Rotary Pad-ucation - from none to some?

[steelwindmachine]

I just borrowed a HF rotary polisher from a friend to use to try to polish out some scratches on a sliding glass door on my house. I'll be buying the LC R4 Evolve 5" backing plate, Rayon 5" pads and Ceriglass.

With that said, I started to look into what I'd need to outfit this rotary with small (3") and larger (5"-6"+)paint compound and polish pads to use on my SUVs (2014 Kia Sorento with moderate swirls and 2005 Suby Forester with lots of swirls and oxidation - never been detailed beyond clay and wash).

I started by looking at LC's site, then my head exploded when I tried sorting through all the various types of pads they offer. CCS, CCS Curved Edge, Kompressor, Waffle Pro, Cross Cut, Wool, Wool/Foam, etc.

I have no prior experience with polishing, but tons of experience with hand tools, power tools and machining. I realize that I aught to practice and use the least aggressive pads/product to get the results I prefer. However, aside from the backing plate/pad size, how do any of you decide on what pad style to use? I mean, they all sound great, but I have no idea under what circumstances one might be more optimal than another.

I don't know for certain what compound/polish I am going to use, but I've been interested in the Jescar and Optimum stuff - so maybe those might be where I start.

[Paul A.]

I use the Lake Country Hybrid pads on both my rotary and Flex 3401 (forced rotation DA). These have been upgraded to the Force Hybrids from LC now and I will continue to replace my regular hybrids with these new Force pads when they wear out. Jescar (or Menzerna as an alternate) and Optimum both make quality products and you wouldn't go wrong with either.

Oh, and keep the Ceriglass wet all the time you work it. It's messy so cover up the adjacent area to prevent a nasty splatter cleanup but it works well.

[JimmyH5]

X2 on the wetting of Ceriglass... found myself spraying it about every 10 seconds of buffing with my HF rotary and Rayon 5" pad; works but takes patience. FWIW... I started out using Wolfgang Uber Compound and TSR, yet to use the Finishing Glaze, but happy with the rotary and these compounds/polishes. PS... you can get sample sizes of various products and see what you like. The sample of Uber lasted through several uses on a couple of cars... seemed to go through the TSR a bit quicker.

[Eric@CherryOnTop]

I'm with Paul A., I use the Lake Country force pads on my rotary. I'm personally not a fan of any of the pads with "texture" like the kompressor or CCS.

You're talking about working on 2 Asian cars and you can expect them to have softer paint. If they're dark colored paints I would expect almost anything you do with a rotary would leave holograms unless you are REALLY good with a rotary.

I would also HIGHLY suggest you plug in to a GFCI outlet or at least use one of those portable GFCI devices when you do the sliding glass door. As mentioned, Ceriglass needs to be kept wet and power tools + water = disaster. But it's something a lot of us don't necessarily think of. I used to plug in to a standard outlet until this was pointed out to me, now I don't do a job without my portable GFCI adapter.

[steelwindmachine]

The Sorento is a dark titanium silver and the Forester is silver. Okay on the soft paint; I intended to get the softest pad available and try that first with whatever product I was going to start with (compound, polish or AIO - not sure yet). I'd set up the machine with the softest pad available in the pad line (Force Red?) and start with either the polish or AIO, do one no pressure pass and see what that does.

Noted on the LC Force Pads - I'll check those out. Any insight on the Better Edge pads? They look like they might be a bit more versatile when dealing with concave and creased panel lines due to their edge design.

My sliding glass door is located a few feet from an outdoor GFCI outlet. I might not even need an extension cord and if I do, I have a 12AWG extension to minimize voltage drop.

[steelwindmachine]

Also,

If I'm dealing with softer paints, from what I've read so far I need to maybe be more critical of the chemistry of the chemicals I use. I guess I may need to ask Jescar, Optimum or others what of their line would be most compatible with softer clear coats.

[Eric@CherryOnTop]

This probably won't do you any good. A red pad is designed for applying wax or sealant. It doesn't have enough backbone to engage the abrasives of a compound/polish/AIO product against the paint. Think of it like a hard or soft mattress. The abrasives will "sink in" to the foam of a red pad and not do what they are designed to do. I think with your two cars you will be much better off with a dual action polisher.

[ducksfan]

The white polishing or black finishing pad is probably what you want. I would stay away from compounds. The polishes you are looking at should serve you well. Tape or stay away from the body lines and don't sit on one spot (as in trying to remove a scratch or blemish).

Ekennett is right about a DA being a much better tool to begin with. If you're using Harbor Freight, the DA is pretty cheap - a repaint isn't.

[steelwindmachine]

I wound up ordering some Poli-Seal on the 25%-off/$5 ship AG forum member sale yesterday along with the Ceriglass, 5" Rayon pads and the 5" rotary Evolve backing plate.

I had some difficulty in figuring out exactly what pads I could use with the 5" backing plate and the Poli-Seal. I got a bit confused as to whether or not the 5.5" DA specific pads would be okay to use on a rotary since the mainstay of the pads marketed for rotaries were much larger (6.5"+) and obviously wouldn't be appropriate for a 5" back plate. So, I didn't order pads yet.

I really hemmed and hawed about buying the Jescar Micro Finishing Polish, but decided that for the sake of time savings, potential for satisfactory results and the price (PS 8oz is half the price of the Jescar 8oz), that I'd give the Poli-Seal a shot as my first machine applied product.

I'm well aware that a rotary isn't a good starter detailing machine, but it's a loaner and as of the moment, I can't justify spending another $50 for another machine. I need to try my best to make use of what I have that's available to me for little to no cost. Fortunately, the car I intend to use it on first is in really rough shape. Given that I'm no stranger to finesse with tools, I feel pretty confident that within a short time of use on the car, I'll be making the finish better rather than any worse than it already is.