DA Orbital Worth It?

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Gachrid

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I've been thinking lately that it might be worth buying a DA Orbital. Looking at just a basic Meguiar's DA Orbital online.

I've always done everything by hand. I guess my time is somewhat wasted since trying to polish/glaze by hand isn't getting me too far. I usually do a 4 step process when I detail my car. Wash, Clay, Polish/Glaze, Wax. My main goal of the orbital is basically to save time. By hand I can get the paint really smooth and nice and I'm happy with it. But if any orbital can make things faster and give even better results I'd like to try it.

So my concern: My paint is not in great shape. I have lots of chips in the paint and some scratches here and there. I use a lot of touch up paint just filling chips and such and am concerned using an orbital will be trouble on these spots. Will it effect these spots? Is it worth using on paint that's not great quality?
 
If you want your paint to be in a good shape a DA is the must.

Less energy spent, better result with a DA for sure. Just get it!
 
Meg's G110v2 + Meg's MF pad = more cut than anything you would use on a Flex 3401. For the most cut, you'd use a rotary, but with the new pads and polishes out these days, they have closed the gap big time between a DA and a Rotary.
 
My paint was 6 years old when I bought the car and very neglected. It was a plain dull slate grey but when I clayed it the first time, doing the first panel I suddenly realized that it was in fact metallic grey! You couldn't even see the metallic silver particles it was so bad. I clayed, hand polished and then waxed and I thought it looked pretty good. THEN I bought a PC, some pads and polish, and now at ten years old it looks like a better than new show car. And this was my first time ever machine polishing a car. I get complements everywhere I go and it was well worth the expense. I say go for it. I don't see why the touch-up paint would come off but if it does you can always reapply with a Dr Colorchip type product and polish it to match the rest with a beautiful high gloss shine.
 
Buy a DA, you won't regret it. I never tried polishing by hand, but I've always waxed. When I first bought my PC several years ago and did half the hood of my car (10 year old Olds), even my wife could see the difference and she doesn't normally notice things like that.
 
It's funny you say that Silverstone, first time I ever clayed a vehicle a friend was teaching me on my buddy's dually, there's no way for him to detail his rig due to medical issues. Anyways when we got to the front we realized he had a ghost flame job on it, his truck had been oxidized for so long he had forgotten it even had it. Gachrid I am in the same boat as you, lots of chips ect in my paint. I was going to just get a cheaper DA but decided to just bite the bullet and I am going to get a Flex, mostly because 95% of what I will be doing will be 3/4 and 1 ton pickups and a lighter DA will be a lot nicer.
 
Gachrid said:
I've been thinking lately that it might be worth buying a DA Orbital. Looking at just a basic Meguiar's DA Orbital online.

I've always done everything by hand. I guess my time is somewhat wasted since trying to polish/glaze by hand isn't getting me too far.
Click to expand...


Like others have said, stepping up to machine polishing will enable you to get better results faster.

All we've ever really had for paint systems can be divided into two categories

Single Stage
Basecoat/Clearcoat

I cover this in the first chapter of my book. So the only paint system we have to compare modern basecoat/clearcoat paint systems to is pre-1980's single stage paint systems and one of the primary differences is the hardness of the paint.

Compared to single stage paints, modern clear coat paints tend to be harder and thus harder for you and I to work on when we go out into our garage to detail our cars.

I cover this in these two articles in depth...

The practical differences between single stage paints and a clear coat paints


The Free Floating Spindle Assembly - The Story Behind The Story...


Suffice to say... in all the years I've been teaching people to machine polish paint I've NEVER met anyone that after switching to machine polishing regretted it.


The below is an excerpt from the free floating spindle assemble article, this is a picture of my son at age 9 using the Megs G110v2 to buff on black paint... if he can do it... you can do it...

Yesterday's Trend... Today's Norm...
Today, DA Polishers are the most popular tool among do-it-yourselfers crossing over from working by hand to working by machine. Many Professional Detailers also use the DA Polisher for their follow-up polishing steps after using a rotary buffer to do the major correction work. These tools are the easiest tools to learn how to use and so safe that even my son Rand is able to operate one safely on Nate Truman's 1966 Batmobile Recreation.

Photo courtesy of LacViet Photography
RandBuffingBatmobile1.jpg




:)
 
Once you begin to see how much a dual action polisher brings to the game in respect to consistency and improvement you'll wonder how you ever got along with out it....:props:
 
BobbyG said:
Once you begin to see how much a dual action polisher brings to the game in respect to consistency and improvement you'll wonder how you ever got along with out it....:props:
Click to expand...

Very well said.


Unlike the human hand, (and arm and shoulder muscles), the machine never gets tired. Select a speed setting, turn the tool on and using good technique, (not hard to learn), with quality products and pads and anyone can get professional and even show cars results their very first time.


Check this out...


Proof You Can Do It! - Joe The Detailer - Black Porsche Turned into Black Pearl!



:dblthumb2:
 
I hear the GG is an all around better entry level da however, people say it beats the pc across the board, thoughts?
 
SON1C said:
I hear the GG is an all around better entry level da however, people say it beats the pc across the board, thoughts?
Click to expand...


There are so many threads on this topic as well as opinions...

Can't beat the warranty. If you're going to detail cars for money and use the PC style DA Polishers, then get two. That way if one breaks you have a back-up.


Porter Cable was the original for this category, all others are knock-offs. Nothing negative mean by this statement just stating a fact.

See this article,

The Free Floating Spindle Assembly - The Story Behind The Story...




:buffing:
 
megacabcummins said:
Your son is polishing the Bat Mobile? How cool is that?
Click to expand...


Pretty cool. He played in it for about 6 hours too and ran the battery down to the point that we had to jump start the Batmobile.

Here he is talking on the Bat Phone which is a functional phone as it hooks up to your cell phone.


Batmobile031.jpg




This was and "Extreme Makeover Project" I organized and then invited the forum community to join in the fun.

Batmobile Extreme Makeover - Pictures & Comments

I did this all the time when I worked for Meguiar's and have repeated it here when I started up the Thursday Night, "Autogeek's Car of the Week" projects.


Pictures from Autogeek's Car of the Week Projects


I could have done any of these projects by myself but I already know how to do this stuff... so instead I share the fun...

Two passions...

  • Detailing cool cars
  • Showing others how to detail cool cars

It doesn't get any cooler than the Batmobile...


There's a Batmobile in the Cars of Dreams Museum but it's a swirled-out mess. I talked to the owner, even gave him a copy of my how-to book and invited him to be on our TV show... never heard a peep out of him...

See this page...

LSP - The definition and the story behind the term




:)
 
How reliable is the GG DA? I hear of them breaking all the time... I wonder why is that? Sure, they can be replaced under warranty but it's still a hassle and you have to pay shipping to get it fixed, not to mention the downtime.
 
Kaban said:
How reliable is the GG DA? I hear of them breaking all the time... I wonder why is that? Sure, they can be replaced under warranty but it's still a hassle and you have to pay shipping to get it fixed, not to mention the downtime.
Click to expand...

all of the DA's have had their issues, pick one that suits your needs and have at it...
 
Well thanks for all the posts guys. Sure seems like its a good idea to buy a DA.

I was slightly concerned cause I see all the videos on using them but it's always large spots on the car. I'm assuming that the DA wouldn't be used on the front bumper and smaller areas right? So how do you match the efficiency of the DA on those other areas that are going to be done by hand?

Also, I worry about cutting too much clear coat with the DA. How do I know when to stop with the DA?
 
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