Advice buying on Car Polisher

tsk13 · 27th February 2010, 00:56

Please go by Skdking's post, the link he provided has discussion on the polisher. Member Sohail99 got one and there are brands such as Eastman, gB Tools available in the market.

Mods, please merge this thread. Thanks.

aargee · 4th August 2014, 18:23

Waking up a 4 year old thread to add a little experience, hopefully it helps a few confused minds out there...

Sharing my little experience...

Out of sheet lust towards detailing, I went ahead & bought a Bosch orbiter. Then the realities started striking one by one. Cost of just a heavy duty cutting pad - ~Rs 1200 & there're medium, light cut, finishing, fine finish blah blah. Oh!! this is only on the 6" or 8" pads. My bike requires like 4.5" which is hard to procure in India.

Ok, I said, fine & moved to compounds; they're again a ocean of them; light cut, medium cut, glaze finish, fine finish, heavy cut; the cheapest cutting compound costs like Rs 1300 or so for a liter or so.

It took a great deal of time, effort & permutation for me to make up my mind to decide that I'll be spending some 30K for all these pads & compounds (because I already had applicators & MF cloths in abundance + this was just from one brand who were willing to offer me good discounts). After making up my mind, I was talking to one of my Guru about my plans & he was asking me like "Are you serious?" Cutting the long story short, below is what he helped me understand...

- The quantity of the compounds are like 500 ml atleast for each of them; this means, a heavy, light & finishing compound put together makes 1.5 liter...ATLEAST. And the quantity required to remove scratches & detail are less than 10 ml or so!!!
- And I may not even need a heavy cutting compound for lifetime even if there were heavy scratches & I got them removed the first time
- And once if I remove the scratches, I may not need them for next 1 year or more. Will these compounds & pads be the same even after a year? Frankly, I don't know
- That was only about compounds, what about the pads? Even if I buy 4.5" pad, how much time should I be spending to detail my car with that puny pad? So why not buy the 6" pad? But then I'll have hard time buffing the tiny places in the bike though it was good for car. No I went back to square 1, how many pads? What size? What type of finishing?

Finally it dawned to me that - Just for one application a year, do I really need to spend some 30K (excluding the cost of orbiter) or can I simply take the bike/car once a year to a detailer? These products & materials are purely meant for business, we can use them once a while & we really don't need them like simple metal & paint polish, wax, QD, washing shampoo, tire cleaners, plastic polishes etc for every month use.

Needless to say, I went practical; I buy things that I can afford SENSIBLY & for last 1+ year, I didn't have to visit any detailer, yet keep my bike shine like new!!

27th February 2010, 00:56	#31
tsk13 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: New Delhi Posts: 1,256 Thanked: 361 Times	Please go by Skdking's post, the link he provided has discussion on the polisher. Member Sohail99 got one and there are brands such as Eastman, gB Tools available in the market. Mods, please merge this thread. Thanks.
	() Thanks

4th August 2014, 18:23	#32
aargee Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: TSTN Posts: 6,233 Thanked: 9,616 Times	Re: Advice buying on Car Polisher Waking up a 4 year old thread to add a little experience, hopefully it helps a few confused minds out there... Sharing my little experience... Out of sheet lust towards detailing, I went ahead & bought a Bosch orbiter. Then the realities started striking one by one. Cost of just a heavy duty cutting pad - ~Rs 1200 & there're medium, light cut, finishing, fine finish blah blah. Oh!! this is only on the 6" or 8" pads. My bike requires like 4.5" which is hard to procure in India. Ok, I said, fine & moved to compounds; they're again a ocean of them; light cut, medium cut, glaze finish, fine finish, heavy cut; the cheapest cutting compound costs like Rs 1300 or so for a liter or so. It took a great deal of time, effort & permutation for me to make up my mind to decide that I'll be spending some 30K for all these pads & compounds (because I already had applicators & MF cloths in abundance + this was just from one brand who were willing to offer me good discounts). After making up my mind, I was talking to one of my Guru about my plans & he was asking me like "Are you serious?" Cutting the long story short, below is what he helped me understand... - The quantity of the compounds are like 500 ml atleast for each of them; this means, a heavy, light & finishing compound put together makes 1.5 liter...ATLEAST. And the quantity required to remove scratches & detail are less than 10 ml or so!!! - And I may not even need a heavy cutting compound for lifetime even if there were heavy scratches & I got them removed the first time - And once if I remove the scratches, I may not need them for next 1 year or more. Will these compounds & pads be the same even after a year? Frankly, I don't know - That was only about compounds, what about the pads? Even if I buy 4.5" pad, how much time should I be spending to detail my car with that puny pad? So why not buy the 6" pad? But then I'll have hard time buffing the tiny places in the bike though it was good for car. No I went back to square 1, how many pads? What size? What type of finishing? Finally it dawned to me that - Just for one application a year, do I really need to spend some 30K (excluding the cost of orbiter) or can I simply take the bike/car once a year to a detailer? These products & materials are purely meant for business, we can use them once a while & we really don't need them like simple metal & paint polish, wax, QD, washing shampoo, tire cleaners, plastic polishes etc for every month use. Needless to say, I went practical; I buy things that I can afford SENSIBLY & for last 1+ year, I didn't have to visit any detailer, yet keep my bike shine like new!!
	(4) Thanks