OPERATING A DUAL-ACTION ORBITAL POLISHER

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OPERATING A DUAL-ACTION ORBITAL POLISHER

To operate the machine, follow these simple car polisher operating instructions:

Your car must be freshly washed and dry. Do not buff on a dirty finish.

Work in an area with good lighting. Overhead fluorescent or halogen lighting is best.

Remove all rings, watches, bracelets, belts and other items that will scratch your paint.

Wear an apron to protect your clothing and the paint finish.

Adjust the machine speed to 3 or 4 on the thumbwheel. This is a good starting point.

With the machine switched off, apply a small amount of polish, cleaner or wax directly to the polishing pad. There are two good methods that seem to work. Squeeze out a complete ring of product about 1 inch in from the outside of the pad, or squeeze out an �X� of product across the pad.

Dab the pad in 3-4 spots around the area to be polished, cleaned or waxed to distribute the product.

Position the polisher flat on the work surface, get a firm grip and switch it on with your thumb.

Move the car polisher back and forth (east/west) in a slow, sweeping motion, overlapping each pass (by 50% of the pad width) with the previous, and then switch your pattern to up and down (north/south).

It is not necessary to apply more than a pound of pad pressure. Allow the car polisher to work under its own weight.

Use a clean pad with each product. Do not mix products on a pad. If a pad is not dirty, you may store it in a Ziploc baggie for future use. Be sure to label the baggie or the pad.

If a pad becomes caked with product, use a nylon or horsehair detailing brush to clean the pad.

Sounds pretty simple, doesn�t it? It really isn�t difficult. Within a few minutes of use, most people are very comfortable operating the machine.



MAINTAINING & IMPROVING PAINT GLOSS WITH CAR POLISHER
It is polishing, not waxing, that offers the most improvement in the overall appearance of paint. If you wax over bad paint, it�s still bad paint. When you polish bad paint (paint with scratches, heavy oxidation, swirl marks, stains, water spots, etc.), you remove the bad paint to reveal a fresh finish. Obviously you can only do so much polishing before you wear out (thin or completely remove) the paint, so only polish as much as necessary to maintain healthy paint.

Buffing pad and polish makers create products with different levels of aggressiveness to make your polishing tasks faster and easier. You can use an aggressive pad and polish combination to quickly remove paint defects or severe oxidation, but it won�t reveal the full gloss potential of your paint finish. Just like polishing a jewel, you must use several grades of car polish to bring out the final radiance.

If your paint is new or like new, it is not necessary to use heavy abrasives. You can use very mild pre-wax cleaners and glazes to maintain the factory finish or create a finish that glows like a gem. To do so, use a fine polish and a foam polishing pad, and work the polish in with a light touch until most of the polish residue is gone. Remove the remaining polish residue with a quality buffing towel. Fine polishes won�t take a lot of heat before they cake up and clog your pad, so don�t apply pressure to the machine. Allow the pad and polish to do the work.

Some polishes respond well to a microfiber buffing bonnet, while others do not. If you�re using a polish that is not buffing out clear, try doing the final buff out with a microfiber bonnet over a clean pad.







This Complete Ultimate Detailing Machine Car Polisher Kit includes four grades of foam polishing pads, and a 5" flexible backing plate. The basic Ultimate Detailing Machine by Porter Cable comes with a single polishing pad.




PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
While the Ultimate Detailing Machine by Porter Cable is a very easy car polisher to master, practicing on an older car with an imperfect finish is the best way to learn. You should experiment with a variety of polish and pad combinations until you learn how to achieve the best results.

There is no silver bullet combination of pads and polish. How you use the machine, your climate, paint hardness, paint color and other issues will all factor into the final results. Don�t get frustrated if your initial experience is not perfect, as the smallest change (a different pad, polish or speed) can make a huge difference.
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