[meesh]

Well my son and I have decided to buy what we need and learn to buff the cars ourselves. Can't find anyone around here who wants the work.

I have a 67 Chevelle and he has a 95 red Camaro LT1. Camaro is beautiful but needs a buff job to bring out the color. My Chevelle could use it also. We plan to 'practice' on my wifes marroon 98 Sebring and our older Torrent. No harm really if we screw up.....

Question: I searched the threads and found Makita and Dewalt buffers to be liked and Adams products seemed well liked. I checked Adams site and they sell a Porter Cable buffer in their very expensive kit. For buffers I see 6, 7 8 inch pads, etc. I would hate to go buy a separate buffer, then try to figure out the pads sizes, what products to use, and all that.

Would I go wrong by just buying an Adams kit so I have the buffer, pads, and some cleaners and polishes to start with? Seems others here swear by them.

Thanks

 

[6SuperSport7]

Well the Porter Cable and Dewalt/Makita are two very different machines. Dewalt/Makita is a rotary while the porter cable has a random orbit action(much like a DA). All depends on what you are wanting to do. If you are doing a lot of wet sanding and buffing, I would go with a rotary. Scratch and swirl removal I would go with something like the porter cable. You can do both jobs with both units, the rotary is just a much faster, aggressive machine. With that said, there is also more risk with the rotary such as burning an edge. If you do decide to go with a machine like a porter cable, I would advise to stick with smaller pad sizes in the 5 inch range. I have never used anything Adams but have heard good things. M105, M205 is a great compund polish combo for both machines. Check out autogeek.net or autopia.org. Thay have tons on info on this stuff and have a lot of deals and specials for these units.

 

[meesh]

Yeah, I watched my Dad back in the day using a rotary, buffing out the cars he painted and he just flew along, never burning through. I figure the random orbit is for us, no need to screw things up...we are just going to clean up the finishes, no heavy duty stuff.

Thanks

 

[67shovel]

Personally, I think you should learn to use the rotary esp if you have a couple of unimportant cars to practice on. Anybody can use a random buffer but you can't get the results of a rotary with a random IMHO. Once you have the rotary figured out you can color sand and bring an orange peeled oxidized crappy paint job to show standards in an afternoon.

 

[Raven1]

Just get a rotary buffer. It's only buffing, a very simple elementary task but incredibly boring.

 

[OldSoldier]

If you have practice cars I guess the rotary is the way to go. That said, I bought the Adams kit and it works just fine. My cars are an 09 Enclave and an 09 G8 and the paint on both still looks new (except for the rock chips).

 

[meesh]

Thanks for the advice. After watching a bunch of you tube videos, we decided to get the Adams kit with the Porter Cable random orbital machine. I figured we could use this for all the light stuff and waxing and see how it cleans up the problems in the paint we have.

Kind of chickened out - just don't want to wreck anything. Wimpy, I know.

If I need a rotary down the road, I might give that a try sometime.

 

[Mark66SS]

I have both a rotory Porter Cable and a DA Porter cable #7336 two machines that do two different jobs. Major corrections/color sanding are done with the rotory then I switch to the DA for final polishing. Detailing is DA all the way

meguiars has a great website and forum with how to videos and some very knowledgeable people many are pro detailers. I have been on it a few years.

 

[Tampa Jerry]

You can get a DVD from Auto Geek by Mike Phillips. Mike goes through all the steps in sanding, compounding, polishing and waxing a car. I know that Groits also has a similar DVD. Jerry

 

[Beaux]

You can get a DVD from Auto Geek by Mike Phillips. Mike goes through all the steps in sanding, compounding, polishing and waxing a car. I know that Groits also has a similar DVD. Jerry

He bought from Adams.

His order will come with DVD's detailing processes for the products ordered. Vids are also on his website. And if you get stuck - ask him.

I am a big fan of Adams after switching recently from a plethora of other products. Their leather interior cleaner and treatment is fantastic.

If you didnt pick up any microfiber towels I would do so. Best towels I have bought to date and I went with his cheap white ones (not the double plush) and one small towel holds more liquid than the extra large ones I got from pakshak a while ago.