Hi all,

Thanks for all the kind words, I must say you were all a very enjoyable group to work with and I had as much fun as you did. I really enjoy polishing paint, to me it is an art form.

Bcgreen brings up a few points I thought I would address,

First, from page 8 of this discussion,
bcgreen says,

(I took liberty to correct spelling errors)

(quote from bcgreen)
He will probably take the trunk lid and do a small square section with the Meguiar's orbital sander/polisher to demo. If you look around you will see Home Depot stand lights and DeWalt high-speed polisher as well.

'But he won't demo the high speed polisher'.

(close quote)

Except for John's Mercedes, which had a flawless finish, I used the rotary buffer on everything else we worked on. As far as only doing a small spot, there isn't enough time to do an entire car in a group workshop like this. I guarantee you, I can do a whole car, I can walk the talk.

(Quote from bcgreen)

I am curious, since you guys were there, and I was there a couple of years ago, why when he tried to remove those spider web marks in the paint, why didn't he just use his DA (Meguiar's brand) with #82? It says DA Machine swirl/polish on the container. Why would he go with the high-speed polisher, which in the hand of an inexperienced person can get you in trouble in a split second? When we were there, he wouldn't even use the rotary buffer because of that potential hazard. Also what line of polish did he use with that rotary buffer?

(close quote)

In order to remove a scratch, be it a deep isolated scratch or hundreds of thousands of scratches commonly referred to as cob web scratches or "cobweb effect", you must remove enough paint off of the areas surrounding the scratch until the surface is level with the lowest depth of the scratch. This means you must remove paint.

Orbital polishers and Dual-Action polishers are what I call "Jiggle" machines, they use an oscillating motion instead of a rotary motion. For this reason they wont' do work, i.e. move small particles of paint in a controlled process.

Rotary buffers, using premium products like Meguiar's foam buffing pads, paint cleaners, and cleaner polishes that are oil based and use diminishing abrasives instead of hard, sharp mechanical abrasives are very effective at "moving small particles of paint" in a controlled process.

Experience and knowledge of what I call the 3 P's, (Paint, Products and Procedures), told me to use the rotary buffer to remove the cob web scratches instead of the DA Polisher.

Meguiar's typically doesn't show the average consumer how to use the rotary buffer, as you mention, in the wrong hands it can get you into trouble quick. However, because of the high experience level of this group and their extreme passion for achieving the very best, I couldn't help but to show them how to do it right the first time using the proper tools for the job.

As far as getting into trouble with a rotary buffer, I stressed to everyone there that before

"Working on something Important to you",

"You should practice on something that has no value first"

Either the old truck or station wagon in the driveway, or if need be, visit a local wrecking yard and purchase the hood off a wrecked car.

I always warn enthusiests against learning how to use a rotary buffer on a Black Viper.

On that note, if your using a variable speed buffer, you can turn the rpm's down while your learning to use it, this will help you to control it. You must speed it up for actual buffing as higher RPM's are necessary to produce good "cutting-action" in the case of defect removal and "polishing-action" in the case of restoring depth of color, clarity to a clear coat and overall high gloss.

Foam buffing pads because of their "Cushion" offer a level of protection compared to wool buffing pads, this offers some built in safety for newbies to the machine polishing world.

Also, because all of Meguiar's products are oil-based and use safe but effective diminishing abrasives, the increased "lubricity" of the products and decreased aggressiveness of the diminishing abrasives offer some dramatic and measurable safety to people new to using a rotary buffer and to experienced people as well.

Another way to learn how to use the rotary buffer is to use our small, 6.5" buffing pads when first starting out. These pads are much easier to control as well as enabling you to get into tight areas and work safelyl on smaller panels.

The last question bcgreen asked was what line of polish I used. I demonstrated using Meguiar's 80's series fast cutting compounds and cleaner/polishes followed by Meguiar's Gold Class Liquid wax.

bcgreen brings up some good points as well as some good questions, it leads me to think that he is somewhat experienced in this area?


Perhaps, in the future when we hold more of these workshops you can visit us again, make it a point to introduce yourself and I will go to great lengths to answer all of your questions and show you anything, or any tool or product you are interested in.


Thanks again to everybody that took the time to attend, if anyone has any further questions, please feel free to ask here or send me an e-mail.


Mike Phillips
Corporate Writer
Meguiar's Inc.
Mphillips@meguiars.com
1-800-854-8073 ext. 189

__________________
"Find a product you like and use it often"

Jack Anderson
Paint Instructor for PPG paints