Finally bought a machine polisher, here are the results....

[DJM1982]

As above, finally plucked up enough courage to buy a machine polisher and gave it a go today as the weather was nice. I am pleased with the results of my first attempt, and i think with a more abrasive polish next time i should be able to get an even better paint correction and better results.
Opinions welcome....

Before pics after a wash and clay:

 

[DJM1982]

After pics: (after polish and after a coat of hand applied DoDo Juice Wax, plus tyre dressing etc)

Comments welcome. But please be kind as its my first attempt....

 

[Wrath]

You obviously Photoshop'd those pics. To prove yourself, get over and do mine....go on....I dare yer.

 

[jon1982]

looks good mate, how much are those machine polishes? and where did you purchase yours from?

 

[goon]

just polished mine and yours looks so much better,I think I must get one of those,what type is it and what was the actual procedure you did to get a superlative finish?

 

[avant1980]

i've been using one on my car a rotary one just cant seem to shift the fine swirl marks, must be doing s'thing wrong

 

[Fahim]

Very nicely done. I would love to learn how to polish correctly. Seems like hard work mind.

 

[Dazmo]

Machined polished mine yesterday, ****** hard work and shakes your arm off but more than worth it in the end!.

I tend to only machine polish on large and flat panels, such as bonnets, doors, then i hand polish curves, corners, tight spots!

 

[DJM1982]

Yeah same here, machined all the areas i could get to and then hand polished the fiddly bits.

As for process, i washed with 2 bucket method, dried ( cheated by using quick detailer ), clayed using megs clar bar and last touch quick detailer, masked up, machine polished (using supplied Sonus Polishes), then hand applied the wax.
I bought the megs rotary polisher with sonus pads and polish kit from cleanyourcar (google them, they are very good).

As i say, this was my first attempt and alittle scarey ( as i didn't want to screw the paint up ), but next time i'm going to try and use a more abbasive polish and pad to try and get the deeper scratches and swirls out.
But very pleased with my first attempt.

 

[ultramodz]

Good work

I need to do mine again - the guy who parks next to me keeps brushing up against my wing as he gets in his crappy Ford & has dulled the finish

 

[DJM1982]

I find people do that all the time where i work, makes me sick, plus I do over 700miles a week in mine ( a proper mile muncher ). And previous owners had never bothered cleaning other than the hand car wash, so mine was in desperate need of being done. Next time i hope to get even more of the stone scratches and chips out of the front bumper and bonnet.

 

[Dazmo]

Yeah same here, machined all the areas i could get to and then hand polished the fiddly bits.

As for process, i washed with 2 bucket method, dried ( cheated by using quick detailer ), clayed using megs clar bar and last touch quick detailer, masked up, machine polished (using supplied Sonus Polishes), then hand applied the wax.
I bought the megs rotary polisher with sonus pads and polish kit from cleanyourcar (google them, they are very good).

As i say, this was my first attempt and alittle scarey ( as i didn't want to screw the paint up ), but next time i'm going to try and use a more abbasive polish and pad to try and get the deeper scratches and swirls out.
But very pleased with my first attempt.

Sounds good mate, the only thing i did'nt do was clay it as i could'nt be *****!

I washed using the two bucket technique, dried it then polished with sonus and then gave it a single coat of caranuaba wax p222 (think it is), also poor boy sealed the wheels.

Got rid of most the swirls with the polish, i dont usually polish i tend to just clean dry and wax, so has not been polished by me for almost a year! looks loads better now

 

[ultramodz]

I find people do that all the time where i work, makes me sick, plus I do over 700miles a week in mine ( a proper mile muncher ). And previous owners had never bothered cleaning other than the hand car wash, so mine was in desperate need of being done. Next time i hope to get even more of the stone scratches and chips out of the front bumper and bonnet.

Yeah I spent 3 days on mine last time! I applied stone chip paint from Audi, wet sanded the front end & polished it up with my DA. It looked so much better.

^^^ You should defo clay before you polish as the polishing mop can drag particles around & work them into the paint further, negating the polishing work you're putting in.

 

[Nu-Tec]

quick question.... would machine polishing affect my supa guard that is on the car??

cheers