UK - Orbital Polishers, where?

J

jdthompson

New member
As usual lots of choice if you're american, and (it would seem) very little if you're in the UK.



Does anyone have any recommendations on where to pick up a reasonably priced random orbital?



I don't want to go to the expense or trouble of getting anything imported, but all we seem to have over here are the £20 things they sell at Argos - how do these stack up as an alternative to hand polishing, and are good quality pads available over here?



My car is a 2002 Golf, pearl grey anthracite, paint's not marked and I'd like to keep it that way - to date I've been applying Zaino Z2 with meguiars foams and removing with microfibers, but being the UK and not having a garage it's getting more and more difficult to get good enough weather for anything to dry... I'm contemplating a change...



I'd be grateful for any links or advice,



Paul
 
Porter Cable lists 2 dealers, if you are interested in their products:



BEDFORD FIXINGS

1A DEAN ST. P.O. BOX 2355

44-0234-360747 BEDFORD ENGLAND



HAMILTON POWER PRODUCTS

P.O. BOX 2355

44-1206-762470 COLCHESTER ENGLAND



A friend of mine in Belgium, after claying, used Meguiar's #7 Show Car Glaze, 3 coats of Autoglym Extra Gloss (both products locally available, didn't want to use the Autoglym Super Resin because of the abrasives/cleaning agent), then a coat of P21S (that I shipped) to get this shine:



fd16aaa3.jpg




Reports that it looks a lot better than the previous car (recently totalled) that had Super Resin in place of the Meguiar's #7 step. But that is her opinion and all work was done by hand.
 
They seem a little expensive/OTT though - doesn't seem to be much middle ground between the £20 halfords jobbies and the £140 "professional" ones.



As an alternative to working by hand what does the extra money buy - I wouldn't feel happy spending £160 on a buffer, so would it better to keep on working by hand than it would to buy one of the cheaper buffers?



I think the closest equivelent I can see is the "craftsman" line of buffers at Sears.



regards

Paul
 
I agree :(



I wouldnt trust the cheap generic ones, but paying 10 times more for what is supposed to be a 'good one' seems pretty strange.



I am sure others on the board know what the difference between the cheap and expensive ones are :nixweiss



From what I can tell - the expensive ones have speed adjustability and you can change the type of bonnet cloth that is attached to the machine.
 
The Halfords type units are designed to add or remove wax and nothing more, with units like a Porter Cable you can remove swirl marks and minor scratches that would take forever by hand and give a more consistant finish.



A DA Buffer, seems to be for more skilled and experienced people, as there is a higher chance of damaging the paint.



I seached hard to find a UK random orbital buffer, the only ones I could find were in the 250 pound plus bracket (the cheaper units ran way to fast eg 10,000rpm!), thats why I ordered a Porter Cable from the States. By doing this, I also get a massive amount of technical support from this forum.



There are a number of threads on what can be done by hand, PC or DA buffer.



http://www.autopia.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15479





Steven
 
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