I've been detailing cars for a year by now, more for personal sense of satisfaction than anything else. We all start as newbies, some progress further, some are satisfied with what they have. I've been realizing more and more lately that orbital PC is not getting me to the level I would want to be at, so I started looking into picking up a rotary. After lots of research I set my mind on picking up like new Makita on ebay that was local. The test mule was black '95 mb c230 that had severe swirls. Bad to the point where orange pad with PB SSR3 wouldn't do much. So I taped of half of the trunk lid, went over a few videos once again and got to work. I started with white pad and ssr1.

1. It's is not easy at first even on the flat surface, but nothing that couldn't be learned through practice. Keeping biffer flat seems to be way easier with less aggressive pad. I was using 6.5" pads that I used on my PC.
2. The mess was getting better, but deeper imprefections stayed and it made me try orange pad with ssr2.5. Much better, but still not there after 3 somewhat quick passes. I kept heat in check since it's # 1 thing that can go wrong. The key is to never stop the buffer at one spot.
3. After orange pad with ssr3 I was left with a few really deep scratces that would probably require wetsanding in my mind. But I was very happy to see the tunk lid become mirror like. Slight hazing started to appear and I switched to white pad with less aggressive Meguiar's Swirl Remover 2.0. At that point paint became really smooth after few light passes. I finished off with Machine Glaze on black pad and applied much hated NXT by hand.

Results are amazing (except for nxt part). Only 10 minutes of work transformed a panel that looked like it has been washed with scotch brite all of its life to a brand new car look (minus a few really deep scratches that I was afraid be aggressive with).

Side notes:

1. I never went above 900rpm
2. I never applied any pressure on the buffer, so essentialy there was only weight of the buffer doing the work.

I tried taking pictures, but had no luck with getting the swirls to show at all their beauty. I will try again tonight.

Yes, the orbital will stay, but I think I will be using it as much.

Totaly worth $130 I paid.

Overall condition of paint (close up):

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y219/kazakovi/P1080521.jpg

White specs are NOT dust

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y219/kazakovi/P1080528.jpg


You can clearly see what half has been worked on:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y219/kazakovi/P1080525.jpg

Final result with one layer of NXT (with some dust specs):

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y219/kazakovi/P1080531.jpg

Simply amazing. Why use NXT if you hate it so much?

Great job on the Rotary and glad to see you enjoyed it! (or so it seems) :)

+1


great job....im doing my first rotary job on a beater 7 series with some nasty oxidation....

ill be using OC and OP and hoping for similar results....

the rotary ive got came from Harbor Freight as id rather practice w it than spend the dough on the dewalt/makita that im looking at getting after i get a handle on the rotary...



and yes we all start out as newbs and my demand has forced me to become better....and i hope yours does to

I'm thinking about breaking out my old rotary for a couple of minor scratches, myself. It's a Craftsman, but don't start with the dissing. I used it quite a bit on a boat I had, and I know the dangers of burning.

I've got a couple of minor scratches that I think it would take out. I've watched the Meguiars videos (great stuff), and I think this might be the way to go. I've got a UDM that really ain't touchin' the stuff that I'd like to fix on the Bimmer.