Polishing Your Lexus, Any Advice

[Buzzz]

Hi there,

I am considering purchasing a powered polisher / buffer, don't really want to pay the earth for one, just something to take the hard work out of the job. Have been looking around for a while at things like the Meguiars G220 but as I said don't really want to pay out this money if the unit is going to be more than I need. Have looked at the, let's say cheap alternatives from Halfords, Kent etc but can't find anything anywhere that would encourage me to buy this type of polisher / buffer.

Just wondered if you guys have any experience in these or whether I should stick to good old elbow grease.

Thanks.

[Parthiban]

Quite a few people on here use them and with pretty stunning results. I've actually got a cheapo one from Halfords, and it can't do the same job, but can do essentially what your hand does without causing you any pain!

But in terms of a mirror like finish, you need one of those proper polishers - I'm sure someone who actually has one will be along shortly to concur :)

[dgman]

buzz,the key question is,what do you want too acheive from the machine.post that up then you will get a more specific answer.

[Buzzz]

buzz,the key question is,what do you want too acheive from the machine.post that up then you will get a more specific answer.

Thanks, yep I agree.

The paint work on the car is in very good condition, I just want something that is going to help polish the car, I am not looking to clay the car, apply numerous coats of polish and then a top coat, just something that is going to take the hard work out of getting the mirror like finish, I can and have been doing this by hand. there are loads of machines around for £20 - £30 but many of these just spin around, where as the more expensive machines seem to have an offset motion that I guess means minimal swirl marks. I would also want something that has a variable speed and slow start up, as again I have read these are kinder to the car. One final thing, would be a unit that has the pads readily available.

Does this help, or do I need to tell you a little more.

Cheers.

[Parthiban]

If that's all you want from it the expensive ones are probably a bit of overkill. One of the cheaper ones will be fine, the one I've got has a random orbit and goes pretty slow so there's no real risk of doing damage to the paintwork.

It essentially does what I'd do with my hands without killing my arms so might be all you need. The polishing bonnets are easily available from Halfords or on the net :)

[Buzzz]

If that's all you want from it the expensive ones are probably a bit of overkill. One of the cheaper ones will be fine, the one I've got has a random orbit and goes pretty slow so there's no real risk of doing damage to the paintwork.

It essentially does what I'd do with my hands without killing my arms so might be all you need. The polishing bonnets are easily available from halfords or on the net :)

Thanks very much, which one have you got, hoping to get some recomendataions and then off I go and get one?

[dgman]

buzz,the key question is,what do you want too acheive from the machine.post that up then you will get a more specific answer.

Thanks, yep I agree.

The paint work on the car is in very good condition, I just want something that is going to help polish the car, I am not looking to clay the car, apply numerous coats of polish and then a top coat, just something that is going to take the hard work out of getting the mirror like finish, I can and have been doing this by hand. there are loads of machines around for £20 - £30 but many of these just spin around, where as the more expensive machines seem to have an offset motion that I guess means minimal swirl marks. I would also want something that has a variable speed and slow start up, as again I have read these are kinder to the car. One final thing, would be a unit that has the pads readily available.

Does this help, or do I need to tell you a little more.

Cheers.

sorry buzz,am i correct in thinking that you don't want to remove swirl's and only want to add gloss.

[Robertb]

Claying is a crucial first step to cleanse the paint before you polish; you will get a much better finish, and its worth learning how to do it- its not difficult, you just need to be patient.

I have the Meguiars DA polisher- its great because you are very unlikely to burn the paint with it as you may with a professional style rotary polisher, which would mean a respray... you need to be very wary of swirls and polisher trails with anything that doesn't have a random motion.

What the polisher does is do what you would do by hand, except many times over and over per second and more consistently- thus you won't save time using a DA polisher, but it will give a much better finish in the same amount of time.

Time spent preparing the finish i.e. wash, clay, polish is what gives the mirror finish- the top layer of wax seals it in and won't, in itself, provide a mirror finish for long.

If your finish is already good, then I'd invest in some high quality glaze, e.g. Zaino; its not hard to apply, and there would be no particular benefit in using a DA polisher to apply.

[Parthiban]

Thanks very much, which one have you got, hoping to get some recomendataions and then off I go and get one?

I honestly have absolutely no idea, I'll have a look in the garage tomorrow and see what it says on it - literally just went into Halfords and bought one for around £30 I think..........

This link may help with your decision though.......... LINK

[Buzzz]

Claying is a crucial first step to cleanse the paint before you polish; you will get a much better finish, and its worth learning how to do it- its not difficult, you just need to be patient.

I have the Meguiars DA polisher- its great because you are very unlikely to burn the paint with it as you may with a professional style rotary polisher, which would mean a respray... you need to be very wary of swirls and polisher trails with anything that doesn't have a random motion.

What the polisher does is do what you would do by hand, except many times over and over per second and more consistently- thus you won't save time using a DA polisher, but it will give a much better finish in the same amount of time.

Time spent preparing the finish i.e. wash, clay, polish is what gives the mirror finish- the top layer of wax seals it in and won't, in itself, provide a mirror finish for long.

If your finish is already good, then I'd invest in some high quality glaze, e.g. Zaino; its not hard to apply, and there would be no particular benefit in using a DA polisher to apply.

Thanks for the advice. The car already has a good finish (had Supagard applied, yes I know the jury is out re this application). However, having this applied does mean I am slightly concerned about claying the car as I guess it will remove this protection. Re polishing, I do use the suggested polish from Supagard and get a really good finish, however, by then end of it I am knackered, reason for asking the question about the buffer.

The car is washed by hand every week, so the paint work is in excellent condition, in fact many comments about how I keep it looking so good, hard work is what I say!!!

So, this is just me being lazy but I don't want to buy a machine that ends up on eBay, like many of them, there are so many adds there for units that have been 'used once', this normally translates into, bought it and it wasn't very good!

Thanks.

[Buzzz]

Thanks very much, which one have you got, hoping to get some recomendataions and then off I go and get one?

I honestly have absolutely no idea, I'll have a look in the garage tomorrow and see what it says on it - literally just went into Halfords and bought one for around £30 I think..........

This link may help with your decision though.......... LINK

Thanks for this, yep stumbled across this when doing my reseach and went to find a Kinzo 8E925EP, only to find this product test from Auto Express was done a little while ago and the model is no longer available, so back to the drawing board and why I am trying the forum.

Thanks for helping though.

[dgman]

Claying is a crucial first step to cleanse the paint before you polish; you will get a much better finish, and its worth learning how to do it- its not difficult, you just need to be patient.

I have the Meguiars DA polisher- its great because you are very unlikely to burn the paint with it as you may with a professional style rotary polisher, which would mean a respray... you need to be very wary of swirls and polisher trails with anything that doesn't have a random motion.

What the polisher does is do what you would do by hand, except many times over and over per second and more consistently- thus you won't save time using a DA polisher, but it will give a much better finish in the same amount of time.

Time spent preparing the finish i.e. wash, clay, polish is what gives the mirror finish- the top layer of wax seals it in and won't, in itself, provide a mirror finish for long.

If your finish is already good, then I'd invest in some high quality glaze, e.g. Zaino; its not hard to apply, and there would be no particular benefit in using a DA polisher to apply.

i have just moved up from a da to a rotary polisher and i was a little bit worried on first use after reading the scare stories about burning through the paint.i have to say that i am amazed at the speed of swirl/scratch removal compared with the da,at least four times quicker.i did notice that there are clear signs before you can burn the paint,the pad starts to squeal when more polish is required on the pad,i do think that a da is a good place to start to gain experience with a machine correction tool.

[Buzzz]

Thanks very much, which one have you got, hoping to get some recomendataions and then off I go and get one?

I honestly have absolutely no idea, I'll have a look in the garage tomorrow and see what it says on it - literally just went into Halfords and bought one for around £30 I think..........

This link may help with your decision though.......... LINK

Did you manage to find out which one you had? Thanks.

[Parthiban]

Did you manage to find out which one you had? Thanks.

Yeah I did, it's a Hilka one, like THIS

When the weather warms up I'm going to put it to the test as my car's got quite swirly so it'll be interesting to see how much of it it can remove :)

Just found this which is a much more recent review, which places the Halfords one at the top of the pile.......... LINK

[Buzzz]

Did you manage to find out which one you had? Thanks.

Yeah I did, it's a Hilka one, like THIS

When the weather warms up I'm going to put it to the test as my car's got quite swirly so it'll be interesting to see how much of it it can remove :)

Just found this which is a much more recent review, which places the Halfords one at the top of the pile.......... LINK

Hey, thanks very much! Looks like a trip to Halfords is in order.

[chandru]

hmm mite get mmyself one of those when weather gets bit better...wash, dry, clay, polish, klasse sealant, p21 wax. not looking forward to it. lol

[aaronabbott]

hmm mite get mmyself one of those when weather gets bit better...wash, dry, clay, polish, klasse sealant, p21 wax. not looking forward to it. lol

let us know when you and ill drop mine round

[mick77]

Claying is a crucial first step to cleanse the paint before you polish; you will get a much better finish, and its worth learning how to do it- its not difficult, you just need to be patient.

I have the Meguiars DA polisher- its great because you are very unlikely to burn the paint with it as you may with a professional style rotary polisher, which would mean a respray... you need to be very wary of swirls and polisher trails with anything that doesn't have a random motion.

What the polisher does is do what you would do by hand, except many times over and over per second and more consistently- thus you won't save time using a DA polisher, but it will give a much better finish in the same amount of time.

Time spent preparing the finish i.e. wash, clay, polish is what gives the mirror finish- the top layer of wax seals it in and won't, in itself, provide a mirror finish for long.

If your finish is already good, then I'd invest in some high quality glaze, e.g. Zaino; its not hard to apply, and there would be no particular benefit in using a DA polisher to apply.

Forgive my ignorance - what is "Claying" and how do I do it??

[dgman]

Claying is a crucial first step to cleanse the paint before you polish; you will get a much better finish, and its worth learning how to do it- its not difficult, you just need to be patient.

I have the Meguiars DA polisher- its great because you are very unlikely to burn the paint with it as you may with a professional style rotary polisher, which would mean a respray... you need to be very wary of swirls and polisher trails with anything that doesn't have a random motion.

What the polisher does is do what you would do by hand, except many times over and over per second and more consistently- thus you won't save time using a DA polisher, but it will give a much better finish in the same amount of time.

Time spent preparing the finish i.e. wash, clay, polish is what gives the mirror finish- the top layer of wax seals it in and won't, in itself, provide a mirror finish for long.

If your finish is already good, then I'd invest in some high quality glaze, e.g. Zaino; its not hard to apply, and there would be no particular benefit in using a DA polisher to apply.

Forgive my ignorance - what is "Claying" and how do I do it??

clay is a substance which is used with a lubricant to remove bonded particles from your paint finish,these might include industrial fallout,tree sap,tar spots etc,it is mainly used prior to polishing.

[Rapidone]

Are you talking about china clay? Where would one get some, and how is it used?

Anyone got a link to a site showing how to get the paint looking great, or can explain in detail how to do it?

I've been using only a high power jet wash with water only during the winter, the car was getting more and more dirty. Then I used what I thought was soap in the jet wash at work, let it sit for a while, and then rinsed, almost all the dirt went. I found out later that it wasnt soap, but was Trafic Film Remover. The car looks great and is turning heads again, but I'm guessing that continued use of a corrosive substance isn't recomended.

The user manual isn't much help. Use water only, if that doesn't work use soap and a sponge, and wax when the water doen't bead on the surface of the paint any more.

I'm not sure which is worse, using TFR and then a rinse, or using a sponge and risking draging dirt particles across the surface of the paint.

[dgman]

Are you talking about china clay? Where would one get some, and how is it used?

Anyone got a link to a site showing how to get the paint looking great, or can explain in detail how to do it?

I've been using only a high power jet wash with water only during the winter, the car was getting more and more dirty. Then I used what I thought was soap in the jet wash at work, let it sit for a while, and then rinsed, almost all the dirt went. I found out later that it wasnt soap, but was Trafic Film Remover. The car looks great and is turning heads again, but I'm guessing that continued use of a corrosive substance isn't recomended.

The user manual isn't much help. Use water only, if that doesn't work use soap and a sponge, and wax when the water doen't bead on the surface of the paint any more.

I'm not sure which is worse, using TFR and then a rinse, or using a sponge and risking draging dirt particles across the surface of the paint.

no,not china clay in fact it isn't clay at all but is called clay.it is a material that resembles blue tac by touch and is very sticky and when rubbed across your paintwork will remove bonded particles to give a smooth feel prior to polishing.visit detailing world and scroll down too technical then detailing guides and all will be revealed,last stage is too open wallet.

[Adie]

Get yourself a porter polisher. May seem expensive but the results are well worth it. Providing you put in the time and effort.

[Voodoo]

Hi

Have a read here at the post and some of the guides. They will keep you on the straight with most of it. Friendly place for the most part, just ask some questions.

On the last point of discussion, Claying will remove a lot of surface contaminants and help prepare for polish or wax. It can be bought as Meguiars kit in Halfrauds. But there are better out there.

Greig :D

[Voodoo]

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