2600rpm buffer + UC

[Agent 99]

Look, this "ain't no" masterpeice. Its a 93 Accord with neglected paint and its my brothers.

We're trying to bring the shine back to the paint. Car is black.

I dont have any sort of DA or machine other than am old 2600 rpm 10in. "buffer/polisher". If I go get some Ultimate Compound, do you think I can try using this combo and get some results? Its a random orbital and I know how to be careful with it.

Let me know what you guys think. Like I said, this car isnt art. We're just trying to bring the shine back to the paint. We already washed, clayed, and used the supplied cleaner wax last weekend.

[danponjican]

Re: 2600rpm buffer + UC

Wow! 2600 rpm?? I would say that you will be in danger of removing too much material very quickly. If I were even to attempt it, it would be with a wool pad (runs cooler) and VERY little pressure and VERY fast movement.

[Ivan Rajic]

Re: 2600rpm buffer + UC

That's way too fast especially for someone with little to no experience on polishing paint...

[CieraSL]

Re: 2600rpm buffer + UC

If your buffer/polisher is just a random orbital polisher, then about the only thing those are good for are spreading waxes. They are not powerful enough for any correction work. Try Ultimate Compound or Scratch X 2.0 by hand. Honda paint as a general rule is fairly easily workable, so you should be able to get some results that way. Make sure you work small areas (12" by 12") for about 45 sec. to a minute, then wipe off the excess. Never work the product to a dry buff, and make sure you don't put too much pressure on the pad. Check out these links:

http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26009

http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2409

Hope this helps!

[Agent 99]

Re: 2600rpm buffer + UC

Hmm, well would anything be safe to use with that buffer? Ordinary nxt wax or maybe swirl-x?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: 2600rpm buffer + UC

Hmm, well would anything be safe to use with that buffer? Ordinary nxt wax or maybe swirl-x?

Not really, it's too high of a speed, it will generate too much heat too quickly.

It sounds more like a high speed grinder versus a sander/polisher.

It would be safer to rub the paint out by hand using Ultimate Compound and if you only tackle sections of the car at a time it's not that bad because UC works really well.

[Agent 99]

Re: 2600rpm buffer + UC

Just so I start with the least aggressive first, what's less aggressive than UC?

[PorscheGuy997]

Re: 2600rpm buffer + UC

Are you sure it is RPM and not OPM?

It would make sense if it was a 10" orbital with 2600 OPM.

[Ivan Rajic]

Re: 2600rpm buffer + UC

Are you sure it is RPM and not OPM?

It would make sense if it was a 10" orbital with 2600 OPM.

I was just thinking that after reading Mike's post... OP post a photo of the polisher or name/model at least...

[Agent 99]

Re: 2600rpm buffer + UC

I'm at work but I think it's called by "MVP" brand. I know it says 2600 and buffer/polisher. You might have to google it. I'm not supposed to be on the Internet here at work, this is my iPhone!

Thanks though

[Ivan Rajic]

Re: 2600rpm buffer + UC

From my google search it looks like one of those cheap auto store buffers... the 2600 RPM isn't really RPM as it's an orbital buffer and doesn't rotate/revolve on a fixed axis... you should be fine using it but I would highly recommend a better random orbital buffer like the Meg's G110 or a PC....

[Agent 99]

Re: 2600rpm buffer + UC

yeah I don't think it actually spins 2600rpm when on the surface. Maybe in the air with no resistance and a light wind!
It is a cheapy thing probably from the parts store from years ago. The power button is a momentary button so I might be able to regulate it. I might try it with extreme caution but what stuff can I use that's not quite as aggressive as UC?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: 2600rpm buffer + UC

From my google search it looks like one of those cheap auto store buffers... the 2600 RPM isn't really RPM as it's an orbital buffer and doesn't rotate/revolve on a fixed axis... you should be fine using it but I would highly recommend a better random orbital buffer like the Meg's G110 or a PC....

The MVP brand is a re-branded orbital buffer or polish like shown in this thread, it's pretty much only good for spreading out a coating of wax, it's now powerful enough or effective enough to remove defects because it's not powerful enough or effective enough to remove paint.


See this thread,
Machine Photos - DA Polishers - Rotary Buffers - Traditional Orbital Buffers

Sealy Orbital Polisher



WEN Orbital Polisher



Vector Orbital Polisher






And this thread,
Please explain Pros/Cons between Rotary and Orbital Buffers

And this one kind of puts it all together...
Rotary vs DA Polisher vs Traditional Orbital Buffer

[Agent 99]

Re: 2600rpm buffer + UC

If it's not powerfull enough to remove paint, then it should be ok right?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: 2600rpm buffer + UC

If it's not powerful enough to remove paint, then it should be ok right?

As long as all you want to do is spread out a wax.

Removing any kind of defect that's below the surface mean you have to remove some paint from the surface until the surface is flat again.

That's the reality of it.

That's why DA Polishers are so popular, with the right pad, chemical and technique they will remove paint safely.

What you have is called a "Wax Spreader"

There's a huge difference between spreading out a coating of wax and removing swirls and scratches.


Read this,

What it means to remove a scratch out of anything...

We get a lot of questions on our forum and at our Saturday classes from people trying to remove scratches out of all kinds of things, for example:

How do you remove a scratch out of;

* Glass?
* Clear plastic like a headlight lens, radio face plate, dash gages?
* Chrome, like a chrome wheel?
* Paint?
* Interior plastics like a plastic door sill or glove box door?
* Stainless steel, like a stainless steel door sill protector?
* Aluminum?
* Rubber?
* Pebble textured plastic like trim components?

This article isn't' about the how-to for removing scratches out of the above materials or coatings but about the practical science behind how you remove a scratch or any below surface defect out of any material or surface coating.

Read the below statement and think about it for a few minutes...

"Some materials and/or surface coatings don't lend themselves well to being abraded with the end-result looking good or looking like the original appearance"

In order to remove a scratch out of anything, metal, plastic glass, paint, etc. You must remove material around the scratch until the upper most portions of the surface are level with or equal to the lowest depths of the scratch or defect you're trying to remove.


Does that make sense?

The below diagram is for paint, however the the same idea applies to just about any coating or surface material.





In essence, you don't really remove a scratch, you remove material around a scratch.


Then the big question becomes...

Is the material or coating workable?

As in, can you abrade small particles of the material or surface coating and leave behind an original looking surface.


For example: Some things you can abrade, (remove the scratch), but you can never completely remove all of your abrading marks, thus you can't really fix the problem, all you can do is exchange one set of scratches of a different set of scratches.

The next factor you have to consider or at least understand is;

How thick is the surface material or material you're working on?


You are limited to what you can do with any material or surface coating. By this we mean there is usually a limit as to how much material you can remove before you run into the risk of removing too much and exposing the underlying surface or removing so much material that you change the component you're working on in a way that it won't look good and you can't undo the damage.

There's a saying on this forum we use often when discussing different members detailing projects and it goes like this,


"Sometimes you don't know what you can so until you try"

It's always a good idea to test your choice of products, applicator materials and application process, (by hand or by machine), to an inconspicuous area. If you cannot make a small area look good with your product, applicator and process, you will not be able to make the entire surface look good.

It's always a good idea to test first and error on the side of caution, versus make a mistake you cannot undo over the entire component or vehicle.