i guys n girls, after getting hold of a wing through a friend i decided that i would have my 1st bash at using my new Silverline Silverstorm Rotary. To be fair the panel is a dog, its plastic, its scuffed down to the plastic in places, it has sections where the clear coat is coming off and a few cracks where its been bent in half i think. (not exactlly the best start) :lol:. Anyway it was manky so i gave it a pre wash with VP Orange Pre Wash then after a rinse sprayed it with a ONR Pre Wash and wiped it down with a Grout Sponge. I took some pics of it before i started. For the record the area i would be polishing is the front upper section where the indicator would go. It was the only area really that wasnt cattled and i didnt want to wreck my pads. So theres some of the defects. I got the tape on and got ready. I decided to go with a Blue 3M Finishing Pad and some Megs #205 which i bought a while ago from Auto-Brite Direct. I would spritz the pad with Last Touch. 3 small pea sized blobs.. I started on 900 rpm spreading the polish then jumped up to 2 which im pretty sure is 1500 for a few passes then down to 1200 (1.5) then about 1000 then wiped with an mf. Now the gloss was nice but i could still see some of the swirls. I applied 3 more blobs, spritzing the pad 1st and went again using the same technique. There was a lovely deep shine and the flakes started to really pop but i could still see some deeper scratches (which i never expected to remove) and some swirls. Flake in the bottom corner More flake I decided to give some 3M Ultrafina a bash. It improved the finish but the swirls were still evident. Heres me in action. After taking this Claire went in the house saying i was sad lol. I was happy and was gonna call it a day but thought i'd try my yellow 3M polishing pad with the Megs #205. I used the same amount of passes and this time there was a noticeable difference. The swirls were going for sure. The marks at the top are cracks where the panels been bent over but all in all the swirls were gone. I refined with 3M UFina/blue pad and after a wipe down added a coat of Werkstat Jett Spray Sealant to see what it was really like on metallics. It was impressive. Lovely flake pop! I packed up now and left it at that but would go back out in the dark and try and catch some pics of the before and after 50/50s which i found nearly impossible in the garden as i was working. Heres some of the untouched areas. Corrected Area Top left were the really bad marks seen in the first pics. The cats seemed to approve:lol: There were a few swirls still right a t the edge but this was because i didnt want to rip the pad or go to close to the edge. All in all it was a great experience and i have more questions than answers but i think i had the technique sussed and practiced doing as Paul said and just supported the machine at times from underneath. I also tried usin my left hand of the head rather than the handle which helped. The panel wasnt the best shape for a practice as its not exactly flat lol but its given me an insight and the confidence that i aint gonna set my panels on fire. Infact i found quite the opposite and was surprised at how many unsuccessful passes were allowed with out removing the swirls. Obviously the pads/polishes i used are light really but chrisp has my Menz stuff in which have a few more abrasive polishes like 203S. I think i achieved as much as possible with the products i had and do please ignore the few marks that are on the panel as they were really deep grooves and even the black plastic in some parts! I would like a bonnet really but hey, its got me out of the blocks. A big thanks to pjgh for his help and advice and to Amazon for their great discount on this machine! Im more than happy with it but can see the issue some have with the lack of a trigger lock. Im slightly unsure as to what speed im on when i have it set to 2 also..... I think its 1500 but can someone confirm this? Comments and advice welcome as always Phil
Nice work man. But I reckon it could be easier if you stand up while polishing, you were working on a small area though. I am looking forward to my first rotary session with 3403.
Nice results! Panels are the way to go for practice! Just my opinion, skip the Megs Last Touch as a pad primer. It does contain silicone and a tiny bit of protection. Fine for after a wash but dont recommend having that on your pad when polishing. Some distilled or bottled water misted on the face to soften up new foam works well for me.
I don't mean to sound condescending, but I'm proud of you for trying....so many on here are held back from fear and they never do it. You just need to play, play play! There are cars that you're gonna push down so fucking hard you will bend the metal almost. There are steps where you just want it to barely spin. There are steps were you're gonna run it full out. You get my drift. There are no easy answers to what that particular paint is going to respond to so you have to be able to try different approaches (pressure/speed, etc) as well as different pads and products. You sure know it when you've got it nailed though! Good for you. Practice with different products, different speeds, different pressure adn differetn sized pads too. Keep at it!!
Looks good but I think you might have made a mistake and worked much more than necessary... I haven't used it in roughly a month or so but I think on the Makita speed 1 is 600, 2 is 900 and 3 is 1500. I believe this is true not from having a good memory of the actual speed/RPM sheet, but I know when I work with it it's 1 to spread the polish, then up to 2.5, then 3, then 2.5 then down to 2 to finish down (sometimes 1.5 or even 1 to finish down on softer paints). In any case, double check your speeds and next time get up higher in the RPMs, I'm sure you'll appreciate the results much more.
