I must say, I'm totally impressed, especially so with all the help I've received here on the forums. Obviously the hood isn't completed, but you can definitely see a vast improvement on the right half. The PC works excellent.

 

Very nice work. What steps and products?

Nebraska

 

Nice job. The PC does make it a lot easier.

 

I don't know what PC is but if it is a product that is taking those swirl marks out of your paint I would be interested in this too. What was the process and exactly what is the product???

 

Please let us know! I'm guessing polishing compound.

 

PC = Porter Cable.

It's a Porter Cable Variable Speed Random Orbital Sander / Polisher that's used with foam pads and polishing / cutting products to remove swirls, scratches, marring, and other paint defects. It's a good tool for light to medium paint correction.

 

how much do they run in price? where can i pick one up, and whats the differce between that and using a orbital buffer, or polisher?

 

The PC is a much more powerful machine than those larger 8" or 10" round buffers you see in auto or retail stores and it's variable speed. There's also a very wide selection of accessories available for the PC (pads, bonnets, brushes, how to videos, etc).

With the right techniques, pad & product choices, it can actually remove defects where as other less expensive larger polishers can't. Those larger less powerful machines are good at apply wax or products that may fill swirls, but they simply don't have the power or action to remove them.

Porter Cable makes two machines which are the same units, but accessorized differently. The 7336SP and the 7424 are both the same polishers, but the 7336SP comes with a different counterweight, a sanding disk and a foam polishing pad where as the 7424 does not come with the sanding disk. Either way, both machines will work fine and you won't be using the included foam polishing pad. You'll need to buy purpose specific foam polishing pads and a backing plate from another vendor. Meguiar's also sells the PC under their own brand name as a model G100 and they charge a lot more for it, but Meguiar's offers you a lifetime warranty where as Porter Cable gives you a one year warranty.

PC's typically run about $130 if you google them (either 7336SP or 7424). You can find them on eBay for less money. You can also buy polishing packages from places such as Autogeek.net or autodetailingsolutions.com, pakshak.com, exceldetail.com, exceldetail.com, detailersparadise.com, danase.com, etc, etc, etc, and you'll save good money on package deals. There are lots and lots of places to buy from, so do your shopping if you're planning to buy. Searching this forum will give you some more ideas as this has been discussed in detail before along with places to buy from, pricing, etc.

You'll need at least a cutting pad, a polishing pad and a finishing pad in addition to a backing plate and some polishing compounds. The cost for pads is about $10 each, unless you're buying double sided pads (i.e. Edge pads), which cost about twice as much. A backing plate will run about $20. Polishes run about $15 to $20 for 32oz and some run at least double that price, but 32oz last you more than a year if you're only polishing a couple of your own vehicles. Don't forget a good car wash soap, detailing clay, good quality microfiber polishing towels, brushes, etc. It adds up pretty quickly, but good professional detailing work costs money. We sometimes get $1,000+ for some details (high end exotics, etc), but we typically get $400 to $600 for something like a F150 or $250 - $400 for an average car which includes wash, clay, polish, sealant, etc. It just depends how flawless the customer want their paint. Paint correction takes time and we typially get ~$50 / hour, so forking out the money for the tools to do this yourself can definitely safe you money if you don't mind the learning curve and all the time it takes to finish your paint.

The PC can't do everything all the time, but it's a really good tool for beginners because its pretty safe to use and it can remove light to medium paint defects. For more serious defects, you'll need a rotary polisher, but that kind of tool requies much more skill to use. Another orbital polisher that's safe to use us the Cyclo dual dead polisher. They'll do more correction than the PC, but less than the rotary. They're a very nice tool, but then you're stepping up to a $300 price level for just that tool and you'll still need to buy pads, etc.

My advice is not to rush out and jump into this. Spend some time searching / reading olders posts on this forum. Also, join some detailing forums such as meguiarsonline.com, autopia.org, autogeek.net, showcardetailing.com, etc, and spend time reading & learning from those forums until you become more comfortable with all of this. Once you're ready to buy, then pick a line of products and learn to use them to the best of your abilities. Don't fall victim to constantly buying new products and think the grass is always greener on the other side. There's a lot of good products out there, but you can only take paint correction so far.

I'm out of time, otherwise I'd type a bit more, but I've got to go for the rest of the week. Have fun!

 

i know a good line of products to use but i never considered a pc, do i have to worry about burning the paint with a pc as i would if i used a buffer?

 

The PC is VERY user friendly. You would almost have to intentionally try to harm your paint to succeed. Of course, using the wrong pads/products/etc (or combinations of them) may lead to problems.

It's just like anything else -- it's not perfect but, when in the right hands with the right techniques and right products, it's a HUGE time saver and a great tool.

....or, being that you're in Louisville, you could just let a local detailer that lives up the road in La Grange do it for you. (psss... see my location).

RP

 

I'm guessing #83 or #81 at this point. Maybe even Scratch-X -- but probably not because it gums up so bad with a PC....

 

if you can clean headliners without fear of them falling, and are priced well im all for it just send me a instant message on aol or aim or even email me and let me know ur price for a full detail

 

Dude, what ever he charges I would pay in a sec.

 

Hey rustyzipper if I recall correctly didn't you have some pretty bad etching on that truck? It looks great, just wondering if your etching has been resolved or minimized at all. I just got a bunch of stuff from ADS and did a small 6x6 corner on the trunk lid of my car by hand and I'm fairly satisfied with the results by using ScratchX (didn't do much) so went on to some 83 then 80. Hopefully Saturday I can get the PC running and see how that helps.

 

>>>Hey rustyzipper if I recall correctly didn't you have some pretty bad etching on that truck?<<<


Yes I did have the acid rain etching problem. The Scratch-X worked alright, but there is/was no way possible anybody could have accomplished what I did, in the amount of time it took, by using just Scratch-X, let alone doing it by hand. In the beginning, I was very, very, extremely leary of ruining my paint any further. Experimentation is key to achieving great results and believe me, I experimented big time. Not only with different products, but also with asking many, many questions before I even decided to touch a $36,000.00 truck with a machine, and products I was very unfamiliar with.

Yes, in fact I did start out with Megs #83 RockPick. However, once I reached a very diminished looking etch, I noticed the #83 seemed to quit working as I wanted the etching completely gone. I went over it a couple more times and I couldn't get the etching to budge any further. Frustrated, I did the other side of the hood starting out with Megs #4 heavy cut cleaner. This my friends was indeed the difference maker. The #4 went through it much better, quicker, and completely removed the etching and all swirl marks.

Wash using a ShMitt, NXT shampoo and soft water.
Clayed with Clay Magic blue.
Megs Gold Medallion Paint Cleaner--still available, but discontinued
Edge 2000 heavy polishing pad = orange/green pad. I used the orange side.
Megs #4 heavy cut cleaner--#83 Dual Action Cleaner Polish applied with medium pressure on top of the PC with a slow sweeping arm motion.

Anything less than acid rain etching, moderate to heavy swirling, the #83, #80 will work just fine coupled with the green pad (e.g.) stepping down in both pad and compound abrasion as dictated (i.e.) new paint.