Not sure which polisher to get....

i have a porter cable p7424(random orbit), it will take care of almost anything and almost impossible to hurt the paint., a rotary will be about 10 times faster but a good chance of burning you paint if you dont know what you are doing.

Figment said:

i have a porter cable p7424(random orbit), it will take care of almost anything and almost impossible to hurt the paint., a rotary will be about 10 times faster but a good chance of burning you paint if you dont know what you are doing.

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does that put a really nice shine on the paint? Also, will it remove minor imperfections or swirl marks?

Thanks!

I just bought the porter-cable last weekend. My '03 Black GT has a ton of swirls and scratches, 50K of hard driving and constant washing and waxing. So I didn't know much about buffing and polishing. When I used the Meguire's pain cleaner every imperfection was on display, looked like hell. Then buff, then polish, then wax. I took pictures for a write-up but my camera sucks and you can't see crap. I was pretty impressed with the results. I think the next time I do it I won't be so afraid of hurting my paint and I'll do a better job.
Cliffnotes: Yes it does a good job of removing swirls and imperfections, especially if you know what your doing.

98stangv8 said:

does that put a really nice shine on the paint? Also, will it remove minor imperfections or swirl marks?

Thanks!

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after i finished polishing my stang the first time it looked like it looked better then when it was brand new. after two coats of wax it was amazing.
i had no problem removing all the swrills and scratches. it does take sometime. the right pads and polish make all the difference. i did most of my research on autopia.com.

I've got a Porter Cable as well, basically the same one as Meguiar's sells (but without the lifetime warrantee they offer). It's more in technique and product used that in the "cutting power" of the machine-why buy one that could potentially damage your paint? I am partial to Meg's products and spend time cruising their forums (megiuarsonline)-I've found several professional detailers use the PC as well, and have amazing results, so it must work quite well. I got mine rather late in the season last year and have not had much opportunity to use it (I plan on using it on the DD first to get the best technique, even though I don't have to worry about burning the paint, I'm still obessively fussy about the '00!). If you do search the Meg's forums, you'll fnd plenty of tips, tricks and techniques, as well as which products to use for what problems to get the best results-of course, they are all Meg's fans and will be recommending Meg's products, but I'm sure most can be carried over to other lines.

As a beginner, get a Porter Cable. With today's thin clearcoats and in the hands of an inexperienced user, one can burn through his paint very quickly with a rotary (circular polisher), as in, a matter of a few seconds. With a PC, it is almost impossible to do serious damage to your paint.

A PC will let you do just about anything a rotary will, it just will take a bit more work/time. It is a trade-off, a little more time for a lot more safety. About the only thing I've heard of that a rotary can do and a PC can't is take out really bad scratches. Do not ask me as to the magnitude of the scratch because it was not I who tried to take out the scratches, but rather someone on Autopia.org.

If you want to learn more, I highly suggest you stroll on over to Autopia. It is a very friendly board filled with tons of information and hardcore detailers.