I had lucked upon a dewalt 849 rotary buffer on ebay a couple months ago after reading a s2k rotary thread, got a flexy pad that fit my 6 inch sonus pads and I thought I was good to go. My mother-in-law has the WORST kept 92 accord you will ever come across so on a visit I packed up my new toy and some accessories to see what kind of trouble this could get me out of.

I used a yellow pad and menzerna ip and did 18 runs to get these results.
The top is kinda oxidized and is the worst part of the car. Looks nasty doesn't it
I would not even waste my time trying to use a PC on this, this was ready made for a rotary trial




Clearly I didn't have enuf product or the right pad to do this in a timely manner, so I hightailed it back home and went on an ordering spree, upgrading to a full 7 in backing plate, 8.5 inch wool and yellow pads, and I found a heavier duty Menzerna IP called POWER GLOSS which has twice the particle density as IP.

Mom in Law comes over on mother's day and I have a couple hours to offer so I tape off her car and do half of it. I used Menzerna Power Gloss throughout, 2 runs with a wool pad, then 4 runs with a yellow, then I used my PC/yellow pad for two runs to clean up any holograms/minor imperfections. Sealed with one coat of AIO for the time being before I do a complete job.


Here are a few more icky before shots showing the poor shape this paint is in...



Here is a final "clean" shot



Here are some before/afters sandwiched together.








The top is in terrible condition and the paint is very thin up there. I am through to primer is a few areas.





















You can see the holograms developing here


I love the way the shoplight pops on the right



Overall the rotary is FAST. If you have a really CRAPPY paint to have to bring to life, it really makes your life easier. Also I am looking forward to using the rotary on my S in combination with Menzerna's Cerramiclear HEAVY Cut which is a better version of Final Polish. I think you still need a PC to do clean up work but I could be wrong....

 

There's only so much you can do when paint is that far gone. In the last shot you have some rotary burn on the hood. You may be moving the rotary too fast across the paint. Give it time to work. You can also get those out with the PC. Good Job.

Be careful using a heavy cut compound and a rotary on your S because of the chip repair you did. You may rip every one of those pieces of paint out of the chip.

 

this was your first rotary?
great job!!

cant wait to see the pics of the completed job-

btw, cant think of a better car to learn on than a mother in laws car!!!

 

[QUOTE=Ubetit,May 15 2006, 05:58 AM] There's only so much you can do when paint is that far gone.

 

[QUOTE=thetz99,May 15 2006, 02:26 PM]

The PC did clean up the rotary artifacts I was getting.

 

I've been lucky, I guess. Both the Xterra (dark green) that I did last fall and my own S2000 (silverstone) I've been able to finish with the rotary and polishing or finishing pad with no need to follow with the PC - no holograms, no micromarring. It depends on the paint, though. I think black honda paint would definitely require a PC follow-up, since I've found it to be wicked soft.

 

Rotary swirls or not i've just found that using a rotary with a finishing polish doesn't look as good as a finishing polish with the PC. Ultimately i think the PC does a better job leaving a clear and shiny surface.

i agree, black paint almost always leaves some rotary swirls.

 

Thanks for the insight guys. I was hypothisizing that the rotary's higher speed coupled with a Menzerna Final Polish was going to give me this incredible BRIGHTNESS when I get around to the S.

 

18 passes!! Max is 5 per panel for me..Then I say F it!

 

I wanted to see how many passes it would take to get the desired results with what I had at hand. I got more abrasive pads and polish to cut down on the time for the main job...6-8 passes total This car was as bad as they come.