Portercable: if the pad isn't rotating am I pressing too hard?

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saulpr

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Hi, I'm a newbie I got the porter cable today with Wolfgang 3.0 swirl remover and glaze. I did a small section to see if it works. So far I'm am extremely pleased! I have yet to see it in the sun, but under the light of my garage I can see I removed a lot following the instructional vid from mike! (Thanks a lot).

Just have one question, when I would see that the pad was not rotating I would let off pressure, in order to allow it to rotate. Is it a good rule of thumb to let off of the pressure if it does not rotate? Or am I doing it wrong? This would only be a problem when I would be In speed 3-4 (applying glaze) not 5-6 (swirl remover).
 
You are correct. If the pad isn't rotating, you are pressing too hard. However, you don't want it to spin too fast either when correcting defects. There are plenty of videos out there that show proper pad rotation (Mike from Autogeek, Adams Polishes to name a few). It's a good idea to make a mark on your backing plate so you can accurately see pad rotation.
 
Thanks! Yeah I marked it. I guess I have to get used to the amount of pressure I applied. On 3-4 as soon as I let off it would rotate fast but like I said, in 5-6 speed no prob. I guess 5-6 was easier to control I guess cause of the speed. Guess I need more practice , thanks for answering my question , now I'm sure it's always supposed to rotate. Knowing This will help me improve my technique.
 
saulpr said:
Hi, I'm a newbie I got the porter cable today with Wolfgang 3.0 swirl remover and glaze. I did a small section to see if it works. So far I'm am extremely pleased! I have yet to see it in the sun, but under the light of my garage I can see I removed a lot following the instructional vid from mike! (Thanks a lot).

Just have one question, when I would see that the pad was not rotating I would let off pressure, in order to allow it to rotate. Is it a good rule of thumb to let off of the pressure if it does not rotate? Or am I doing it wrong? This would only be a problem when I would be In speed 3-4 (applying glaze) not 5-6 (swirl remover).
Click to expand...

It will not hurt anything to use speed 5 for applying a glaze.
 
Oh and thanks for the tip of it not supposed to spin too fast Ether.
 
Build up of product will also make it harder for the pad to rotate. Working clean goes a long way with helping the pad rotate easily.
 
You should also check that you have the pad flat and not tilted as this will also stop rotation. As soon as you're comfortable I recommend you graduate to a nicer machine. If I'd known you were looking I would have loaned you my PC until you were ready for something with more power. I keep my PC around for my son to use but otherwise I would get rid of it. You need a lot of patience with a PC.
 
I wouldn't consider going to a more powerful machine until you have ALOT of experience. The fact that your pad stopped rotating is precisely why the PC is the perfect machine for you right now. It's specifically designed to stop rotating if you are pressing too hard. It does this as basically a safety feature so you don't burn your paint. If you had been using a machine with forced rotation, you could have potentially done some real damage.
 
Thanks for the offer hazcat! Where are you from? I forgot to mention that I didn't notice until later when I was like half way that keeping the machine level also helped it rotate. Thing is I thought I was holding it level, so I started to try and correct myself. But yeah that was another mistake I knew I was doing .
 
Cmoneyinc:
Yeah that's why I decided to go with the porter cable, safety! I just want to learn by practicing and tips from you guys at the forums. I saw a video of a guy on YouTube pressing as hard as he could with the POrter cable on a corvette and did not do any damage. I'm pretty happy with the machine as a first step, I've never used a buffer in my life, just vids I saw and tips. Thanks guys !
 
Good ol Junkman.

That video with the corvette has sold more DA buffers than I don't know what.

Lol
 
Lol! Yeah junkman! I had forgotten the name. I was already sold with the vids from mike because he really goes into detail as much as he can with technique. But what sealed the deal was seeing the junkman vid ! Lol
 
Saulpr: I'm in the exact same position as you. Never done any machine polishing in my life. But with alot of research, practice, experimentation with different pads/products, and a little trial & error, I was able to achieve near-perfect correction on my daily driver. And that's while still being very much a "newbie."
 
Cool that's where I want to get to. My daily driver had swirl marks were that were getting to me and the person I took it to made it worse. I decided I'm just going to learn and do it myself. Also do
A couple on the side , help people out so they won't suffer the same thing I did with the "pro" that made it worse.
 
And I had a similar experience with a "pro" in my area. I had a regular detailer that I used a few times just for your standard wash/clay/wax (no correction), but after a few sub-par performances, I searched for a new detailer. I had a guy highly recommended to me that supposedly ran the detail portion of a high-end car lot in my area. He claimed that he had worked on $200,000 vehicles regularly, so I figured my vehicle would be in good hands. I explained to him that I wanted "swirl removal" and told him what areas of my car where in need of most correction. He said to me "I understand, you want it perfect." I thought to myself, finally...someone who gets it! The price you ask?....$85. That should've been my first clue, but I figured I wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. In the end what I got was a wash, half clay (he did the middle of the doors down), and a coat of Meg's NXT 2.0 wax.

When I picked it up I asked him of he was able to correct the swirls, especially on the rear tailgate, which was the primary area of concern because it had the heaviest swirls. He told me he tried compounding it, but couldn't get it out because the swirls must be "under the clear coat." Upon closer inspection when I got home, he actually made the swirls worse on the tailgate, obviously from improper compounding. For $85 I wasn't going to argue, so my journey began. If you want it done right, do it yourself...especially in my area (There are no Mike Phillips, Gary Deans or Larry Kosillas around here, that's for sure!).

I can say that with online research, the proper equipment, and the advice/information available here at Autogeek.net, I'm probably better at paint correction now (after about a month of experience) than any of the "pros" in my area. Sad, but true.
 
Wow incredible! The "pro" that did my car charges me 80! Lol crazy coincidence. He also kind of bragged about the cars he would do Lexus,BMWs Mercedes etc. explained the same prob the swirls. He was very confident he could take care of it. I hate when ppl lie , just tell me you can't do it everything would be fine. But anyways, to your experience were you without swirls after correcting it once? What tips do you have for preventing swirls once I've corrected it. One guy told me to to wash the car with a chamois and did it in a bucked of water every time you use it.
 
It took me a few attempts to dial in the right pad & product combos, but once I had it figured out it produced near perfect results.

As far as future swirl prevention, its all about proper washing & drying technique. There are many threads/posts on this site about each. And the guy that told you about washing your car with a chamois and a bucket of water....stop listening to him immediately lol.

There are a few different techniques out there, but I personally use these steps:
1. Clean all four wheels & tires using specific wheel cleaner, my wheel cleaning tools, and a completely separate bucket of wash soap that is dedicated just for wheels - these tools and bucket never get used for anything other than my wheels
2. Foam entire vehicle with foam cannon (I use the MTM Foam Cannon with a Greenworks electric power washer and a high-sudsing soap like Mr. Pink or Honeydew Snow Foam from Chemical Guys). I let the foam do its job and drip off the vehicle for a few minutes.
3. Rinse foam off
4. Two-bucket wash method with wash mit & grit guards in both buckets (recently using Mr. Pink wash soap for this step).
5. Final rinse
6. "Hydrating" drying method with a product called AMMO Hydrate and two microfiber towels (one damp that I use with the Hydrate, one dry for a quick final swipe of each section as I go).
7. Wipe down door jams
8. Wipe down interior if needed

There are many variations of the above. For example, some people use quick detail spray when they dry instead of AMMO Hydrate, but the concept is the same. Lubrication while drying is just as important in preventing swirls as proper washing is.

The entire process usually takes me around 2 hours (I have a crossover SUV). Some regular people would consider that excessive for a weekly wash, but in my opinion there's two ways to do things...right or wrong. I was doing it wrong for the last 20 years until I did the research. I was washing with a sponge and a bucket, and drying with two terry cloth towels or a chamois....techniques that would be considered barbaric these days by most members of this site LOL. But I didn't know any better. That's how I was taught, so thats what I did. Knowledge is power.

All in all, if you pick up on and follow the core principles, the rest is just dialing in the best process that works for you.
:dblthumb2:
 
Wait a minute. Suppose you are using a liquid sealer. That sinks into a pad. Isn't it legitimate to momentarily press down on the pad to bring a little juice up and keep going?
 
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