Beginner bought a Dewalt rotary and 3m pads/polish. Will this work or time to go shopping again?

[skidoo55]

Good Morning Folks,

Really enjoying reading the forms and watching the videos on this site - great resource! Recently I bought a Dewalt 849x rotary buffer and a bunch of 3m Perfect-It pads & polish as I would like to learn how to buff/polish on both my atv/snowmobile plastics and for my vehicles. This is all for my own home use. I’m starting to think I’m over my head going with the products I bought for this application.

I’m looking for your opinions on whether this setup is a good beginner set or I should be considering a DA buffer and some other pads/polishes other than 3m. I’ve always been a fan of their products and they appear to work great – but further research has me worried that their products are more geared for the advanced pros and not beginners.

Any advice and recommendations would be great. I don’t mind investing the money in a good DA kit or an alternate buffer/pads/polish combo to improve my chances of success. Otherwise if I can learn with this setup I’d be equally happy.

Thank you

 

[98CayenneTA]

That is definitely not a beginner's setup.
The 3m perfect it line is very good stuff for use with a rotary but not really a good starting point to start mowing away on your nice stuff.

If you would like to learn to use the rotary I would first go at a daily driver beater car for a while so you can see first what you're doing to the paint.

You can get absolutley stunning results with the rotary but it's a pretty big learning curve.

For a beginner, a nice da with a 5 in. backing plate, foam pads and maybe like a Sonax cutmax/ perfect finish or Menzerna 400/3500 combo would be a much better starting point.

 

[98CayenneTA]

I have gone to many car shows and seen absolutley beautiful, straight, clean cars with exspensive paint jobs looking like this....

Those are rotary instilled holograms from a very inexperienced detailer. Some of the cars I have seen have no business looking like that... riddled in holograms!

Not trying to scare ya, just letting ya know the learning curve for rotary and da is night and day.

You could pick up a da and in your first attempt get very good results.

With that said I love the rotary and absolutely use both rotary and da.


This is what it SHOULD look like...

 

[Stormin08]

best way to start learning...AUTO SALVAGE YARD, go buy the cheapest hood you can find. Buff away.

read up first and understand what is actually happening, over heating can kill the paint instantly.

 

[skidoo55]

That is definitely not a beginner's setup.
The 3m perfect it line is very good stuff for use with a rotary but not really a good starting point to start mowing away on your nice stuff.

If you would like to learn to use the rotary I would first go at a daily driver beater car for a while so you can see first what you're doing to the paint.

You can get absolutley stunning results with the rotary but it's a pretty big learning curve.

For a beginner, a nice da with a 5 in. backing plate, foam pads and maybe like a Sonax cutmax/ perfect finish or Menzerna 400/3500 combo would be a much better starting point.

Thanks for your reply (and pictures!). I'm not really scared of the concept and am happy to get a few test panels to practice before I go after my truck. Snowmobile/ATV plastics will likely be more forgiving too if I'm careful.

So if I decide to get a DA - what would be recommended in terms of polisher, pads and compound/polish?

Thanks

 

[98CayenneTA]

As far as polisher....I would go with a 21mm throw da.

Pads- I use a lot of Buff & Shine and Lake Country.
Carpro and Rupes also make amazing pads.

I would just look up a certain line and read the descriptions to get a feel for your options. If it's severe damage, the Lake Country microfiber pads are amazing.

As far as products, there are many VERY good lines of products but here are a few combos.

Sonax Cutmax/Perfect Finish
Menzerna 400/3500
Carpro Clearcut/Essence

The 3m perfect it line is more geared towards rotary but can be used with a da.

The perfect-it 1 compound cuts very well with a da but finishes down like dog doo doo when using it with a da lol.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

The 3m perfect it line is more geared towards rotary but can be used with a da.

The perfect-it 1 compound cuts very well with a da but finishes down like dog doo doo when using it with a da lol.

That's been my experience. On the back of the bottles it states they are all for use with rotary buffers. No mention of using with DA's.

I wrote this back in 2013 but I think it's still accurate.

For Use with Rotary Buffer Only - Read the Directions

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Any advice and recommendations would be great.

Thank you

If cost isn't a factor and you want to save time while keeping your quality high - then I'd take a look at a gear-driven orbital.

Watch this video we filmed yesterday.

Also - for anytime you are not going to install a ceramic coating - get a quart of the BLACKFIRE One Step


Review: BLACKFIRE One-Step Cleaner/Wax by Mike Phillips



A picture tells a thousand words...

Here's my test car, it's an old swirled-out 2-door Chevy

In case you can't tell - this is the before shot

This is the after shot - the little dots you see are not defects - they are gold metallic flakes in the paint

This was after 8 section passes using the Griot's Garage 6" Random Orbital Polisher with a 6.5" Griot's Orange BOSS Foam Cutting Pad on speed 6

Before
This is the paint above my Test Spot. Note I've turned the overhead lights off to get rid of the their reflection on the panel. That's why you see a color change in the paint. At this point the light shining down is just the SCANGRIP Sunmatch Swirl Finder Light.

Moving down the panel towards my tape-line

On the tape line

Just past the tape line...

The middle of my test spot...

BLACKFIRE One Step

Stay tuned...


On Autogeek.com


BLACKFIRE One Step 32 ounce bottle

 

[98CayenneTA]

If cost isn't a factor and you want to save time while keeping your quality high - then I'd take a look at a gear-driven orbital.

Watch this video we filmed yesterday.

Also - for anytime you are not going to install a ceramic coating - get a quart of the BLACKFIRE One Step


Review: BLACKFIRE One-Step Cleaner/Wax by Mike Phillips



A picture tells a thousand words...

Here's my test car, it's an old swirled-out 2-door Chevy

In case you can't tell - this is the before shot

This is the after shot - the little dots you see are not defects - they are gold metallic flakes in the paint

This was after 8 section passes using the Griot's Garage 6" Random Orbital Polisher with a 6.5" Griot's Orange BOSS Foam Cutting Pad on speed 6

Before
This is the paint above my Test Spot. Note I've turned the overhead lights off to get rid of the their reflection on the panel. That's why you see a color change in the paint. At this point the light shining down is just the SCANGRIP Sunmatch Swirl Finder Light.

Moving down the panel towards my tape-line

On the tape line

Just past the tape line...

The middle of my test spot...

BLACKFIRE One Step

Stay tuned...


On Autogeek.com


BLACKFIRE One Step 32 ounce bottle

PERFECT timing !

I tied one on last night and have been sitting here all morning nice and hung over rattling my brain for something to buy, something new to try out and actually just purchased this after seeing your post.

Looks great & thanks much :cheers: