Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
- 51,004
- 7
When I went to work for Meguiar's the second time, (2002), their instructions at that time for using the G100 was to only use the weight of the machine. I think this is also in their Power Polishing VHS Video Tape if anyone still has one around.
I started teaching the Saturday Classes and first thing I did was start showing people to apply around 15 pounds of total downward pressure.
The tool weighs about 5 pounds so that means you have to push down with about 10 pounds and if you get a bathroom scale out and push on it with your hand you'll find out that 10 pounds is NOT that much.
A few years, actually 9 months after starting the MOL forum in 2004 I wrote an article on how to use the G100 for MOL on how to remove swirls and actually use a bathroom scale. To my knowledge this is also the first how-to article ever written on a discussion forum on actually how to use a DA Polisher.
Using the G-100 to remove swirls with the Professional Line
Excerpt
Mike Phillips said:15 pounds of pressure on the head of the polisher
20 pounds of pressure on the head of the polisher
Here's another quote from the above article and yes, that is my hand and my bathroom scale and my garage floor in Apple Valley, California.
Mike Phillips said:Note about the pressure applied to the head of the polisher...
I've placed my hand on a scale before and often times guesstimated how hard to push down on the buffer head, but today I covered our bathroom scale with a thick plastic from a bag I cut up, taped it securely around the scale, then experimented running the polisher over the scale using the correct pad and chemical to try as best as I could to duplicate the exact thing I would do if I we're working on a real car.
I've polished out hundreds of cars using both the rotary buffer and the dual action polisher and have a pretty good feel for how much pressure to apply depending on what you want to accomplish.
To tell you the truth, I was quite surprised by the scale readings myself. I posted a range because that's truly how the dual action polisher works, it works within a range of pressure not a set number. Another factor is the condition of the paint, paint with only light swirls will only need pressure in the 15 pound range while paint with really deep swirls and harder paint will require pressure in the upper range running anywhere from 17 to 20, maybe even bumping over 20.
It was not a perfect system, but I'm confident the numbers are in the real world correct range. If you have a scale, and you have experience polishing out swirls with a dual action polisher using a foam pad like our W-8006 foam polishing pad, give it a try and compare notes.
Also when applying a wax, I found a little more than the weight of the polisher, yet enough to keep the pad flat against the finish was around the 10 pound range. For more cleaning ability, a person could apply a tad more pressure, so the range depends upon what you're trying to do.
These are all just suggestions, or course you can experiment with your car's finish and determine what works best for you.
Remember, it's not just about breaking down abrasives; it's about removing below surface defects. You remove below surface defects by removing the upper level paint that surrounds them.
Gliding the dual action polisher over a clear coat finish will not remove paint.
Pushing down on the polisher, moving it slowly and the combination of time, your pad choice, chemical and oscillating action, gently and carefully abrade and remove small amounts of paint which levels the finish and thus removes the defects.
Two points...
1. Manufactures will often times put out a safe approach to protect people from themselves. "We" all know that we all push technology to its limit so figuring out it takes more than the weight of the machine gliding over the paint to remove swirls and scratches is what's really necessary.
2. The way you remove paint is you engage the abrasives with the paint so they take little bites out of the paint. You engage the abrasives into the paint by pushing them into the paint and this is done with downward pressure no matter what the tool including your hand.
3. The best how-to information comes from someone that actually has been there and done that...
I guess that's three points...
