Orbital’s For Dummies

[Kidder]

Hi All,
New to this forum, I’m hoping to get a few questions answered before my 15% welcome to the forum discount expires. First let me state that I’m not a pro, and never knew there was, or thought of myself as a hobbyist.

I like to see water bead up on my vehicles. I like to see rain fly off my windshield without the wipers on. I like to keep the inside spotless, and always have dash and glass cleaner in the car so I have something to do while waiting for my fellow carpoolers to show up. A newly discovered scratch can be on my mind for weeks.

I hate when one of my fellow carpoolers says, hey let’s stop at Starbucks so I can get a double moca something with extra whipped cream so that there is no top on the cup. I feel like pushing the destroy button when I hear a rock hit the car and see a dump trunk in front of me where I know it came from. So that’s kinda me. Actually I don’t know how you guys deal with it, I’m called obsessive and I’m nowhere near you guys.

Anyway, my long time girlfriend short time wife doesn’t share my compulsion. She has a black Nissan Xterra. All around the indent where you would wrap your fingers around the door handle to open the door there are many key/ring scratches driving me crazy. Doing the finger nail test it seems that all are clear coat. One may be iffy, and the 50 other scratches looks like it can be dealt with. To describe without a picture it kind of looks like looking into a birds nest.

One of my commute cars is a metallic blue Suzuki SX4. When I bought the car it had a couple scratches on the paint that separates the door from the windshield. Not sure if there is a name for that. The scratches are about 5 inches long and run length wise up down the plain. It looks like somebody hit a branch hanging off a tree.

So in the Xterra I have to get up under the door handle to the indent of the door, and on the Suzuki I only have about three inches of area.

I’m looking at the Autogeek deal for the PC Orbital Polisher Combo. My question is will I be able to use it under an Xterra door handle and will I have a problem working on the three inch frame of my Suzuki, or should I go another route?

And no, I don’t want to take the door handle off the door.
Thanks.

[ScottB]

I would offer that polishing under door pulls (as well as around them) is usually best done by hand. It takes sometime, but you have control and generally these areas are cleaned up pretty well.

Now as too the other smaller areas. I would highly suggest that with any sort of orbital purchase, you consider accessories. You can get very small backing plates and pads to help with smaller areas.

[RevitalizeAutoSpa]

Agreed on the door handles. A nice aggressive compound (Menzerna FG400, Meguiar's M105, etc.) and a microfiber or foam pad will make quick work of most of them.