A Makita and an old B&D....

 

Porter 7424 and Adams polishes.

 

With the Corvette's clear coat being so hard, this is mostly true, you cannot do as much correction with a random orbit as you can with a rotary. But for minor stuff you can get it done, you just need to be patient. With my car the first thing I did was hire a professional with a rotary to get the major scratches and swirls removed, then I fine tuned the rest myself with the UDM but I have spent probably 30 hours on it!

The random orbit works much better on other types of paint, for instance my wife's Civic or my mom's VW Golf. In both of those cases I was able to remove imperfections quite easily with the UDM on the first pass, and without using anything super agressive either, I simply used a white LC polishing pad and Meguiar's #80.

 

My Cyclo 5 works great and it has almost no vibration.

Hib Halverson: "The Cyclo is a timeless piece of equipment which has changed little since it was introduced in 1953. Today, among its many high-profile users is the United States Air Force, specifically the 89th Air Lift Wing. Non-military types will know it better as the folks who fly and maintain Air Force One, the VC-25 (military version of the Boeing 747-200B) used by the President of the United States along with the aircraft used by the Vice President, the Secretary-of-State and the Air Force Chief of Staff. Needless to say, if you've ever seen Air Force One in-person, you've marveled at the aircraft's spotless appearance. How do they do that? Polishing with Cyclos. They have so many of them which are used constantly, that once every five years or so, the Air Force will ship pallets of them back to Cyclo Toolmakers for service. Cyclo "tunes them up" and ships them back to the USAF. There are Cyclos all over the world which have been in service 40 years or more.

The feature which makes a Cyclo unique is the overlapping, rotating motion of the two heads which mimics the two-handed, manual polishing/waxing technique old-school car care aficionados use when they hand-wax their cars. The Cyclo's buffing heads, which are run by a transmission geared to the device's electric motor, are dynamically balanced such that, when the unit is running and the heads are rotating, there is no vibration. The way this works is very similar to how balance shafts in large-displacement four-cylinder and V-6 engines damp vibration at idle and lower engine speeds. The Cyclo is built to last made of beefy alunimum castings, an HD electric motor and shafts riding on ball or roller-bearings."








http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/...php?product=72

 

Looks like I'm the lone Craftsman orbital user here.

 

I use a 10 inch Craftsman orbital as well. Also have high speed for removing light scratches

 

I use the 11" Craftsman which is actually a design by a company named "Waxcoa" and has been around for years. It is "idiot proof" and works very well if the finish has been properly maintained. It is not aggressive enough if the finish is dull.

 

Porter Cable 7424 random orbital buffer

 

 

there are several offerings to consider:

PC -- Porter Cable, a tried and true random orbital buffer. Will do some correction (ie. polishing) and help to keep a new finish new. Use a hook/loop pad or Edge adapter for dual sided pads. Most popular seller!

G110 -- Meguairs newest offering, this is a random orbital with a bit more horsepower under the hood. Think of the PC and UDM as its quite similar.

UDM --- we no longer offer the unit, it was an upgrade to the PC.

Cyclo -- this dual headed monster was all the rage a year ago. By using two smaller heads it can do alot of work easily in polishing your paint. Not speed adjustible and its only down fall.

Flex -- this new Orbital offering is the most popular currently. It has about twice the power of the PC. It is a safer choice versus moving to a true rotary buffer, and significantly cuts down on time needed for polishing. (cannot easily keep them in stock )

www.autogeek.net

stay away from those 10" and 13" inch big buffers sold on the cheap at Sears and Costgo amongst others. Often called the Waxmaster, they dont have enough speed or power for any real correction or polishing. These are wax removers only ...

also, the Vettes clearcoat is quite hard and using the newer Ceramiclear polishes from Menzerna and Wolfgang will help tremendously and speed work.

 

Porter Cable 7424 purchased at Goodguys from Meguires. Meguires gives you a life time warranty on it. Also Use a Makita orbital with several types of pads. Finesse it II by 3m works great for a High Gloss if using a orbital. If you use a orbital it is a good practice to tape of edges. Also all your plastic and rubber if you will treat it/soak it, it will keep polish and waxes off it or make it easier to clean.

 

I use the orbital and polishes from Griot's Garage. I believe their orbital is similar to the Porter 7424.

 

i've never used one... i'm still old school... wax on wax off by hand...

 

I'm able to remove 99.9% of the small swirls and scratches that end up on my all of my cars with the UDM. I have a wide assortment of compounds, polishes and pads and have zero issues with mine. I also have a Dewalt rotary with wool and foam pads for the really bad stuff but I've been able to sand scratches with 2000 grit and polish it to a great shine with the UDM. I just started using the Wolfgang polish and it is excellent stuff! (Thanks Autogeek)

Also, if anyone hasn't tried the Supreme Buff Microfiber from Autogeek they are freakin incredible. I just added about a dozen to my rediculous collection of microfiber. Adam's used to make my favorite microfiber but now its too close to call.

 

Me too.

 

Porter Cable 7424 for me too.

Also use Edge 2000 pads, they rock.

 

pos orbital on my polish coat
rest by hand

 

I purchased an orbital buffer from Sears. It works just fine for the application and removal of wax.

 

Makita 9227 when I want to get serious...otherwise on and off by hand.

 

No, I use the 24 dollar Craftsman.
I really should spring for a Porter Cable 7424.