eh-4Q1.8

How does $99.95 sound? http://www.internationaltool.com/pcabspec.htm

RKA

"If I kept the abrasive discs stored separately from the polishing
pad, and kept the body clean too, what real danger would there be of one contaminating the
other? I mean if I did some sanding in the basement but kept the polishing pad in the garage
with the rest of the car care stuff, I can't envision how any abrasive material would get onto
that pad."

:-)

RickM

Excellent! Thanks.

AlanL

Fragments of your abrasives are constantly shedded from the pads along with the stock you are working on. These particles typically are in the form of dust that is scattered pretty much everywhere around where you are working - thus the need for the dust collection system. The basic motor unit will get a coating of these airborne materials and getting it absolutely clean (i.e. 100% free of any remaining particles) would be very difficult. I have dust collection systems on many of my woodworking items and they still have dust all over them whenever I am finished with a task.

From my perspective, buying a dedicated sander is cheaper than trying to repair the damage the P-C unit could inflict on your car's finish if abrasive contamination occured.

Make no mistake - I absolutely love my P-C polisher and the task it performs for me and the price you are quoting looks great compared to what my Griott's version cost.

I take the attitude that the sander accessories I got with it may yet be useful some day if/when I retire the device from it's car detailing duties, I just wouldn't want to take a chance on Murphy getting his way - as he always seems to do.....

RickM

For $99.95 (after $10 mail-in rebate)(see eh-4Q1.8's post) I think I'm gonna bite the bullet this week and get one.

I've never used a polishing power tool before. I intend to use it for applying glaze. Maybe wax, but probably not (although I'm interested to hear from anyone who thinks a ROB makes it easier, or does a better job on wax than doing it by hand). So for now let's say just for applying glaze or a mild polish like One Grand Special Touch. What RPM's do you guys use for that? I most definitely don't want to do any damage with this thing once I get it.

Thanks for the advice,

RKA

Sometimes I'll crank it up to 3000 if I really need to work an area, but that's about as high as I go. I think I've gone to 5K on one occassion (removing scratches on the test mule), with no ill effects, but 99% of the time, you really won't find a need to go that high.

Something neat about the PC that might make you feel better is that it actually stops spinning if you apply too much pressure. So even if you crank up the rpms, you really won't generate enough heat to burn the paint, unless you apply pressure. Well, it will actually stop spinning if you apply too much pressure, eliminating the ability for the user to do harm.

Regardless, start around 1500, and see how that goes. If you have imperfections in the paint you really need to work out, increase the rpms by 500 intervals, until you find a speed that will adequately deal with the imperfections you want to remove. You'll get a feel for it (kinda like the clay bar).

RickM

Thanks for the info about it shutting down...I didn't know that. I can be my own worst enemy sometimes, so anything that provides a safety net is a good thing!

Do you use only machine glaze with it? Or have you used hand glaze? I'm assuming machine glaze is even milder to compensate for the power of the tool.

RKA

I could be wrong, but I swear mine goes down to 1K. I only use machine glaze with it. I've also tried Griot's #3. I like 3M Machine glaze. I have a bottle of hand glaze that I bought previous (for hand application) and it dries very quickly, so I try not to use it with the machine. The machine glaze is quite nice. Once you have the pad nicely loaded with glaze, it stays wet as long as you're running the machine over the paint. My theory is that you really don't want to run the machine on the paint once the product is dry...friction levels will increase (hence heat). Also, start off at low speeds until the pad is evenly loaded with the IMG, then you can crank it up. It will take a few minutes of repeatedly adding a little IMG, before it evenly distributes over all the dry areas on the pad.

One nice thing you'll find about the pad is that they hold a good amount of IMG, and they don't release it excessively. They will control the amount of product you use on the paint. I find that I use less than half when using the machine, vs. doing it by hand. This obviously makes clean up a little easier.

Go to Home Depot and pick up some low adhesive masking tape (blue) from the paint section. Use it to mask off areas you don't want to get the machine glaze (unpainted surfaces). Also use it to seal off gap between the bottom of the windows and the rubber molding that fits up against the glass. When you remove the dry IMG from the paint it will powder excessively. The powder gets into that gap, and it's a PITA to remove. It's a lot easier to tape off that area beforehand. I've still got IMG residue in those crevices that I can't get to (rear windows don't go all the way down).

You also asked about wax...I don't bother with the machine here. Waxing involves no pressure or hard work. It's merely about spreading a thin even layer of wax over the paint. I like using a small applicator (easy to control and get into tight spaces), vs. the large pads that come with the buffer. It goes pretty quick by hand.

AlanL

damage your car finish. I got to play around a bunch with this tool on my wife's cheap Toyota truck before I took on my S4 so I got a good feel for what I could and couldn't do with it.

In her truck's case, Toyota left a pretty uneven surface on the clear coats from some low quality spray work, so I decided to smooth out the surface a little bit to get a better look out of it. I used Meguiar's #9 swirl remover on a Griott's Orange pad. This pad is a little stiffer than the red waxing pad. If you get pads from Proper Auto Care (classic-accessories) it would be their white pad.

I actually spent a lot of time on each area of the truck surface to actually get the results I was looking for. Most surface scratches take quite a while to work out at this rate.

Bottom line - most of our car finish products are very mild in their abrasive qualities and it takes some very serious effort to do damage to the car finish. Because of the random nature of the orbits, it leaves no marks at all. This is very different from a rotary buffer.

With a glaze like Meguiars #7 and also with waxes, you are not really doing any type of mechanical polishing of the surface - you are simply applying this to the surface. The RO buffer simply lets you put it on fairly quickly and it does heat up the product as it lays it down so it gets worked into the surface easily. I can easily wax my entire car in around 10 minutes or less. There is no need to stop and wipe any of it off before you finish applying it.

I did find that the device is less tiring to use at higher speeds because it has less vibration in your hands than it does at lower speeds. It is a little noisier than I had anticipated when I first got it and I do wear hearing protection whenever I use it.

Do some searches - theres a ton of info and links in this forum with URLs to sites with lots more info and tips on using these puppies.....

RKA

You're right, the operating range is 2500-6000 rpms. There is a dial on the base that ranges from 1-6 (which I assumed was rpms by the thousands).

So, converting the numbers I already gave you (which were NOT rpms, rather numbers on the dial for the PC7424), the approximate rpms would be
1-2 = 2500-3250 rpms
3 = 4000 rpms
5 = 5500 rpms