I'm looking at buying this polisher and was wondering if anyone has tried one out or even owns one. I've always just used High speed orbital buffers but I think this may be better for removing swirls and general upkeep on the cars paint.

Porter Cable 7424

 

id like to know that too cause that was the same one i was looking at awhile back....just always had something more important tp put the $200 into...damn bills.

 

I use one - you can see my work at http://gtaindetail.com. It's probably yhe best $100 I've spent re: my car. Oh, speaking of price they're $109 at Lowes.

 

damn i wish my black paint looked like that....but thats already a new paint job on a new car isnt it???

 

That's the best price I've seen....what are you using for a back plate and pads? I've been looking at Lake Country Pads but their spendy!

 

Picus....you wetsand that G35? Looks way to smooth to be factory My Si has some major Orange Peel and I plan on wetsanding it soon. I'm guna take some before and after pics to show how much better it makes the paint look.

 

Heya fellas - answers:

n8te81 - that's a 2003 G35 with 91,000 km on it. When I bought it it looked like this:

http://gtaindetail.com/dyi/before1.jpg
http://gtaindetail.com/dyi/bumperbefore1.jpg
http://gtaindetail.com/dyi/hoodbefore2.jpg

It'll never be perfect, but it's better than it was.

RaskyR1 - I use Lake County and Sonus DAS. I have a Sonus backing plate. I don't prefer either set of pads, they're pretty similar. The Sonus are a tad more aggressive on a pad vs pad basis, and I really like the aggressiveness of their yellow pad. I would say of all my pads I use them in this order (most to least):

Lake County Orange (medium abrasive)
Sonus Yellow (highly abrasive)
LC white (low-medium)
Sonus blue/LC black (finishing pads)

The LC orange is my go-to.

I did not wetsand that paint to remove OP, I have wetsanded quite a bit of the hood and front fenders to fix rock chips and scratches (you can see some examples on my site) - the side effect was that the OP was definitely lessened. I still have miserable OP on my trunk and doors (http://gtaindetail.com/fp/blackg35sedan/op.jpg). Oh, and I will say this - if you're going to sand to remove OP *but a paint guage*, it's saved me more than once. Going through the clear is a huge bummer.

Cheers

 

damn i wish i had some money to get all that stuff but im strapped right now so i have to deal with doing the best i can with my own hands for now....DAMMITT

 

Thanks Picus...I ordered a kit which came with the 7424, 5" backing plate, 7 pads from LC and 2 micro fiber towels for $189...not to bad.

I've thought about getting a paint thickness gage just never have....My old man has been doing body work for 40yrs and I grew up helping him buff cars at 14....I then got into detailing and have been doing it for 16 years now...I’m sure we've all had are share of rubbing through on an edge but it's been a very long time since I've rubbed through on a car. then again most my wet sanding has been with body shop cars where I know exactly how much material has been laid down...how much a gage cost and what brand do you use?

 

where did you get all that from for that price cause i might be looking into that as well????