djkidkris

My pops picked up a used sander polisher for $10 bucks for me at a flea market. Its an older Wen 943. Its 4 Amps max 1600 RPM 2 speed with a trigger lock. I'm new to car detailing and and thus far I've done everything by hand with decent success but takes up a ton of time. (wash, clay, cleaner wax, quick detailing, quick wax) I was hoping this is a cheap way to speed up the process. I plan on practicing a little bit on my beater Toyota Matrix and I'm not looking to do any major paint correction...yet. Maybe just polish out light swirls or little imperfections and apply wax (I have Megs Ultimate Polish and Ultimate Wax). I eventually want to get a Porter Cable 7424 unless Santa drops it off at the house first. LOL

I wanted to know if there are any concerns, tips, or opinions on using this polisher that I should be aware of. Also can I just get any pads to attach to this thing or do I need to figure out a specific type to get? Right now there is a rubber backing plate and I would need to get new pads.

Thanks for the help in advanced.

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iTrader: (17)

Nice man!

You ever use a rotary before? Practice on the bathroom sink or a junk panel first to get the hang of it. Don't put too much compound or polish on to avoid unnecessary splatter and don't jump right to a wool pad because that's the most aggressive cut and the most messy.

If it's your first time, start with a soft finishing pad (black, blue, or white)... those pads have little to no cut and will get you on the right track. Don't forget to use some sort of light source such as halogen lamp or a brinkmann spotlight to check your results after you're done!

Good luck.

jfelbab

IMO, a rotary is a terrible device to spread wax. It generates way too much heat in the process and it rotates too fast to keep the product from splattering all over the place. Rotary tools just are the wrong tools for this.

Of the things you mention that you do "I've done everything by hand with decent success but takes up a ton of time. (wash, clay, cleaner wax, quick detailing, quick wax)" a rotary will not speed any of them. The sole area where a rotary buffer speeds things up is in polishing paint.

As for polishing paint, keep in mind that a rotary can easily ruin paint in the hands of an inexperienced user. I hope I'm not about to see a thread by you stating "I cut through my clear coat, Please Help"

IMHO, while you got this cheap, remember it costs a lot of money to repair paint. As you have no experience with a rotary, if you are not very careful, and very lucky, you may soon say this was the worst $10 tool you ever purchased.

We all spent a good deal of money for our Lexus vehicles. Lexus put a lot of time, money and research into painting them. Using an aggressive tool to remove this micron thin coating of paint is usually not the best thing to do if you plan on owning the car for a long time. The paint is literally paper thin. In fact, most auto manufacturers state that you will damage the paint and cause early failure by removing as little as 2-3 mils of paint. (A mil is 1/1000 of an inch) With aggressive pads and polishes and some misuse, that is easily doable with a rotary.

If you are committed to using this tool to polish paint, my advice to you would be to practice on a junkyard panel or two. There is much to learn. It looks simple but the slightest mistake can ruin your paint. You'll need to develop technique that can take months or years to perfect. I'd bet that after your first use you will be anguishing over holograms. You will try again, repeatedly with other polish and pad combos. You will ultimately find the paint is compromised around the high spots, creases, edges and where you failed to keep the pad flat to the paint or let it linger too long or where it got too hot. To make this tool of any use for automotive purposes, you'd need to add a velcro backing plate and some foam pads. Also, the backing plate and pads would set you back a good $50, 5 times what you paid for the tool.

If I were you I'd be looking for a DA polisher and use the $10 Wen for sanding wood. A DA polisher can speed up the application of wax and is also good at polishing paint. It is immensely safer to use and doesn't sling product all over the car, garage and yourself.

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iTrader: (17)

yeah definitely don't use it to put wax on.... only use it for paint correction and fine polishing.

eyezack87

iTrader: (4)

Quick google search of the RPMs places it too high for use for a beginner. From what I saw it was like 1300/1600rpm only or something like that. I never go above 1100rpm with the super fine polishes during jeweling the paint. I'd be careful if I were you

djkidkris

Thanks for all the feedback and input! I didn't even risk it so I manned up and bought a PC 7424xp from Autogeek.net. FTW! I'll get a practice run on my wife's Altima coupe before I do my next full detail on the Lexus.