Hey, I'm looking at buying the Porter Cable 7424 Orbital Polisher. I have absolutely no experience with polishing, but I have several scratches on my G35c (damn this Nissan paint) and I want to make the car shine. I was looking through searches, and I can't seem to pinpoint all of the materials I actually need. The polisher can be found here for $115. What else am I going to need? Everyone keeps mentioning pads like the orange polishing pad at Griots Garage. Do I need a pad like this, or does it come with a pad? Also, that pad is $10.95. Do I need a new one every time I want to polish? Is that all I'm going to need? Finally, they also have a red waxing pad. Does that mean that I can use this model for waxing, polishing, and buffing? Sorry for all of the questions, but I'm not sure about a lot of this. Hopefully it won't be too hard. Thanks for the help!

<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small"><EM>Edited by SNoWyV82 on 06/08/03 01:19 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

I have the Porter Cable polisher (pnuematic version) and got it from Griots along with their polishing solution. I was also working on my boat which is black with lots of damage to the gel coat (scratches etc.)

I bought the entire polishing kit which contains three different polishes most aggressive, medium aggressive, and light aggressive. Depending on the condition of your paint you may not need all three. Before polishing your car your should thoroughly was it and clay it to be sure it is clean.

Each pad should only be used with one grade of polish (i.e. don't polish your car with the aggressive polish then use the same pad to apply the mild polish). Again depending on your paint's condition order polishes and pads to match.

Since your car is pretty new I am guessing you only need the mildest polish and one pad. The red pad is used to apply wax with the Orbital Polisher which I also do (saves a lot of effort) however the Griots wax I am using doesn't seem to last very long so I am going to try the Crystal Guard product advertised on this site. As Griots says, "have fun in your garage."

 

the porter cable comes with a white foam pad and a hook-n-loop thing, but i hear that its not recommended to use that foam pad, probably best to use the ones from Griot's garage.
They last though, probably 10 uses at least. you just have to clean them good after each use.

<font color=green>-Rambo</font color=green>
G35c 6MT DG/Willow

 

I'd suggest taking a gander at Sears' Craftsman orbital polisher instead.

Don't get me wrong... I'm a HUGE fan of Porter Cable's products - I won't use ANYTHING but my trusty PC Circular Saw, and numerous other power tools - but the Sears OP is inexpensive (comparatively, about 50 bucks or so) and works very, very well. It's designed so that you can't burn the paint, it'll stop before it'll allow you to apply enough pressure to do so. Also, Sears sells the terry bonnets, you can get them at any location and they're also inexpensive, but good quality.

I have one myself, and use it all the time. If I were a professional detailer using it 5-6 hours a day, I'd probably go for the Porter Cable, for durability... but for home use, just on one or two vehicles every week or two, the Craftsman unit will last a lifetime, and do the same job at half, or less than half the investment.

2003 G35 Coupe 6MT Leather
Premium, Aero
"There is no spoon"