Buffer At Bunnings

[(B1) MR_fanny]

I was at bunnings today and noticed a random rotating orbital buffer on the specials bundle for 40 bucks. I wouldnt have thought twice cause it was bunnings except this had that random rotation thingy thats supposed to be good for buffing. Has anyone else seen it and will it do a good job at buffing the car? lol

cheers.

[Sambo33]

imo you get what you pay for with buffs. i bought a cheap buff for $150 and it does alright but takes longer to buff a car than a good one. we have a rupes buff at work they are about 600ish and is very nice to use.

[babyskyline]

What makes the expensive ones better??

[Sambo33]

its kind of hard to describe but if you used my $150 buff, then tried the $600 one we use at work you would see what i mean

the pricier one its a lot smoother, better defined speed settings, plenty of low down torqiness. while my cheaper one tends to bog down at low speeds, and lacks that torque feel.

[babyskyline]

So basically they dont have the grunt you need when you push hard on the buffer at low speeds to get the heat into the paint work.

Damn i thought most of them were the same

[(B1) MR_fanny]

ha...yeah i can understand. id probably push too hard and the mit would fly off and id end up griding the paint.

[rgr34]

i bought a cheapy with the random rotation so kind of rotates of centre... worked well on my black car supposivly get less lines, streaks buff marks... obviously the cheaper ones dont have the power but for a light buff they do the job!

Edited October 17, 2008 by rgr34

[Fry_33]

The cheap one could be ok. I can't say I've used one but you shouldn't need too much torque as such. You aren't trying to remove the paint imperfections with pure grunt, that's what the polishing products are for. As far as I know the whole point of the random rotating head is so that it DOESN'T heat up the paint. The problem with rotary buffers (angle grinders) is that they just turn and don't oscillate. This heats up the paint quicker and is why you have to be very careful with them. The random orbitals are much safer.

Here are some examples of holograms left buy a rotary buffer. Just above the door handle you can see the circlular patterns. These are common where people don't really know what they're doing with a rotary buffer. Some waxes can hide these.

When polishing you want to do it under cover so the paint work isn't hot. You generally won't see professional detailers outside, if they are then they'll try to be in the shade. As long as you use the right pad and polish choice you should be fine.

If anyone's worried about harming their cars paint because they're inexperienced then get a cheap crappy panel from a wreckers and have a go on that. You can then practice all of the claying, polishing and waxing you like. Once you're happy you could wash it with dish washing detergent and rub a kitchen scourer over it and start again.

If you do get the buffer then try and get a seperate pad for the polish and wax. There could be a microfiber bonnet for the wax already though?

Good Luck.

Edited October 17, 2008 by Fry_33