I got my car back from having the hood repainted (BC-CC) and blocked it out and polished. I had the B&D buffer for years and always used the foam pads but decided to dig out a really old Skill buffer a guy gave me, probably from the 50's, with a wool pad. The Skill buffer has only one speed which I assume is the best one for buffing. I looked online and there is no information that I could find. I was wondering what RPM it had. At any rate the wool pad worked really nicely, maybe better than the foam. So I began to wonder what others experience was. Also I was too aggressive on the sanding and had some scratches I just couldn't seem to get out for fear of going through the clear coat. I remembered I had a MCQuires scratch remover and tried it by hand with no results, so I went with the buffer and wow! What a great product, it took care of everything and looks great. I have been using 3m products but wonder what other products are folks really happy with?
thanks,
Steve

 

you can't go wrong with either product really, they've both mastered the car polishing product line. what you have there is just foam pad polish in the 3m product B, it has no grit to heat up the surface fast enough, without burning through the clear. proper steps of buffing are to start with the wool pad first with compound 3m product A, not seen in this picture but is the same color bottle. the combination of friction between the wool pad, and the grit in the compound work together to heat the surface of the clear coat to remove surface scratches. then using what you have there, 3m polish B with the foam pad to get the swirls out. 1800 is the rpm i buff at with my dewalt.

 

I watched some youtube videos when I first got my car back from the shop two years ago and was thinking that 2500 was what to go with. That said, the old buffer seemed slower and I liked the job it did so thanks for saying the 1800. I'll stick with that. Also your comment about using the wool for compounding and foam for polish. That's good to know. I have gotten pretty damn good at this, but trial and error cost me a few pads as well as other products. I should have posted some questions long ago and saved myself some T & M.
thanks,
Steve

 

Stay away from the edges with a rotary buffer and a wool pad, it will burn to the primer before you realize it even started.

 

I am careful about that. I watched a guy do that a long, long, time ago and took the lesson with me. I really don't want that to happen. Would to high an rpm heat up the paint to a point it may blister or anything else or just burn through.
Steve

 

So one speed does not fit all surfaces, large flat areas can be ran more aggressively than tight areas and edges, i have been using a 3000 grit pad on my detail DA and running it wet after i sand out to 2000, this cut my wheel time in half. As previously mentioned run the wooly with a cutting compound and then the foam pad with the polishing compound, the black foam pad you are using is a more detail pad than the white pad, you may want to try it first, wont burn as easy as the black one.

 

Never seen it blister paint. Masking tape on edges offers protection.

 

I dual action buffer is a lot less likely to burn edges that the rotary buffer.

 

^^^THIS^^^

I bought the HF DA buffer and assorted foam pads and compounds online. I am too chicken to try a rotary buffer.

 

I use a wool pad if it's a fresh cut on new paint. I stay away from the edges . I use the wool pad until I get a milky glossy finish then switch to the buffing foam pad and then I go over the edges carefully. Of course I finish with a softer foam pad a polishing compound. I like to use a heavy cut compound as many compounds bow are heavy in petroleum so it may look shiny but once the petroleum dries up it's hazy city. I buff at appx 1400 rpm and polish at 1700 ish. I like wizards compounds and Maguires

 

I prefer a wool pad for compound cutting and then switch to foam for polishing.

If you sand super fine like a lot of guys do nowadays going all the way to 3,000 grit or even finer, then a foam compound pad works good. If you’re old school like me and only sand to 1200 or 1500, then the wool pad works better.

 

Do yourself a favor and go to autogeek.net, there are forums there that are invaluable - way more reading, instructional videos, and articles that anybody will be able to post here.

Like coppercutlass said above, wool pads work great after sanding to get scratches out, but you will have a hologrammed surface when you are done - will look great in the garage and have tons of buffer trails and swirls out in the sun. You need to finish down with foam pads and the right products. A dual action polisher will have much better results with less-experienced users. I'd recommend you look into one of those for finishing.

I've used Meguiars pro polishes (e.g., M105/M205), but I'm a devoted Menzerna polish user - the 400 is amazing: https://www.autogeek.net/menzerna-fast-gloss.html , then you can finish with 3000/3500/3800 of your choice, or often not finish at all. I'm sure there are other options out there these days that work great as well.