Porter Polisher !

[Mr Singh]

Bazza...

Can you take a pic of the car, with direct sun beaming onto the paint surface?

Just so we can see if its removed swirls.. which looking at the pics it has!

[Bazza]

Bazza...

Can you take a pic of the car, with direct sun beaming onto the paint surface?

Just so we can see if its removed swirls.. which looking at the pics it has!

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got car

got camera

errrr.....one thing missing, next time i see it i will

[Mr Singh]

Cheers.

I use the same process on mine, except i don't use the Autoglym extra gloss protection.

Not clayed the car for 6months i think.... will be blitzing it this Friday weather permitting!! so i might post my pics too :D

[Matthew_McNally]

almost correct 

the autoglym was the extra gloss protection

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why the Autoglym and megs polish mate?

[Bazza]

almost correct 

the autoglym was the extra gloss protection

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why the Autoglym and megs polish mate?

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the Autoglym isnt really a polish

it is a clear liquid which is gently wiped on, then wiped off 60 mins later, tends to give a wet look

its easy to put on and easy to wipe off, i had a bottle so thought why not :D

[Matthew_McNally]

the autoglym isnt really a polish

it is a clear liquid which is gently wiped on, then wiped off 60 mins later, tends to give a wet look

its easy to put on and easy to wipe off, i had a bottle so thought why not  :D

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fair enough :D

[eXOBeX]

I've updated my earlier post to correct the list. Matt, you may want to cut my quote from your earlier reply, it's a bit lengthy (and all my fault!).

Where do you get the wax from, Bazza? I've found a one-stop-shop for everything else (www.socket2me.co.uk).

Which ones get PC'd and which ones go by hand? Which pads? I bought the DAS kit so I've got the orange, green and blue pads, plus the white one that came with the polisher, plus the cloth thing that goes over the orange one.

Any other odds and sods I need, any particular cloths and stuff? (must - remember - glass - cleaner - must - remember - glass - cleaner)

[Bazza]

I've updated my earlier post to correct the list.  Matt, you may want to cut my quote from your earlier reply, it's a bit lengthy (and all my fault!).

Where do you get the wax from Bazza?  I've found a one-stop-shop for everything else (www.socket2me.co.uk).

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from here !

[eXOBeX]

Can't see the Step 3 wax in paste form, is it the Cleaner Wax, NXT Tech Wax Paste or Gold Class Clear Coat Paste Wax, or is it another one?

[Bazza]

Can't see the Step 3 wax in paste form, is it the Cleaner Wax, NXT Tech Wax Paste or Gold Class Clear Coat Paste Wax, or is it another one?

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Gold Class Clear Coat Paste Wax, :D

[Matthew_McNally]

Which ones get PC'd and which ones go by hand?  Which pads?  I bought the DAS kit so I've got the orange, green and blue pads, plus the white one that came with the polisher, plus the cloth thing that goes over the orange one.

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dont know what bazza did - but from experience, I would say wax and buff by hand.

buffing the wax off with a bonnet takes a while, and the bonnet loads up with wax, which just means it takes longer and longer to come off.

take the wax off by hand - and do a final buff with a bonnet if you like.

[eXOBeX]

OK, goodies ordered!

(Damn this Lexus, it's a bloody money magnet! :P )

[Bazza]

Which ones get PC'd and which ones go by hand?  Which pads?  I bought the DAS kit so I've got the orange, green and blue pads, plus the white one that came with the polisher, plus the cloth thing that goes over the orange one.

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dont know what bazza did - but from experience, I would say wax and buff by hand.

buffing the wax off with a bonnet takes a while, and the bonnet loads up with wax, which just means it takes longer and longer to come off.

take the wax off by hand - and do a final buff with a bonnet if you like.

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yep, thats the way to do it :D

[gib]

I have lost the plot reading these threads.

Too many makes/polishes/waxes, carnuba this , NXT that.

I currently use Meguiars NXT or the one in the purple bottle.

Should I maybe buy a polisher too?

Dont want to spend that much on one. I take it the Halfords one is no use. Should I look for one with a specific voltage/ revs per min type?

Advice please

Thanks

[Rob]

the porter is a random orbit with quite a bit of power, the one mat refered to where the guy damaged his paint is pure rotary ( think angle grinder) the ones from Halfords etc are random obrit but not as powerful. If you dont have the Halfords type on anything it does spin round ( slowly) but im sure the porter does that also - barry????

have been using the Halfords style ones for years and have never had a prob, it will defo not damage ur paint unless ur a complete moron and hold the edge of the mop against the car whilst its spinning for 10 mins, in which case you are trying to damage it.

[eXOBeX]

Finally got round to polishing the car, aiming for the "Bazza finish".

What I did

Used Karcher jetwash with Comma TFR in the foam sprayer thing to clean most of the dirt off the car, then jetted the car clean.

Clayed it (using Meguiars Quik clay kit, drying off with Meguiars Gold Class towel), then left it overnight (was getting dark).

Scratch-X'd most of the car (muslin cloth on and off), then gave up as it appeared to make no difference to the scratches.

Used Auto Glym Fast Glass on the windows (another Meguiars Gold Class towel) - damn, that's good stuff!

Got out the Porter Cable polisher (wahey!), on went Meguiars Step 1 Cleaner (blue pad on, green pad off).

Meguiars Step 2 Polish next (white bolt-on pad on, bonnet-fitted-to-orange-pad off).

Auto Glym Extra Gloss Protection applied with a muslin cloth, popped grub in the oven whilst waiting for it to dry, then polished off with another bonnet fitted to the orange pad.

Deviating from Bazza's shopping list, I finished off with Meguiars NXT Generation Tech Wax, on with the supplied hand pad, off with yet another Meguiars Gold Class towel.

Took pictures, ate food, changed, went to work.

Things I discovered

1) It's difficult to take a decent picture of a shiny car. Cigarette butts, leaves, stones, white lines, even guttering all look like streaks and scratches when they're reflected off the car. Plenty of light is essential, otherwise the pictures look grainy. The picture of the bonnet (those are clouds, by the way) was taken at about 8:30pm and was the only decent photo of all the ones taken then, the rest I took with my camcorder at 2pm when the sun was shining).

2) If a fly lands on the car, don't try to scare it off with the electric polisher. You'll spend the next five minutes trying to polish insect residue off your paintwork.

3) All the Meguiars stuff smells really nice.

Things I'll do next time

1) Remember to shake the bottle! I was polishing off Step 2 when I remembered that I should've shaken the bottles!

2) Use Quik Detailer on the WHOLE vehicle when claying (as the car was still wet I used the water as a lubricant on the bonnet, roof and boot lid, didn't come out as nice as the QD'd panels on the sides).

3) Try applying the wax with the polisher (I'll need to buy another pad though, the whole process left me with only the orange pad still clean, and that's too firm for waxing). I'll still take it off with the towel, though.

4) Pay more attention to filling in the stone chips before polishing the car (at least the biggest ones are painted to match the colour of the car now!)

The results

Bearing in mind that this is not only my first crack at using an electric polisher, but also my first crack at polishing and waxing a car (up to now jetwashing's been my limit, apart from using T-Cut twice), I'm pretty happy with the results so far.

Click the pictures to enlarge...

[LennyLexus]

looking good.

now dont leave it under that tree for too long, the birds will ***** on it :P

[Bazza]

superb :)

[eXOBeX]

looking good.

now dont leave it under that tree for too long, the birds will ***** on it :P

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Tell me about it. Was under the tree to get some shade to work, car's normally two cars' further down, where (i) it's not under the tree and (ii) it's on CCTV.

superb  :)

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Cheers Bazza. It's all thanks to you, I wouldn't have had a clue where to start otherwise. I've documented what I did to help other polishing newbies get started.

I can't believe I've actually got lens flare off my car - click the first picture! B)

[Matthew_McNally]

beautiful :)

same colour as mine - it is difficult to get a decent picture of it isn't it - mine always end up too washed out :(

the porter is an excellent tool - but I would only use it for polishing and buffing. Apply your finishing product (wax or glaze) by hand.

I have tried waxing with it - and it was a lot of work, the bonnet got loaded with product very quickly.

tried applying sealant glaze with it - and took it off again, not happy with the result. I'm re-doing it now by hand.

compound, polish and buff with the porter - absolutely. Gives a superb shine, and the paintwork is so soft.

but - I "finish" the car by hand, get a nicer result that way I have found

[SHAHZ]

Looking good mate :D i think youve got some competition matt

[eXOBeX]

Looking good mate :D    i think youve got some competition matt

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I don't think so. Matt's car couldn't sparkle any more if he put the pictures through Photoshop!

I was well impressed with the clay. First of all you get it out of the pack and you think "WTF do I do with this little block? This'll take years to do!", but it moulds to your hand and the car so easily that the job just comes naturally. I kept running the back of my finger down the panels, comparing the one I'd just done with the one coming next, amazing stuff.

[eXOBeX]

same colour as mine - it is difficult to get a decent picture of it isn't it - mine always end up too washed out :(

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I took the pictures with the camcorder first, but when I looked at the "mirror door" picture I thought it looked awful, showing the "Hammerite" finish so much it looked like I'd been messing with the picture in Corel PhotoPaint! Popped out with the digital camera instead and took a load of photos at the works car park, but they look grainy as hell. Dropped the resolution of the camcorder pics from 2288x1728 to 1024x773, they looked better than the camera pics so I used most of those instead!

[Matthew_McNally]

i think youve got some competition matt

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its not a competition Shahz - just shiny cars B)

and this one shines!! :D

[Matthew_McNally]

I took the pictures with the camcorder first, but when I put them on the computer this evening I thought they looked awful, but that was due to them being zoomed in and showing the "Hammerite" finish.  Popped out with the digital camera instead and took a load of photos at the works car park, but they look grainy as hell.  Dropped the resolution of the camcorder pics from 2288x1728 to 1024x773, they looked better than the camera pics so I used most of those instead!

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hmmm

you dropped the image size - not the resolution?

have to try that.

did you have any problem with the pics being too bright / washed out? anything like sunlight, and my pics seem too washed out