Newbie help please - Orbital Polisher Questions?

[glossy]

Hello everyone from South Africa

I have 7 BMW's to look after ranging from 7 years old with non-clearcoat paint to brand new with clearcoat

I have gotten hold of the follwing here

A Makita BO6040 Dual Action Polisher / Sander
W7000 Cutting pad
W8000 polishing pad
8 " Velcro backing plate
#83 DACP
#80 Speed Glaze
#34 Final inspection
Deep Crystal polish
Gold Class liquid polish ( NXT comming in 3 weeeks time )
Gold Class car shampoo
3M Clay Bar

How should I go about the cars ?

clay then #83 then #80 Then Gold class then #34 final inspection for the Non-clearcoat ?
It has some moderate swirlmarks

and

#80 then gold class then Final inspection for the newer/new cars ???

I cant get hold of W-9000 finishing pads nor # 20 polymer sealer
to see my makita go to http://www.properautocare.com/matwomopo.html

Thanks

Mike

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by glossy
Hello everyone from South Africa

I have 7 BMW's to look after ranging from 7 years old with non-clearcoat paint to brand new with clearcoat

I have gotten hold of the following here

A Makita BO6040 Dual Action Polisher / Sander
W7000 Cutting pad
W8000 polishing pad
8 " Velcro backing plate
#83 DACP
#80 Speed Glaze
#34 Final inspection
Deep Crystal polish
Gold Class liquid polish ( NXT coming in 3 weeks time )
Gold Class car shampoo
3M Clay Bar

How should I go about the cars ?

Clay then #83 then #80 Then Gold class then #34 final inspection for the Non-clearcoat ?
It has some moderate swirl marks and #80 then gold class then Final inspection for the newer/new cars ???

I cant get hold of W-9000 finishing pads nor # 20 polymer sealer to see my Makita go to

http://www.properautocare.com/matwomopo.html

Thanks

Mike

Hi Mike,

Your plan of attack looks good to me utilizing the tools you have on hand.

When deciding upon a combination of products for a particular car’s finish, the primary concern should be the condition of the jpaint. The type of paint, (Single-stage, or Clear coat), while a factor, will not affect your choice of products in the big picture for correcting paint defects.

For finishes in new/excellent condition,

Step 1 Wash Car or Quik Detail car to insure the car is clean
Step 2 Feel the surface for bonded contaminants. If contaminants are found, clay the car.
Step 3 Polish paint using #80 Speed Glaze with W-8000 foam pad on Makita B06040 – PC mode
Step 4 Apply wax, either Gold Class, or Tech Wax by hand
Step 5 Use Quik Detailer in-between regular washing and applications of wax


For neglected finishes,

Step 1 Wash Car or Quik Detail car to insure the car is clean
Step 2 Feel the surface for bonded contaminants. If contaminants arefound, clay the car.
Step 3 Polish paint using #83 DACP with W-8000 foam pad on Makita B06040 – PC mode
b]Step 3[/b] Re-polish paint using #80 SG with W-8000 foam pad on Makita B06040 – PC mode
Step 4 Apply wax, either Gold Class, or Tech Wax by hand
Step 5 Use Quik Detailer in-between regular washing and applications of wax

Some variations of the above would be to use the Rotary Buffer Mode of your Makita B06040 with the #83 on a W-8000 foam polishing pad to remove deeper, more serious paint defects.

After that, then go over your rotary passes with either the #83 DACP, or the #80 Speed Glaze, which ever appears to be working best and removing any potential swirls left behind by the rotary process.

You could also substitute the W-7000 foam cutting pad for even more aggressive action with the #83 DACP, but Meguiar’s always recommends that you use the least aggressive product first and if that isn’t working to your satisfaction, then become more aggressive. (Assuming you have enough film-build to work with).

As far as applying waxes with your Makita, I noticed you only listed the large foam buffing pads. You can use these, but they are going to soak up a lot of your wax. It would probably be just as fast and more economical to simply apply your wax by hand.

Your Makita polisher sounds interesting, I’ll have to look into getting one. Here’s link to Makita’s website for more information on this tool for anyone that’s interested.

Makita's dual purpose polisher - Combination Dual Action Polisher & Rotary Buffer




Hope this helps and welcome to Meguiar’s Online!

[glossy]

Thanks Mike

You are correct, I can only get the 8" Meguiars W8000 and W7000 pads, but a contact at 3M is trying to get me some 6" 3M "Glazing pads" to use with the wax.

The other option I have is one of those 11" "orbital polishers", the type that just wiggle, with a terry cloth bonnet.

On the Makita, in mode 1 it ossilates like your PC, but in mode 2 it also ossilates like the PC but also makes the pad rotate at between 180 and 670RPM depending on your speed setting.

Thanks again

Mike (SA)

[Mike Phillips]

Hi Mike,

I'm going to forward this link to Mike Pennington, he was down in South Africa recently teaching how-to clinics for various industries, perhaps he has a contact, or knows who carries a more complete line of Meguiar's.

As far as the 11" orbital buffer goes... this size of a bonnet will soak up so much of your product that to me, it isn't worth using it to apply products with. Detail shops that buff cars all day, 6 days a week can justify them because after the bonnet reaches a certain saturation level, they then become efficient for production work. However, for what you're doing, and for what the average enthusiasts does, the Porter Cable with smaller pads is a much more efficient and economical way to go.

For enthusiasts, the large 11” orbital buffers are good for removing polish and wax except that because of their size, you are limited to large flat panels.

Have you used the rotary function of your Makita much? It sounds like it rotates too slowly to do any real work, i.e. removing sanding marks.

Mike

[glossy]

I only got the Makita on Tuesday after ordering it from a Industrial tools supplier, and the Meguiars professional products on Friday from a Auto paint Wholesaler.

I can get most consumer products easily, but the proffesional line is only kept by 3 places here that supply to repair shops, so they only keep the rotary pads/backing plates ( 8" ).

The Makita seems to have more power than the PC, especialy with rotating mode, but I dont think it an replace a rotary in proffesional hands, it will just help with more difficult problems

It can ossilate from 1600 ossilations per minute to 5800, witch seems to be much more than the PC can do.It is a industrial grade machine and very strongly built.

It has a standard 6" flexable velcro backing plate, and comes with a hex wrench to change the plate

I think I must get the optional side handle ( like the PC has )

[glossy]

This is my 11"

Have used it previosly to apply wax on the large cars and works ok

[Mike Phillips]

Hi Mike,

I contacted Keith Conway who is the Managing Director for Meguiar's in Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands.

I told him of your post here and I asked him if there was anywhere to obtaining the smaller foam polishing pads, (W-7006, W-8006, W-9006), and he "Yes", and that if you contact Meguiar's at,

info@meguiars.co.za

They will direct you to the nearest stocking dealer.

I think you will really like the smaller size foam pads for the work your doing to these 7 BMW's. Smaller size equals easier to use plus they're perfect for use on the Makita BO6040.

As a side note, I hadn't been to the Meguiar's South Africa Website, heck, I didn't know we had one?

http://www.meguiars.co.za/

So I clicked through and checked it out. I also snagged these pictures to give everyone a reference as to the geographical area that Meguiar's Africa caters too...





They also list their distributors by Province and City,

Distributors of Meguiar's Professional Products by Province

Distributors of Meguiar's Professional Products by City

And their Contact and About us page has plenty of contact information,

About/Contact us

A great, new Meguiar's website with lots of information that will undoubtedly continue to grow.

Mike

[glossy]

Thanks mike

I have ordered the 6" pads and will have them next week

Just for interest sake in am located in Gauteng ( the small red province on your map)

I have everything ready, just waiting for the pads now

Thanks for all your help

[Mike Phillips]

Your welcome!

Thank you for joining the Meguiar's Online Discussion Forums and putting your trust in Meguiar's.

Come back again and post some pictures of your results!

Mike