The inevitable

[AlS3BE]

Well I think I have delayed it enough. So far I have managed to keep light scratches and swirls hidden with AG radiant wax but I think it’s time to machine polish the car. The ag has has been good but after a few washes the swirls and marks show back up
Seems to be a bit of marring/hologram on the passenger side probably caused me claying the car a while back after driving through road works and the whole side of my car covered in tar spots. It’s only in really bright light/sunshine that you can see these.
Anyway enough moaning.
Looking for a DA to replace my missing Porter cable.
Basically looking for a shopping list of pads, compounds, machine etc.
Want this to be as cheap as possible as I don’t think I need to spend thousands to sort this and hoping a good 1 stage go over should be enough to sort.
Other option is a good recommendation on a part time detailer/enthusiast wanting to make some beer money in central Scotland. Think cost wise it’s about the same other than less effort on my behalf ;-)

 

[A4A4]

One enthusiastic Scottish detailer, springs to mind near you. No prizes for guessing.

Give it a go yourself, then you got tools/skills for life (well sort of)

Anyway you going to get loads of advice of here.

 

[AlS3BE]

One enthusiastic Scottish detailer, springs to mind near you. No prizes for guessing.

Give it a go yourself, then you got tools/skills for life (well sort of)

Anyway you going to get loads of advice of here.

Done it quite a few times with my old Porter cable(DA) and hand polished around smaller areas but it’s been a while so things might have moved on a bit. Results were always good though. Part of me wants to do it myself and get the tools but other part don’t want to spend hours on my hands and knees polishing the doors and other parts. Getting on a bit now and even my knees creak when washing the car

 

[Potterswheel]

Not so long ago after trying to get the finish I wanted by hand, spending ages and failing, I bought a Sealy DAS149 and apart from coming with a short lead (which I changed straight away!) I cant fault it, I bought the 'accessory' polishing pad and invested in the 3M system of pads and compounds having used these before by hand and was very pleased with the results.
The shock to me (and several others judging by the reviews) was that the disk is not powered and turns by the friction between it and the car, difficult to explain but works fine in practice!
It seems totally alien at first putting the polisher on your precious paint but you soon get used to it, it was very quick as well - almost scarily quick.