My nephew is asking me for Xmas gift suggestions (for me) and another thread on here has given me the idea of a power polisher to maybe take the drudgery out of keeping the ali looking good.

What's the opinion on these - do they do the job? I was kinda worried that with ali the pads would get clagged up pretty quickly - is this the case?

Also any suggestions to a relatively inexpensive model would be welcome......

Cheers! Geoff.

watching thread with interest !!

Silverline

I bought one like this from Halfords and tbh it was like trying to hold on to a wildly out of balance 2 stroke engine with my bare hands. A few minutes of it and my hands were in agony.

I bought a silverline variable polisher ( basically a 4,500 Max rpm 'girty grinder' ) from the bay and some mop heads and never looked back.

regards

Agriv8

Thanks for the feedback guys, Father Christmas has been informed and is bringing me a Silverline jobbie.....

Is the silverline a dual action, or permantly spinning like a grinder ?

i have a small bosche grinder, could that not be addapted to polish ?

Steve

you can buy pads for use with an electric drill. a cordless drill would probably be best but i think you have to keep the think moving across the surface of the paint to get the best finish. Think its to do with the rotation around a central axis while the orbital polishers allow for a slower movement

quote:

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Originally posted by steve m
Is the silverline a dual action, or permantly spinning like a grinder ?

i have a small bosche grinder, could that not be addapted to polish ?

Steve

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quote:

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Originally posted by Findlay234
Think its to do with the rotation around a central axis while the orbital polishers allow for a slower movement

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For alli don't think it matters all that much, grinder with lambs wool bonnet and solvol autosol. paint is a completely different kettle of fish. silverline ones are great problem is it spins in the one place and is very easy to burn the paint, I prefer my random orbit for cutting laquer. do a search there is a link to I think detailing world and an articleon the pros & cons of both types and these guys should know what there talking about
Any Article here by DaveKG is worth reading

tony

[Edited on 21/12/09 by mad-butcher]

Another vote for the Silverline polisher.

quote:

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Originally posted by mad-butcher
silverline ones are great problem is it spins in the one place and is very easy to burn the paint,

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That nice Mr Claus was good to his word and delivered me a Silverline polisher - a substantial piece of kit it is too, looks like it should be well up to the job.

Just wondered exactly how you guys use yours - sounds a bit of a numpty sort of question I know, but I'm presuming you apply the polish by hand cloth and use the polisher to buff it to a shine - or do you use the 'tool' to apply the polish too?

Also, any preferences for the mops i.e. sponge or wool or other? Seems quite a few types available on the bay, any tips would be welcome...

I tend to put the polish on the mop and then apply mop to body work but others may do it differently?

I was surprised by the lack of info in the instruction sheet that came with my sander/polisher - plenty of stuff about how to fit the backing disc and wool bonnet, how to set the speed, loads of safety stuff etc. but nothing about how to actually USE the thing.

Anyone know where I can find general hints and tips on t'internet?

UPDATE - found this one!

[Edited on 26/12/09 by David Jenkins]

quote:

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Originally posted by David Jenkins
I was surprised by the lack of info in the instruction sheet that came with my sander/polisher - plenty of stuff about how to fit the backing disc and wool bonnet, how to set the speed, loads of safety stuff etc. but nothing about how to actually USE the thing.

Anyone know where I can find general hints and tips on t'internet?

UPDATE - found this one!

[Edited on 26/12/09 by David Jenkins]

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........and here

How many men ever read the instructions ?

How to use a rotary polisher in agonising detail. From a forum full of OCD sufferers

Cheers guys, some useful links there. Mostly concerned with treating paint finishes though which obviously needs a bit more care than simple alu polishing.

Think I'll have a play with it and see which method works best - if I come up with any great revelations I'll let you know.......

I've polished a few cars with my Silverline polisher and my brother used it on his wife's car and neither of us had problems with damaging paint. If anything I found the G3 cutting compound I used wasn't aggressive enough on the (fairly ropey) paintwork of my Fiat Coupe, and it took ages to take some of the swirls out.