I'm looking in to getting a buffer here before to long. I found one at Pep Boys for $39.99. First of is that a good price? Second, are there better buffers out there and if so then where do I get them. Third and last, I've heard from a friend of mine that buffing your car over time will take the clear coat off. Is this true or not and is there any downfalls about buffing? Thanks for any help you guys can give.

 

I swear by the Porter Cable orbital. (about $120, but well worth it IMO) Each time you polish, a small amount of clear coat will be removed. Use the least abrasive polish first. Just don't polish every week. Once or twice a year is fine...your clear coat will last a long time.

 

Yeah I have the Porter Cable as well and like it a lot. In essence it is similar to the cheap one at Pep Boys, but in practice it is very different since it is much more versatile and much more powerful. Lesser buffers are more limited to lighter work or simple applying and buffing because they simply don't have the speed or horsepower.

Let me take a guess at the specs for the one you're looking at (since you supplied none): Possibly made by Wen or MVP. Somewhere between 8" and 10" size and it uses bonnets. A measely 0.5 to 0.75 amps of power. One or 2 speeds at the most, non-variable. Am I close? Most of these machines are pretty similar to one another usually...

 

Yeah it was the MVP America I4500 BUFFER 10" ORBITAL. So where can I get a better buffer then?

 

Anything other than a porter cable is worthless(unless its a rotary). Others simlply cannot generate enough speed or heat to remove any swirls. If you're using it for wax, you'll soon find out that its more practical to do it by hand.

 

Buying a quality buffer/polisher is an investment. Not only in machine itself, but the pads. I've never paid for any of my stuff since my family was in the detail product supply business for 20 years. But I use a 7/9" polisher. (looks like a big grinder) variable speed 0-3000 RPM, 8 amps. I think we sold them for around 400 bucks. You can probably find a decent one, like a black and decker or something for around 150, however. (mine is an industrial as it is meant for proffesional detailers) Pads run from 10-25 bucks. I have a whole stack of them. Your going to want few at least.

Personally, I hate obital buffers. Polishers are much easier for me to use and they seem to do a better job. If you don't think so, go down to any decent detail shop and see what they use. Odds are nine time out of ten, it is NOT an orbital buffer.

Orbital buffers are just cheaper, so thats what most stores carry, and thats what most people buy. There just isn't a lot of people that want to drop 500 bucks to get a good polisher set up.

 

What about this one? http://properautocare.com/veprcipo.html If not that one then look and tell me which one to get. Oh by the way how often should you wax your car? Also will buffing/polishing over time eat away at your clear coat? Thanks for any help you can give.

 

While pretty much all detailing shops or professional detailers (even the lousy hacks) use rotary-style buffers, they don't use them because they give better results. They use them because they are FAST, and in their line of work time = money.

There's a flip side to these things though, and it's not a free lunch. Ever see an otherwise nice looking, detailed car on the road, but it has all these big, ugly circular streaks or swirls down the side of the car? That's what can happen when someone does a rushed or poorly trained polishing job with one of these. Rotary polishers are large, powerful machines that most experienced users will tell you take a LOT of practice to master and are much more difficult to handle than any orbital machine. While it can be rewarding to learn how to use, it can potentially cause damage fairly easily if you slip up, which even happens to the pros once in a while.

Rotaries just sit in one spot and spin, which creates a lot of heat and friction. This is what makes it work well, but also makes it dangerous. Random orbitals make a "jiggling", orbiting motion, kind of like when you make circular shapes when hand waxing. This creates a lot less heat and friction so it doesn't work as effectively, but is also a lot safer. That is not to say that they'll automatically give you worse results. You can often compensate for the lack of heat/friction by choosing more aggressive products and multiple steps, but this in itself is a huge and complex topic that I'm not going to touch right now. In the end, people can and have restored badly damaged paint with the Porter Cable - it just takes more time.

Any time you polish a car you'll be taking off at least some paint. It depends mainly upon how strong of a product you're using and (to a lesser degree) how vigorously you use it. If you wash your car properly and care for it right, you shouldn't have to worry about this though since you won't have all that much damage to correct every year. Most people I know do one or two major overhauls a year.

Orbital buffers are not always cheaper. The ones they sell at Pep Boys, Wal-Mart, etc. are cheap because they're cheaply made, weak, and basic. Quality machines like the Porter Cable and Cyclo are much more expensive, but that buys you much more power and flexibility, and better construction too (the PC was originally a heavy duty sander). Power is necessary so it doesn't stall under load when you're doing heavier polishing. Another reason why stores typically sell the orbitals is because they are much safer to use so Joe Sixpack isn't going to accidentally mess up his finish.

Basically it boils down to this:

Rotary (aka circular) Polisher: For professional detailing businesses and the SERIOUS hardcore enthusiast willing to learn. Fast, powerful, and demanding to use - a double edged sword. Usually expensive to buy and accessorize.

Random Orbital Polisher (Porter Cable): For part-time enthusiasts, weekend warrior detailers, semi-pro detailers, and even serious enthusiasts. Basically for anyone for whom time is not money. Monkeys can be trained to use one. Slightly less expensive to buy and accessorize (typically almost $200 or so and up)

El-Cheapo Random Orbitals: Limited uses and best suited for only waxing and very light polishing jobs (like pre-wax cleaners). If this is all you'll ever be doing then this will be fine, even though most people will tell you "don't bother". Basically a crippled version of the above that uses cloth bonnets. Typically pretty cheap.

I hope this helps you decide, but my personal suggestion is always the Porter Cable. It's a good long-term investment that gives you the ability to perform both light and reasonably heavy jobs. For the number of times in a year that I have to polish my car (or other people's cars ) this is a safe, simple to use tool that doesn't need a lot of practice to use, but is still a huge improvement over trying to polish out swirls by hand.

 

Porter Cable rules!

 

Thanks alot everyone for all of your help. I'm going to go with the porter cable.

 

I use my wal-mart special for applying wax and remove the wax by hand..I can put 2 coats of wax on my gen 3 in an hour..and I mean good coats..it takes me 1-2 hours per coat to do it by hand, and I get 5x better results with the buffer..I do the lower door panels, around the door handles, side trim, mirrors and bumpers by hand..I've never had swirls in the finish..I polish twice a year (all by hand) and use a claybar once, maybe twice a year, and wax about 5 times every summer..I used my uncles porter cable once and while I probably would have liked it if I hadn't gotten used to the smaller one, I really didn't like it..it was much heavier and for waxing it didn't deliver any better results..just my opinion though..the user has as much influence on the result as the tools being used, so practice and try a couple different methods

 

Glad you get good results with what you're using. Can you post some pics? Being the detail forum, you gotta show off your work!!

 

The Porter Cable is the only one to get. Rotaries are great IF YOU KNOW HOW TO USE THEM. If you don't know how to use one you WILL burn your paint. The PC is safe and effective, if a bit slow. I highly recommend the Porter Cable.

 

I had a 10" buffer, and 8" buffer, and now I have a 6" buffer. This thing is great, cost like $25 at murray's...