Polishing by Hand

**OTPAS** · 02-28-2007, 04:32 PM

Any of the pro’s out there have any detailed advice on polishing and waxing by hand as apposed to machine polishing? All of the videos and discussions have given outstanding instruction to us newbies on what is the best polish and best pad to use on minor flaws and paint correction. I would assume that applying polish by hand would require some changes based on the small area you are trying to improve, the hand pressure used and the relatively slow speed of the hand motion. Thanks gang!

**Kelso** · 02-28-2007, 04:37 PM

um...are you talking about polishing just a small section? cause if you plan on doing entire vehicles by hand, well.....you just wont succeed. invest in a PC, trust me. waxing by hand is simple because there is no abrasives so you just make a thin even coat, but polishing in my mind is basically impossibly by hand.

**OTPAS** · 02-28-2007, 04:54 PM

I am not planning on polishing the whole car by hand but there are some painted areas on the car that you just can't maneuver a rotary or random orbital machine around with out risk of doing damage to adjacent areas or staying in one place too long.

**FloridaNative** · 02-28-2007, 05:12 PM

The polishing pal is a great tool. It can remove oxidation and some minor swirls depending on which pad/polish you use.
http://autogeek.net/polishing-pal.html

**HighEndDetail** · 02-28-2007, 05:19 PM

Originally Posted by FloridaNative

The polishing pal is a great tool. It can remove oxidation and some minor swirls depending on which pad/polish you use.
http://autogeek.net/polishing-pal.html

Eric at lake country showed me that, at detailfest. I need one of those in my arsenal.

**FloridaNative** · 02-28-2007, 05:31 PM

Originally Posted by HighEndDetail

Eric at lake country showed me that, at detailfest. I need one of those in my arsenal.

It's really a neat little tool. I polished an 8 year old car with it once just to see what it could really do. This car was heavily swirled. I used PB's 2.5 & 1.0 and I was very surprised by the results. It was actually able to remove some of the swirls! Of course it took me 2 full days to polish it and my arm was rubber at the end of it. I wouldn't do it again, I just wanted to really test what the Polishing pal was capable of but I was very pleasantly surprised at what it was able to do. The other cool thing about it that I love, is I use the polishing pal pads with with the little backing plate that comes with the WG plastic lens cleaning kit and the PC and you've got a great tool for spot buffing.

**Kelso** · 02-28-2007, 07:25 PM

Originally Posted by OTPAS

I am not planning on polishing the whole car by hand but there are some painted areas on the car that you just can't maneuver a rotary or random orbital machine around with out risk of doing damage to adjacent areas or staying in one place too long.

what risk is there with a random orbital? they dont burn paint and dont leave buffer swirls, i cant think of a single area where i would feel unsecure with a porter cable. they are quite different than rotaries you know

**Whitethunder46** · 02-28-2007, 07:29 PM

Originally Posted by Kelso

what risk is there with a random orbital? they dont burn paint and dont leave buffer swirls, i cant think of a single area where i would feel unsecure with a porter cable. they are quite different than rotaries you know

there are still quite a few areas that a machine can't get too, especially when there are emblems all around the car.

**BILL** · 02-28-2007, 08:11 PM

Originally Posted by FloridaNative

The polishing pal is a great tool. It can remove oxidation and some minor swirls depending on which pad/polish you use.
http://autogeek.net/polishing-pal.html

YES YES .VERY GOOD LIL PAL