I got offered a job at my girlfriends dads dealership, detailing cars, helping run errands, and also doing what I do now(mechanic) I need to learn how to buff, and detail cars. I have been looking for a cheap buffer that I can use at my house on my own cars, and learn before I go there in a few weeks. I dont want to spend crazy money, seeing as he has a buffer there that I will use.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/disp...temnumber=92623
What do you think about this, would I be able to use this to buff out swirl marks etc.

 

good place to buy, but wrong machine-
if you are not careful, you can burn paint with that one.
you want a random orbital to learn on.
pretty soon you will be moving up to a rotary if you are doing this professionally.

i wonder if they have machines that they would loan you... since you have an in with the owner he just might do that.

start out at slow speeds whatever machine you start with. i like to have folks start by using the machine to apply or remove wax. thats a good way to get machine feel and you use a low speed so not much chance for damage.

once you have machine feel, then move on to polishing. the random orbital is a safe machine to learn with... after you get a good feel, you can move up to a rotary. be very careful in the beginning with the rotary- make sure to keep it moving.

 

Well I kinda wanted to buy one anyways to keep at home for my own cars, so I should look for a random orbital?

 

I already have a random orbital like this
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/disp...temnumber=43424
Is that sufficient?

 

i got my first porter cable from harbor freight...

not sure where the best place to buy is today- our sponsor has good machines-
detailersdomain.com
and phil is the owner- he would be happy to help you with any questions. be sure to ask for the s2ki discount.

 

I just want to get something cheap if possible like the chicago tools one from harbor frieght, something of a decent brand/quality

 

decent brand/quality and cheap are rarely in the same sentence together..

With that said, I don't see why you can't buy that rotary. But like Mike said, it's VERY easy to mess things up if you don't know what you're doing. Where as with a DA/orbital it's a lot harder, if not just about impossible.

With that said, the orbital you posted from harbor freight is good for applying/removing waxes and that's about it. Doesn't have enough torque to have any sort of correction work.

I would get a PC or Flex DA and go to town. Expect to spend around $300-400 to start off with. DetailersDomain (like Mike mentioned) is a site sponsor here, and who has VERY good kits for both the PC and FLEX DA's to look for.

You skimp on product/machines in detailing, and you won't get the results you're after IMHO.