Looking for recommendations on a power polisher to speed up future detailing.

My three week old E430 Sport's first polish/wax will be done by hand, based on excellent product recommendations read from this thread.

I understand that rpm should be kept low (1K-3K) and tool constantly moving (in direction of airflow), so as not to remove paint. Buffing and polishing pads used of course should be of high quality.

Thanks.

James

I use the Porter-Cable random orbital polisher. Porter-Cable makes the polisher sold by Meguiars. The product is actually the same as the P-C random orbital sander with variable speed and 4.7 amps of power. P-C now markets the product as a auto polisher as model 7424. I bought my sander/polisher at www.imparts.com and the lowest price I have seen printed is at www.coastaltool.com for $139. Meguiars makes 3 velcro backed foam pads (1) buffing, (2) polishing and (3) cutting. Imparts sells the Meguiars 'red' cutting foam pad but calls it a polishing pad and also the buffing pad with velcro backing. All 3 foam pad types with velcro backs can be purchased directly from www.meguiars.com or (800) 347-5700.

This P-C polisher is also the one sold by Griot's Garage ( http://www.griotsgarage.com/ ). I don't have any first hand experience with this particular unit but, it is supposed to be the best one to have. $139 is a GREAT price.

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Bill Wood - Webmaster
MercedesShop.com, LLC

In my personal experience orbital's don't always speed up the process. (except when de-swirling, but on a new E430 you shouldn't have that problem) They do make it MUCH easier on your shoulders/arms/back/etc when applying. Removal of applied product still is best done by hand in my experience. (If someone has mastered removal of product as efficiently as application with an orbital, let me know.) The Porter aka Meguiar's aka Griot's orbital is your best bet. Make sure the cotton pads are 100% cotton. (burn test an edge) I've seen many where the nap is cotton but the gridwork is synthetic. The elastic or velcro will obviously be synthetic, but the contact area of the pad should be 100% cotton. (on a fabric pad) Sacrificing one pad is cheaper than scaring much paint.

For most things I like a 100% cotton terry for a "quick once over" removal, followed up by a 100% cotton diaper to give it a perfect polish. The nap on the terry gets most of the applied product off the surface easily but isn't great for getting a perfect finishing touch. The diaper does not have enough grain or cutting power to get much off the surface but it is killer for getting the final remnants and leaving a brilliant shine.

Another worthy supplement to the manual and orbital cleaning methods is a good clay bar. It pulls stuff that is stuck on the paint off like you wouldn't believe. Rather than buff the snot out of an area trying to take down something stuck on the surface it simply pulls it off. In my experience, the Meguiar's Clay is too soft but their #34 Final Inspection makes the best spray lubricant. (with the possible exception of Slick Stuff) You just spray an area with SS or #34, rub the clay over lubed area until contaminents are gone, then buff the lubricant off. Your fingers (clean please to avoid rubbing dirt on surface) will tell you if it is perfectly clean...think baby's butt smooth. Then just wax over the freshly cleaned paint and you are good to go.

Enjoy the new E430. If you have any other questions with the E430 we are happy to help.

Lee

For those interested, I just noticed that www.coastaltool.com now has the P-C polisher for only $109.

After taking the advice from Kevin, Bill and Lee for the PC random orbital polisher, I’ve been religiously using the PC polisher on my ’99 E430 and the results are astounding. Porter Cable and Meguiars make a killer combination. I’ll never apply wax or polish by hand again.