Newbie to rotary

[flawlesss1]

I am a newbie, but am considering buying a rotary. I worked in a body shop for three year a while back ago and use to buff all day long. I would like to go with a rotary for personal use. Is this a mistake? Should i reconsider?

thanks
Doug

[mark58]

Originally Posted by flawlesss1

I am a newbie, but am considering buying a rotary. I worked in a body shop for three year a while back ago and use to buff all day long. I would like to go with a rotary for personal use. Is this a mistake? Should i reconsider?

thanks
Doug

Welcome!
I think it's a big mistake. Unless you are very proficient at it you will end up with bunch ow swirls.

[Robert8194]

If this is going to be your one and only polished, I think it is a mistake. With the right pads and right polishes, most anything you need to do can be done with a DA. In addition, you can use it to lay down a very thin coat of sealant or wax. That is not very efficient with a rotary.

[rider9195]

Robert has a very good point. If you have used rotaries in the past I would recommend getting the Flex 3401 DA polisher. You can achieve very good correction with this and lay down sealants and waxes.

[oceanik815]

I bought a dewault 849x and I´m a newbie too... this was my first error. rotary buffer... now I have my car with some holograms waiting for a new DA buffer to resolve it as it should be from the beginning.... buy a DA first....

[jwgreen6]

Originally Posted by mark58

Welcome!
I think it's a big mistake. Unless you are very proficient at it you will end up with bunch ow swirls.

The only way you can become proficient with a rotary buffer is the same way a piano player gets to Carnage Hall: Practice! Practice! Practice!

NOBODY, including Mike Phillips, woke up one day proficient in handling a rotary buffer. He along with the rest had to learn the old fashioned way: Get one and use it. Once you master the rotary, you'll probably use a DA less and less.

One benefit of attending a detailing class like at Autogeek, Detail King or Kleen Car (and others) is you can find out if it's the right machine for YOU without having to drop the big bucks for the unit up front. That's how I know I made the right choice for ME.

if you have already used a rotary and feel comfortable using it then by all means get one, now as far as holograms they are mainly caused by too much speed,too much pressure, not using a finishing polish, using wrong type of pad and not following up with a fine pad/polish combo. if your using wool without following up with say a orange lc/same polish you used on wool then use say a black lc pad with a finishing polish you shouldn't have holograms. however, some paints are so soft that you could use a micro abrasive finishing polish and still have slight micro-marring/buffer trails, when that happens my best advice would be try a finishing pad with a pure polish containing no abrasives. just depends on the person, i could have gotten a da a week ago but i chose new pads,backing plate and chemicals instead as in this area most people dont know what paint correction is. and most "detailers" use just wool and a glaze...however im the type who picks up things really fast. only issue i am having is the new pads i got on my car the rotary seems to try to follow the pad rotation due to the curves in the panels of my car....it just depends on the person, some use a da and rarely use a rotary some use a rotary and rarely use a da....

[C. Charles Hahn]

Originally Posted by jwgreen6

Once you master the rotary, you'll probably use a DA less and less.

I wouldn't necessarily say that....

[jwgreen6]

Originally Posted by Shiny Lil Detlr

I wouldn't necessarily say that....

OK. I stand corrected. I was speaking on the premise that some experienced rotary users have stated they prefer rotary buffers over DA's for all polishing.

If I was more experienced with my DWP849X, I'm sure I'd use it more often than my Cyclo. Well, maybe...maybe not.

[toycar18]

I would go with the Flex 3401.

It is a forced rotation DA polisher.

Kind of like a hybrid of a rotary and a DA polisher.