the subject vehicle is a 1987 Chrysler Fifth Avenue that I picked up on ebay for less than $400. 318 V8 with a Torqueflight automatic tranny, all the power options work, the A/C is cold and there are no tears in the leather. Maybe not the coolest car in the world, but when they stopped making them in 1989 it was the last rear drive passenger car Chrysler Corp made until the new 300C came out a couple of years ago. It was donated to M.A.D.D. and as it turns out, by the original owner!! I've had a chance to speak with her and she's given me the full background on the car, mechanical history, the fact that it was rarely garaged, and that it has the original paint (though the vinyl top was replaced 6 years ago). I bought it for a few reasons, one of which was to learn how to use the rotary buffer. Since this is original paint; it's dirty, it's badly swirled, there are quite a few bad water spots, and there is clear coat failure in places. It will need a repaint so I'm not worried if I screw something up. Still, I stayed away from the sharp body lines. I'm adventurous, not stupid.
All I've done is wash and clay the whole car, then polish out half the hood. But, even 83 on the DA was hardly making a dent...er, difference, other than cleaning the paint a bit. The swirls did not budge. So, out came the rotary and 80 on a polishing pad. I started to see some results, but it was still very slow going. Just for grins I threw on a cutting pad and some 83. Even that took some work but now I was cooking!! I could see holograms show up pretty quickly at times too, which was interesting. Also interesting was how quickly they could be made to move, change or even go away. I still had to hit some areas a couple of times and I played with the machine speed a bit. I tried a few different grips and positions to better control the machine too. This is a very different animal than the DA, no doubt about it. All in all the results were very promising and I can't wait to get some more time to work on the rest of the car.
So, on to the pictures!!
The subject. Original silver paint from 1987......hard as nails and dirty, swirled, spotted, etc.
This is the upper section of the driver's door. The mottled look is apparently dirt in the paint. The car was thoroughly washed and clayed, and when I played around a bit with the DA it really cleaned up this mottled look and brought out some additional shine. I couldn't capture a picture of the difference, but it was quite noticeable. In fact, it was so noticeable that my first reaction was "hey, this is going to be easy!" The reality though was that the DA was only helping get rid of the dirt, not the swirls.
Two of my helpers. This is after the fact, which explains why there's actually a reflection!
My other two helpers. L - Porter Cable 7428 Rotary, R - Porter Cable 7424 Dual Action Polisher
This is the only really decent before/after shot I could capture (man, silver is hard to photograph!!) I taped off half the hood and got to work. This is after 2 or 3 passes of M83 on a cutting pad with the rotary, then a pass of M80 on a polishing pad with the DA. In the upper half you can obviously see the horrible swirls, but also a lot of water spotting. There are still some deeper pits and marks remaining even after my work on the paint, but the improvement is striking. There is actually some clarity in the reflection now and it just looks clean and bright. Still, not too shabby for my first ever attempt at using the rotary!
I would be remiss if I didn't thank Richard (OctaneGuy) Paul (the other pc) and Andy (bmrfan) for their tips a day earlier. You guys were, as always, very informative. Thanks!
Anyway, the subject vehicle is a 1987 Chrysler Fifth Avenue that I picked up on ebay for less than $400. 318 V8 with a Torqueflight automatic tranny, all the power options work, the A/C is cold and there are no tears in the leather. Maybe not the coolest car in the world, but when they stopped making them in 1989 it was the last rear drive passenger car Chrysler Corp made until the new 300C came out a couple of years ago. It was donated to M.A.D.D. and as it turns out, by the original owner!! I've had a chance to speak with her and she's given me the full background on the car, mechanical history, the fact that it was rarely garaged, and that it has the original paint (though the vinyl top was replaced 6 years ago). I bought it for a few reasons, one of which was to learn how to use the rotary buffer. Since this is original paint; it's dirty, it's badly swirled, there are quite a few bad water spots, and there is clear coat failure in places. It will need a repaint so I'm not worried if I screw something up. Still, I stayed away from the sharp body lines. I'm adventurous, not stupid.
All I've done is wash and clay the whole car, then polish out half the hood. But, even 83 on the DA was hardly making a dent...er, difference, other than cleaning the paint a bit. The swirls did not budge. So, out came the rotary and 80 on a polishing pad. I started to see some results, but it was still very slow going. Just for grins I threw on a cutting pad and some 83. Even that took some work but now I was cooking!! I could see holograms show up pretty quickly at times too, which was interesting. Also interesting was how quickly they could be made to move, change or even go away. I still had to hit some areas a couple of times and I played with the machine speed a bit. I tried a few different grips and positions to better control the machine too. This is a very different animal than the DA, no doubt about it. All in all the results were very promising and I can't wait to get some more time to work on the rest of the car.
So, on to the pictures!!
The subject. Original silver paint from 1987......hard as nails and dirty, swirled, spotted, etc.
This is the upper section of the driver's door. The mottled look is apparently dirt in the paint. The car was thoroughly washed and clayed, and when I played around a bit with the DA it really cleaned up this mottled look and brought out some additional shine. I couldn't capture a picture of the difference, but it was quite noticeable. In fact, it was so noticeable that my first reaction was "hey, this is going to be easy!" The reality though was that the DA was only helping get rid of the dirt, not the swirls.
Two of my helpers. This is after the fact, which explains why there's actually a reflection!
My other two helpers. L - Porter Cable 7428 Rotary, R - Porter Cable 7424 Dual Action Polisher
This is the only really decent before/after shot I could capture (man, silver is hard to photograph!!) I taped off half the hood and got to work. This is after 2 or 3 passes of M83 on a cutting pad with the rotary, then a pass of M80 on a polishing pad with the DA. In the upper half you can obviously see the horrible swirls, but also a lot of water spotting. There are still some deeper pits and marks remaining even after my work on the paint, but the improvement is striking. There is actually some clarity in the reflection now and it just looks clean and bright. Still, not too shabby for my first ever attempt at using the rotary!
I would be remiss if I didn't thank Richard (OctaneGuy) Paul (the other pc) and Andy (bmrfan) for their tips a day earlier. You guys were, as always, very informative. Thanks!
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