Rotary Questions...

[KJW Detailing]

I am tempted to take the extra rotary that we have at work and use it at home...i have been using this for almost 2 yrs now and i feel that i do pretty well with it...thier is always room for improvement...

Anyway, right now i only have the XMT line and i also have the LC CCS 6.5 inch pads...i dont believe that the XMT would be good to use b/c i wouldn't have time to work it in so for this i could use the products we have at work and then come back with the XMT and the PC to finish! But, does anyone know if i can use the LC CCS pads at 6.5 inches with the rotary?

My other concern is the fact that its a rotary and using it outside...i have no problums with using it inside where it is cooler (sometimes) then it is outside but it also doesn't have the sun beating down on it...and im not sure if the shade is enough?

Can anyone give me some advise on this?

Thanks!

[orngez]

the rotary will work just fine with the 6.5 ccs pads...in fact a lot of people prefer it as the pads skip and hop around less and they are easier to control...the xmt line is not the best with the rotary..breaks down waaay to quick...it was really designed with the PC in mind...if you work in direct sunlight the best investment you can make is an "easy-up" tent shade....if not in your budget optimum polishes work very well in the sun...and keeping a bottle of qd handy helps as well...if you can even get partial shade it helps...

[KJW Detailing]

well i have good shade from the sun with the trees that cast a crazy shadow in some spots...luckly one of those spots in on the driveway...

but im still worried that to much heat would still be generated even on a low speed just b/c ur outside in the heat...

i would like to use the rotary for like my first step and then come back with the PC to create that perfect finish...

also, what would the QD be used for while using the rotary?

[orngez]

most any qd will be fine...dont worry about the heat from the sun...with a rotary you are going to be gettin up there in heat anyway...and the initial heat is not directly correlated to the final heat you get from the rotary...its not like if you start with a 60 degree hood you finish at 140...and if you start at 80 degrees you get 160...you will still finish at 140 either way...you dont need to finish with the pc...the rotary does a better job...you will often find you can use a finishing polish and a polishing pad to correct most paint defects...if you are two step polishing the rotary will do the entire job quicker than it would take to one step polish with a pc...

[KJW Detailing]

true but i just got the PC and i need to use it too haha...but i held off on the rotary only b/c i was going to be outside and i didn't know if that would be a good idea...i also am unsure about using the rotary on other poeples car outside of work b/c i wont be insured like i am at work...so that made me worry too

[KJW Detailing]

today at work i did a one step polish on a Lexus GX 470 (black) with a green pad and a glaze/swirl remover...the car came out great, although more work could have been done but the dealership doesn't allow for that much time haha...anyway...it took me about an hour to do the entire car with the rotary in this 95 degree heat...i felt like that was pretty good although i can understand how the PC will take much longer...

[KJW Detailing]

and how is it that a rotary would deliver a better result? i know it would take more scratches out but the car would look better if you did an entire process with a rotary?

[orngez]

the circular rotation builds heat and rotates over the same point more times than the random orbit motion....think of it as rubbing versus grinding....thats why the rotary can burn paint if used improperly

[Nica]

Hey roadrunner,

The trick with the rotary is the heat it produces. The heat and a good polish like Menzerna (my #1 fav) or Optimum (my #2 fav) helps correct the paint. The key here is heat and correcting. With a PC or any DA...I suppose excluding the UDM (don't know never used it but the results are nice)...you will remove swirls and minor scratches but to do major correction you will require a rotary and even wool pads or heavy cutting foam pads. The thing with correction is that it's not a one step process, your looking at about 2 steps minimum. I'm new to the wool pads but you can do some serious correction with the wool pads and if your good you can get the wool pad to finish really nice and not even require an additional pass with any other pad.

The other thing I noticed is that with the rotary you can literaly see the paint flash over and see the colour just come to life (I call this the show look, you can see it in some of the pictures that some members post here)...I keep saying this but I really hope I'm not the only one that sees this. As you polish with a rotary pay close atention to the paint and hopefully you will see what I mean about flashing...I've seen this with Menzerna products Final Polish II, 85RD and 106FF.

I hope this helps a little....I'm no pro but I'll share my little experiance.

[KJW Detailing]

i understand what your saying about the paint changing right in from of your eyes...it happened today with the GX 470 i was detailing at work...it was black with pretty heavy swirls and deep scratches - i went over the car with a swirl remover and polish at the same time and the black gray swirled looking car quickly turned into a black high gloss look...it needed more work, probably with a wool pad but the dealership doesn't always give us the time needed and what they say goes...

can menzerna be used outside in the sun/shade?

[Nica]

can menzerna be used outside in the sun/shade?

Yup, Ed did a Honda S2000 outside in the sun...if I'm not mistaken he mixed something in to it though. I'll look for his post and put it here. One sec.

Edit - got it check this one out:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/show-n-shine/6788-honda-s2000.html

[KJW Detailing]

but even he was still using the PC and not the rotary...but very nice finish...

[KJW Detailing]

Nica and orngez, what rotary would you reccomend?

[orngez]

most would say the shangrila of rotaries is the metabo...others like the hitachi...some like the makita...i own the hitachi and the cheapie harbor freight rotary...they both work pretty much the same...the only thing the hf doesnt do is electronically adjust the speed as it bogs down...the nice thing about it for a newbie is that lets you know you have changed your pressure...i actually find myself reaching for the hf one...worst case scenario you dont like it...its only 30 bucks...but i think you will like it alot...

[Nimble]

most would say the shangrila of rotaries is the metabo...others like the hitachi...some like the makita...i own the hitachi and the cheapie harbor freight rotary...they both work pretty much the same...the only thing the hf doesnt do is electronically adjust the speed as it bogs down...the nice thing about it for a newbie is that lets you know you have changed your pressure...i actually find myself reaching for the hf one...worst case scenario you dont like it...its only 30 bucks...but i think you will like it alot...

Hey, which HF one is 30 bucks? The only ones I see are chciago electric and $49.99.