Thread: Random Orbital Polisher?

4,000 OPM's not too bad. Think I polish at like 6,000 OPM and wax at 3,000 or something like that. Not hard to find 6" bonnets either. Probably the kind of thing I'd mostly use with a wax/polish combo product.

4000 opm with no variable speed adjustments = useless with any type of polishers............

trust me save up some more and get a porter cable, thing works like magic. and you can't F up your paint with it.


before porter cable buffer job.



and after.

why thank you sir.

ask danielle, its a work out, your arms will hurt for days after, they dont really start to hurt till you are 1/2 way done doing the car, but at that point you cant quit, because its instant gratification lol

and just a reminder, that buff job is only 1 cut, and wax. if i were to do 2 more passes around the car with finer and finer compounds, it would look like real glass, deep and shiny.

The porter-cable is great, and it's definitely a good detailers starting point. I've pretty much maximized what I can do with mine, so I'm upgrading to a rotary polisher..... A lot of people are scared of them, but with patience, it will give the BEST results.

It can't hurt to use. I would mainly use it as a spreader for my wax. It will take some of the elbow grease out of it

Scotty...if you are hurting after using a PC7242 then you are doing something very wrong. There should be nothing more than holding and guiding that baby over the car. It's time, not effort.

Originally Posted by Truckin2001

With no adjustable speed or a vented disk, you really run the risk of burning the paint IMO.

Adjustable speed won't keep you from burning paint. Using low grit keeps you from burning paint. With any standard polish/wax, there's no way you can burn paint. His junk polisher will still put wax on a car ten times better than a normal buffer and a hundred times better than hands. The human matters more than the machine [read: technique and patience]. And the car needs wax.

Originally Posted by BillBoost37

Scotty...if you are hurting after using a PC7242 then you are doing something very wrong. There should be nothing more than holding and guiding that baby over the car. It's time, not effort.

my paint was really fadded out, and i was leaning on it with more than firm pressure. and both my shoulders are F 'ed u, so yeah i was sore for about 3 days. and lets not forget how much it vibrates, my hands and for arms were going numb. and doing the side of the car are no fun.

Originally Posted by 2dee11

so what would be the best use for this machine?

use it to make your cars paint shine like the dealer never saw it shine. after i tinted my tails i used it to buff the clear coat on them as well.

but really the whole set up with pads the pc and good wax and compounds and swirl remover and your looking at maybe 300 bucks or more. unless you find a used porter cable for cheep. the results tho, man you'll never wax a car by hand again.

this is basically what you need to do to use it properly, minus the taped outline.

How to do a "Section Pass" with a Porter Cable 7424XP - YouTube

Polish, then wax. Or wax/polish combo. Or sanding the deck. Don't let us PC enthusiasts slow you down. The machine will do the job.

you can try it out, just dont use in in one area to long, follow the vid i just posted and use it like that, but do keep it moving, dont let it sit still like the porter cable can, your paint will burn off.


is this the tie on bonnet type buffer? if so maybe you could get some Velcro and stick it to the base if it so you can use a real pad, they all have velcro on the back to hold it to the buffer.

post a pic of what your working with. or web site link to it.