Inexpensive machine polish - recommendations?
Discussion
My wifes 12 year old Zafira paintwork is beginning to look a bit tatty due to 12 years of family abuse, and car park trolly rage! It has just flown through its MOT (again), so we have decided to keep it for another year but would like to treat it to a 'freshen up'. Don't want to spend a fortune on it but would like to try to get the majority of surfaces scratches polished out without spending a fortune - just a vanity exercise for the family hack really!
Any recommendations on someone local-ish to Binfield/Bracknell who could give it the once over without leaving a hole in my pocket?
Doing a decent job takes time and time costs money. Would be a minimum of a days work for a pro so how long for an amateur?
Occasionally you see car washes advertising cheap 'machine polishes' but they are normally just applying a glaze by machine which in all reality you could do by hand. Dont get suckered in.
Best to find a local detailer who will talk you through the process and give you a quote. Many of them will offer a light correction polish for £100-200.
Occasionally you see car washes advertising cheap 'machine polishes' but they are normally just applying a glaze by machine which in all reality you could do by hand. Dont get suckered in.
Best to find a local detailer who will talk you through the process and give you a quote. Many of them will offer a light correction polish for £100-200.
dry664 said:
Doing a decent job takes time and time costs money. Would be a minimum of a days work for a pro so how long for an amateur?
For a full-on detail, maybe, but for what the OP describes, on a clean car, any idiot can do it in a couple of hours. I used the Meguiars Microfibre system so only had cut & finish stages, so maybe I'm underestimating it a little if the kit is more complex.I appreciate that a proper detail and paint correction takes a lot of time and effort, and to do a decent grade of job costs - but I am only looking to get rid of some of the surface scratches and 'brighten' the paintwork up again. It is deep metallic green so shows just about every bit of dirt and scratch!
Not looking for a top notch job, as I say it's the family hack - just a bit of lipstick on a pig!
Not looking for a top notch job, as I say it's the family hack - just a bit of lipstick on a pig!
swisstoni said:
MadDad said:
Any recommendations on someone local-ish to Binfield/Bracknell who could give it the once over without leaving a hole in my pocket?
Yes, you! 
I will have a look at trying to source a DA polisher and find a break in the weather.....
I think the first time I used a da myself it took around 3 hours to get the car clean enough for the da (don't laugh), then another 2 hours to get slightly comfortable with it and figure out the best polish and pad combos for my paint. Only then did I start making any headway and after another five hours work I ended up with a reasonable result. Ideally then you wash off the polish residue, dry, add a glaze and then a sealant/wax.
I will give it a go myself as it is only the family hack whatever I do to it will be an improvement on it's current state! I think there is a market for something between full on detailing, and the local car wash offering a dodgy polish....
@ Mike, thanks for the offer - a friend has lent me a rotary polisher, a bit skeptical as it is a Halfrauds own brand but I will give it a go.
@ Mike, thanks for the offer - a friend has lent me a rotary polisher, a bit skeptical as it is a Halfrauds own brand but I will give it a go.
MadDad said:
I will give it a go myself as it is only the family hack whatever I do to it will be an improvement on it's current state! I think there is a market for something between full on detailing, and the local car wash offering a dodgy polish....
@ Mike, thanks for the offer - a friend has lent me a rotary polisher, a bit skeptical as it is a Halfrauds own brand but I will give it a go.
Be careful you don't burn the paintwork with the rotary!@ Mike, thanks for the offer - a friend has lent me a rotary polisher, a bit skeptical as it is a Halfrauds own brand but I will give it a go.
Rotary spins on the spot, produces more heat and therefore more cutting power but get it wrong and you burn through the paint. DA (dual action) spins and orbits at the same time and produces less heat. Much safer but cuts slower.
Not sure if the halfords one is rotary or DA but i think its pretty weedy either way so unlikely to do any damage. However you will be there all day if youre working in something with hard paint (think German).
Not sure if the halfords one is rotary or DA but i think its pretty weedy either way so unlikely to do any damage. However you will be there all day if youre working in something with hard paint (think German).
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