I own an older orbital Black & Decker polisher. It has a rubber pad that you stretch terry cloth pads with elastic around the perimeter. I purchased micro fiber pads to use in place of the old terry cloth pads, and am wondering:

Is this safe for the application of wax, given light pressure? I.e. letting the orbital action of the machine to do the work? Would you suggest a moist MF pad with a few dabs of wax? Using Meguires.

I

 

How much experience with an orbital do you have? I use the Porter cable 7424 and it is really easy to use and I love it. From what I understand orbitals are a lot more powerful so if you dont know what you are doing you can burn your paint. Thats the main reason why i have stuck with the random orbital. As for the wax removal I always just use the machine to apply the product and work it in and then remove the excess with a micro fiber. I also reccommend going onto detailers domain, they are our sponsor, and checking out the menzerna product line. It is really good quailty stuff and not that bad of a price if you ask me. If you arent comfortable with the orbital, I would check out either the 7424 kit that phil is selling on detailers domain of the flex kit he is selling. Both are a random orbital and are pretty easy to use. I think the flex has a little more power, but both get the job done just fine. I bought the 7424 kit and it comes with everything you need to make your car look absolutly amazing. Good luck man.

-Ian

 

Oh and if you are worried about a polisher giving your car swirls you probally need to clay the car and wash it real good. Your polisher should be used to correct the paint not put swirls on it. Take care.

-Ian

 

first off, there are no dumb questions on this board... you are home and at home there is respect all around.

have to agree with ian...
unless you are experienced, an orbital can cause problems (burn or swirls)- if you really want to use that machine, learning with wax is the best way to go. you get the machine feel and some good experience if you can keep the machine moving, and always in the lowest setting it has.
imo you would be better off with a random machine- like the pc... can burn the paint with those unless you really try hard!

again, i applaud you for using wax app for learning machine feel... exactly what i did many moons ago. and i agree with using a quality mf pad- i use some more padding under mine (lambswool bonnet under the mf).
my procedure would be slighty diff... i would use a pad with no cutting action for the wax application, and then i would use the mf over lambswool for the removal.
hand removal is easier, but then you dont get the machine experience and feel. that said, i use my machine to remove wax or synthetics fairly often (for me its totally a "mood"- how i feel and which way i wana go- neither method is right or better, each is just different).
thx for posting up and let us know how we can help further !

(like in giving you a badge once you get your baby waxed and pics posted !- be sure to pm the link to me so i can handle this for you)

 

What everyone else said, but if you have the opportunity try on another car before yours. Either go to a dump and get a body panel to work on or go get yourself a rental car for a day.