To Buff or not to Buff

I have a black 02 Cab and the paint is in great shape. However anyone that owns a black car understands swirl marks are unavoidable. At Christmas Santa brought me a new Groit's buffer polisher equiped with their foam pads and #3 polish. Although Groits swears their buffer will not harm your paint, I had my doubts. A few days ago. I did the unthinkable and decided that I would dive in and attack those nasty swirl marks. After two buffings on both doors, I can't believe how easy it was to use and the results were fantastic. I drove my car to wrk today to have some of my car buddies make their own determination. They were very impressed with the results! This weekend I will take on the fenders! I will post some pictures this weekend.

Nice job. The Griots products are great. I have the 'I want it all kit'. Their porter cable buffers are fool proof. Much more satisfying DIY rather than pay a detailer.

Let me know! My car needs a nice polish and wax this summer.

I too was amazed that I could buff my car and make it better(not worse) with the Griots stuff

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Check out this post from a few year back. Polishing & Buffing Paint

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Great thread, wish I'd seen that a year ago!

Don't forget to use a clay bar before polishing... http://www.autogeek.net/detailing-clay-bar.html

geezzz guys I must have been doing something wrong Cause I have never had a buff job done that didn't leave those damn "ghost" swirl marks I've paid as low as $200 and as high as $900 but after a certain amount a washes (1 to 3 months) always the same Ghost swirls show up and it looks worse than it did before the buff/compound!! I had my P. resprayed with SIX layers of the highest quality clear there is and have my own wash mits and chammy at the car wash (they thought I was crazy ). With a wax once month the P. looks great and the black Benz (had the same problem) looks pretty good too but needs a flash wax every 2nd wash 'cause that I never got resprayed (clear). Needless to say I'm very impressed when I see guys whom are able to do this buffing/compound themselves and get amazing results!!! I'm jealous fellas Cheers, Sid.

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Heck yah mandatory. I've been tempted to heavy way with a buffer but gotta have the time to clay the car first.

I have been a fan of Griot's product for a number of years. Typically, when the timing and weather are right, it can be an all day affair, speed shine with clay, polishing with the right # polish, then a coat of carnuba, or best in show, .....about the time that my back goes out from being bent over, etc., the sun is going down and it is time to sit back, enjoy a bev., a cigar, and admire the gleaming , swirl free paint and hard work. Elbow grease really does work.

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Totally agree. Another reason I pay somebody to do my cars. I'm not young anymore and my time is worth more than that. Don't get me wrong, I'll love to do it but my choice is DIY stuff over detailing.

Please share some pics of the car. I am planning to detail mine soon but not don't want to mess up the car more

I've got swirl marks but I'm scared to buff because it removes a small amount of the clear coat, right? How much buffing can be done before going through the clear and into the paint? How do I figure out how much buffing the PO did? Can I somehow measure how much clear coat I have left? How good a job can be done by a paint shop to add a new layer of clear coat?

there are ways to measure the paint/clear if you get a GOOD ramdom orbital... you can polish till your blue inthe face and not take off more than a few microns...get rid of the swirl marks, drives me crazy when I see them!

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what is that?

Don'f forget there is a "Concours and Car Care" forum here as well. A lot of great info/answers there and pro detailers are always there to answer questions, give advice and provide product recomendations. Plus a lot of before and after pics of pro and amateur paint corrections so you can see what's been done, how, what products were used, and the results. It's eased my mind about taking a mechanical buffer and an abrasive liquid to my 16 year old black car. Darell

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I think kits a Porter Cable with a Griots sticker... I have the Griots one (red and black, not yellow....

The Red Devil has a nice paint job, no chips or dings, and a minor amount of shallow scratches. But there is something in/on the paint that is keeping me from feeling the glassy surface, even after hand buffing a fender, and several layers of waxes of various kinds. I googled detailing in Chicago, and came up with a shop about 20 minutes from me that just seems to be crazy fanatic about paint surfaces on cars - isn't that what you want with a detailer? Lustr Auto Detailing So, I am taking my car there for an evaluation this weekend. Need to get it polished out before I get the clear bra put on, and I explained to the Owner (chief fanatic) that I want to be able to do the weekly and monthly work myself (out of love for the car). He said that this isn't unusual, that they many times just get the car to a particular standard where a normal person can maintain the car with washes and waxes. Then they recommend a detail at their shop once a year. Prices range from $100 - $250 and up to $1000 for the insane wanting to give a spa treatment to their garage queen. For a daily driver, I'm looking at the $150 range once a year. At least that's the plan. We'll see what really happens. But I would be really careful with any buffer/polisher, no matter what grit or paste you are using. Your moderate pressure might be my light pressure, and you can pretty easily burn through the clear coat if you're not careful. I'm not saying don't do it, just saying, be careful - be very careful. It's penny wise and dollar foolish to save the cost of a detail, and end up having to pay for an overspray of clearcoat. larry

^^^ Something tells me that you either need to clay bar the finish to remove the contaminants or you are feeling overspray from previous paintwork. Your detailer will let you know either way. As for burning your paint when polishing with a buffer, that is impossible to do with a random orbital buffer like the Porter Cable or Griots. The paint surface barely gets warm with the RO. You are confusing this with a straight drive buffer which spins at very high speeds and the pad surface would be spinning in one direction. This is intentional in order to correct major paint imperfections. Griot would never sell a buffer to high end car owners if they thought it would ruin the finish of their cars.

Went to the detailer yesterday for an "evaluation." He said that it didn't look too bad, and that a $255 polish would take the finish of the car to the next level. He did half the hood, and I could clearly see the reduced level of scratches in the area he had polished. It looked at about the same level as the fender I had polished manually. He first used ONR as a wash, and then sprayed it with ONR to use as a lubricant for his work with the clay. I could see the dirt running off the car in the ONR spray. He uses large microfiber cloths to dry the car. Pulls the cloth across the car with no pressure from his hands, just the weight of the towel. After a few pulls, flips it over and does a few others, and then discards the cloth for another. Very fanatic about not wiping residue over another part of the car. I can't imagine how many towels like that he uses to do a whole car!! Considering that I'm going to get a clear bra put on the car in a week, I think that I'll let him polish the car, to get the hood, mirrors, fenders and bumpers to the best state they can right before I have the bra put on. As he said, once I have the bra put on, there is no going back. I'll post some pictures after I pick the car up, if the weather holds. larry