What polisher do you use?

[Ram1984]

I’ve been wanting to get a polisher for the last couple years . I was wondering what you guys are using.

 

[smiles5619]

I have a DeWalt one, it works great and has variable speed settings.

 

[SpeedyV]

I’ve been wanting to get a polisher for the last couple years . I was wondering what you guys are using.

Porter-cable...it's so ubiquitous that you'll see folks talking about "PC-ing" their vehicles.

 

[sticker500]

I’ve been wanting to get a polisher for the last couple years . I was wondering what you guys are using.

You can spend 65 on Harbor Freight DA with some great pads, or you could spend hundreds on a Rupes. There are so many options. If you aren't doing a bunch of paint correction for many vehicles go with HF.

 

[dutchman187]

I use a Griots 6" random orbital. Lifetime warranty.

I used a Porter Cable for several years until it literally sheared off. Scared the crap out of me so I switched. However, it is extremely popular and I'm sure I was one of the very few to have a problem.

 

[SpeedyV]

I used a Porter Cable for several years until it literally sheared off. Scared the crap out of me so I switched. However, it is extremely popular and I'm sure I was one of the very few to have a problem.

What?! I don't use mine that often, but holy moly.

Do you notice any difference with the Griot's Garage model? I keep some of their products on the shelf, especially Speed Shine.

 

[dutchman187]

What?! I don't use mine that often, but holy moly.

Do you notice any difference with the Griot's Garage model? I keep some of their products on the shelf, especially Speed Shine.

Yeah I'm just a home user for my vehicles and an occasional friend, so not a power user. But enough to make me switch, even though I knew it was an anomaly. My nonprofessional opinion is the Griot has a bit more power. But similar overall.

 

[Goatmann]

What?! I don't use mine that often, but holy moly.

Do you notice any difference with the Griot's Garage model? I keep some of their products on the shelf, especially Speed Shine.

Speed Shine is one of my favs too. I just bought some of Griots B.O.S.S. products .

 

[Jus Cruisin]

Hop on Autogeek. Plenty of reviews and deals.

 

[Billy James]

I have the AutoSpa 10" from Walmart....works as well as any other I have ever used and is pretty cheap. I also have a Ryobi 6" hand polisher for the small areas. Both of my polishers work fine for waxing. Since I'm not doing any paint correction; I find the cheap ones will do the job.

 

[WasatchBack]

I have a Flex 3401 vrg as well as a Flex rotary. I am a power user as I detail part time occasionally. But I would suggest looking at the 3401 if you are very OCD as opposed to a Porter Cable 7424 or similar budget dual action. A light duty polisher will not allow you to perfect a finish even in excellent starting condition.

If you just want something to help apply an AIO product and speed up "waxing" then go ahead with whatever budget DA (dual action) you can find. Just stick with a DA not a rotary.

 

[firecadet613]

Harbor Freight's rotary polisher. I don't use it too often, occasionally on the boat and not yet on the Ram. For the price, it can't be beat, I'm on my second but still $$$ ahead.

 

[dsn112]

Rupes


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dutchman187]

I have a Flex 3401 vrg as well as a Flex rotary. I am a power user as I detail part time occasionally. But I would suggest looking at the 3401 if you are very OCD as opposed to a Porter Cable 7424 or similar budget dual action. A light duty polisher will not allow you to perfect a finish even in excellent starting condition.

If you just want something to help apply an AIO product and speed up "waxing" then go ahead with whatever budget DA (dual action) you can find. Just stick with a DA not a rotary.

The Flex is great of course. I would take small exception with the not allow you to perfect a finish with a "light duty polisher." You can achieve a perfect finish with a PC or Griots DA, it will just take you more time than a more powerful one such as the Flex. Just takes a different combo of pad and polish. Obviously you know this as a part time detailer but some other might not. I did a full correction under lights on a 12 year old black Escape with a PC. That finish was absolutely perfect when done, but a Flex would have cut my time in half most likely.

 

[mjharden]

I own a mobile auto body paint company in Chesapeake, VA, and we use Dewalt polishers. Obviously you have to know what you’re doing to use them; but with some practice a rotary polisher can’t be beat!

 

[jb772]

Harbor Freight DA polisher works awesome.

 

[Rich]

Flex 3401, it's great and gear driven so you will never stop the dual action which you can do with others. I use it on my boat also. It's not inexpensive, but is a nice tool that does a great job and will last and not fall apart in the middle of a job. This was important to me at the time.

For a rotary, I use a Makita 9227C, but the Flex get's much more use these days.

 

[WasatchBack]

The Flex is great of course. I would take small exception with the not allow you to perfect a finish with a "light duty polisher." You can achieve a perfect finish with a PC or Griots DA, it will just take you more time than a more powerful one such as the Flex. Just takes a different combo of pad and polish. Obviously you know this as a part time detailer but some other might not. I did a full correction under lights on a 12 year old black Escape with a PC. That finish was absolutely perfect when done, but a Flex would have cut my time in half most likely.

Absolutely correct, you can achieve perfection with a 7424. But most people will not have enough patience to hit each spot 4-6x before moving on. On a hard clear like Audi and Mercedes, that may be 10-15 rounds x 30 passes per round for paint with minor swirling. I can imagine that would add up to 48 hours of polishing for a full size car....no thanks.

 

[TruckDriver]

as a very casual detailer, I picked up the Meguiars DA on a whim since I was tired of my HFreight polisher - I don't think I'd do the whole truck with this, it was good for my sports sedans

https://www.meguiars.com/da-power-system

A question for y'all, what tape are you using (if any) to prep body lines near plastics?

The Rebel's hood has vents/cowls I want to be very careful of, just planning on using light tack blue tape

 

[dsn112]

as a very casual detailer, I picked up the Meguiars DA on a whim since I was tired of my HFreight polisher - I don't think I'd do the whole truck with this, it was good for my sports sedans

https://www.meguiars.com/da-power-system

A question for y'all, what tape are you using (if any) to prep body lines near plastics?

The Rebel's hood has vents/cowls I want to be very careful of, just planning on using light tack blue tape

I use a green 3m body work tape from autozone.