Finally got a DA orbital!

[duffman04]

My wife and I were at harbor freight a while ago and I saw a DA for around $50 after their 20% off coupon. I told my wife I wanted one once I have more time to actually do that sort of stuff. Well I just finished up all my requirements for medical school and I get home to a DA polisher on the table waiting for me as a congratulations present! Its funny how something so relatively cheap can make you smile.
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Anyways, I promised her I'd polish her car first. I forgot to take some before pics, but I took one mid way just above the rear window and you can see how dull the paint was to the right of the lights reflection. The swirls were absolutely ridiculous...
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I used:
1. Nanoskin Compolish ultra fine polishing compound with a cutting pad
2. Autoglym Super resin polish with a finishing pad.

I don't know if it's a difference in the quality of the two brands, but man the Autoglym stuff was way nicer to work with. It wiped off with not nearly as much effort as the Nanoskin. I realize neither is probably a great product, but this is what I had laying around and figured they'd work fine.

The end result was really impressive. There are still a lot of defects in the paint, and I'll be honest the quality of paint from Honda on this car is pretty terrible. It is so unbelievably thin that I noticed random little rock chips in areas I can not possibly imagine how rocks got there. The car looks immaculate from 5ft, but anything closer and you'll start to notice all the little chips and stuff. But its her DD and has about 75,000 miles on it so its still in great shape considering.
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Next the Viper will get a proper polish, its been a while and is starting to show some swirls.

[Vprbite]

Looks pretty good from here. Nice job.

I have been pleasantly surprised with the corded tools from harbor freight. Cordless...not so much. But corded ones have done right by me, especially for the money. I was considering getting the one from Griots because I really like their products. I recommend them when it's time to do the Viper. Also, you can email them and you will get an email back within a day or you can call them up to ask questions and a real human being will talk to you about what your goals are and where you are starting from paint wise. I have been happy. Onviously, just my recommendation.

Best of luck with the Viper.

[duffman04]

Looks pretty good from here. Nice job.

I have been pleasantly surprised with the corded tools from harbor freight. Cordless...not so much. But corded ones have done right by me, especially for the money. I was considering getting the one from Griots because I really like their products. I recommend them when it's time to do the Viper. Also, you can email them and you will get an email back within a day or you can call them up to ask questions and a real human being will talk to you about what your goals are and where you are starting from paint wise. I have been happy. Onviously, just my recommendation.

Best of luck with the Viper.

Thanks! I'd actually ordered some Griots polish's for the Viper so it should work out. I also ordered some HT-62 sealant that I saw mentioned on here at some point. This is the first power tool I've got from HF and I am fairly impressed. I used it non stop for close to 5 hours and it never got hot for a second.

[Vprbite]

Harnor freight is hit or miss. Their low profile Jack is awesome and it seems like 80% of the people on here use it. That thing is the bomb.

Also, myself and someone else I know have done just fine with their corded tools but I have heard their cordless leave something to be desired. Yet some of their stuff is junk. I always save my receipt cause they will take things back if you're unhappy. I have a sawzall from them I use the crap out of and it has been cranking for 2 years for me just fine.

I am very happy with griots. I used their sealant last March or April and we drove to tombstone about a month later. We got rained on. When the rain stopped as we were driving, the water just blew right off the car like I was using the leaf blower while like when I was washing. The car looked like it had just been washed. It was amazing. I washed it the other day and again the water beaded right up and blew off with the leaf blower. I think I am going to get their 2 in one polish/sealant for my next wash because I have a few few super teeny, tiny swirls. Ones most people won't notice but I'm not most people. It is a very light cutter (not for heavy swirls) and then leaves a protective coat of sealant on. Though I will probably put on my own second coat of their sealant or wax. Like I said, you can call and email them and talk to someone who will tell you which products to use and how and why, and which not to. So far I gotta say I am happy with their product and their people.

[justme]

For what it's worth I have a Harbor Freight DA polisher and have been very pleased with it's results. I used Meguiars #105 and 205 compounds (Because that's what Junkman used in the video I saw). The replacement foam pads that HF sells are probably from China at around 5 to 6 dollars ea. I came across a web site (Banggood.com/search/150mm-polishing-head) that has the flat and waffle weave pads for 1.75 to 2.00 dollars. I suspect that most of the stuff from Banggood is junk but these pads seem to work just as well as the ones from HF (be prepared to wait 3 - 4 weeks for delivery) at less than half the cost. I also use this DA polisher to apply wax and sealant and the blue edgeless buffing cloths recommended by Junkman.

My red RT/10 and my wife's black Mini Cooper convertible get many complements because of the paint finish. For my purposes this combination works very well at a reasonable cost.

[duffman04]

I've been impressed so far. The DA has a decent vibration through the side handle so I've just stopped using it and will likely take it off entirely. I got the pads off amazon a while ago when I was just using my drill with a velcro pad on it and I think I'll need to order some new ones soon. I'am gonna go with the Chemical Guys ones since they have a raised edge to prevent scratching the paint in a corner or something.

I'll post pictures next week after I've got the viper done!