Porter Cable 7424 polisher

[vintageb3]

I bought a PC 7424 on ebay after seeing Baz's PC and the results he had managed to get with his car last weekend up in Arbroath.

Baz's car looked great after he had polished it...so I thought i would go ahead and get one. I have more than one use for this machine...we can use it for polishing furniture that we have finished too...

It's a good machine and its actually very easy to use. Baz told me that he had been given advice on a detailing site that Menzerna polish was the way to go...so I ordered a kit from Clean and Shiny online.

Some guys go to a scrappy and buy a bonnet to practise on...I already had two just lying here waiting for some practise. OK...they just happen to be fixed to both our vans:D

My van was one reason that i wanted a PC. It needs a good polish to remove oxidation. So...I started on my red van's bonnet. I clayed it first. Then used the medium cut polish and medium cut pad. I was quite pleased with the results. I removed all the swirls and all the oxidation...but there were still some deeper scratches there. I now know that I have to go back with a heaver cut polish to remedy these scratches. Tonight I filled all the stone chips and some of the deep scratches on my bonnet...so next stage is to wet sand the stone chips etc. and then hopefully polish them out. I was really just using this first stage to get to grips with the machine. Of course you should fix the serious paint-work defects before polishing...but I was wanting to see some results...so was just testing.

I had a go on our other van...its white...and we just resprayed it a few months ago. The pigments in white paint are the hardest pigments. (black has the softest). I went straight for the cutting pad and stepped up to the heaviest polish I have in the kit. This is still polish...not cutting compound though.

Again I was able to remove all the swirls and then finished with one of the other finishing polishes. There were still some scratches on the paint but all the swirls were gone. The paint had a nice gloss.

I noticed the swirls are very circular...and sanding marks are straight...since this is of course the way that you hand sand. The swirls on this bonnet were caused by using a Halfords rotary polisher with a lamb wools bonnet.:(

We've found out that the polish I have will take out 2000 grit sanding marks. My Dad had been hand sanding the bonnet with 400 grit paper and those are why the scratches are still visable. 400 paper isn't all that heavy either. Its what's used to rub down before you spray a primer coat...2000 must be like cheque paper!:eek: :D

I read somewhere that polish is just sandpaper in a liquid form. Its a good way to think about it really. If you are sanding...you start with a heavy grit...and finish with a fine grit for the best results. So its the same with the PC.

I hope to be able to pick up some 2000, wet sand the bonnet and experiment with the removal of those sanding marks with the PC.

At the end of the day...I hope to be able to fill any paint chips on my Mini bonnet and be able to polish them out. I think it will be very possible to achieve this.

I may do the whole car at some point....but its really just stone chips on the bonnet that bug me.

The PC is a good tool. It would be very difficult to do damage to your paintwork. It takes a PC 10 times longer to do the same job as a rotary...so this builds in a lot of room for operator error/experimenting/the learning curve.

We even experimented with trying to burn the paint. It does take a lot of pressure to get the paint hot...and even then...we didn't burn the paint. I wouldn't recommend that anyone else try this. We have the facility to re-spray...and after all...its only a van.

John asked how much the PC was. It was £145 for the PC and a Sonus foam pad kit and two polishing bonnets. The Menzerna polish was about £40 I think. I bought the 110VAC transformer through a trade outlet...and don't know how much that will be until the invoice comes in. Maybe £50.00 I also bought 110VAC connectors and cable through a trade source...and don't know how much they will be either. Maybe £10.00

mark

[illegalhunter]

Cheers Mark

[Bazthemod]

Good stuff Mark, bet your hand is still shaking :p:D hope you got some before and after shots of the van!? :)

Mezerna stuff easy enough to use?

[vintageb3]

Its easy enough for someone who only has ever used Menzerna...and nothing else:D

I reckon you only need to buy the Intensive Polish PO85RD3.02....I think the Sonus you have will polish down to a finish after that. The 3.02's finish isn't all that bad as its still a polish and not a compound...and is still very safe to use.

All Menzerna polish is designed to break down....I assume the Sonus is the same...but the Menzerna is seeemingly renowned for the quality and regular size of its grit.

So far I'm happy though:)

mark

[vintageb3]

Baz...I didn't take any before or after shots of the van bonnet and that's the bit that needs most attention. I may take some pics of the side of the van.

Here's a wee update:

There are SO many stone chips on the bonnet I couldn't believe it!...But I have a wee system I'm working through to get rid of them. Only about five of them were through to the metal...and luckily enough they had not started to rust. There were about 40 that were tiny...and showed the primer. There were two bad scratches. I have lost one completely...and I will work on the other one again.

I simply fill the stone chips with touch up paint I bought out of Halfords (about 7 years ago)...and leave to dry. With a few of the stone chips the primer looks to be shining through...but is level with the top coat. I simply used the little tool that comes with the Halfords kit to scratch some of the primer out...and refill with top coat colour. The tool seems to be a fibreglass brush that is used to scrape rust out of a stone-chip. Used carefully...you can remove a little primer without going through to the metal.

This Halfords touch up kit is good. It has a brush (Yuk...prefer a ****tail stick) and also has a very good applicator which is like a Rotering pen nib or like a blunt hypodermic. You can just touch the tiny stone chips...and enough paint is dispensed to fill the stone chip so that after shrink back...the paint will still be higher than they paint surface. After the paint is dry I have been wet-sanding with 1200 grade paper (all I could get) using an eraser as a sanding block with a soapy solution in a spray bottle. My sanding block is only 18mm by 22mm. This little nib is also excellent for removing scratches. Just run paint along the line of the scratch, let it dry, then wet sand the scratch out.

This of course leaves fine but uniform sanding marks. As you sand the paint blob...it flattens out the blob. You know when you are finished sanding when the shiny edge round the paint blob disappears into the sanding marks. I then use the most abrasive polish i have to remove the sanding marks...and the stone chips just disappear and you get gloss back to the paint! I really should be using 2000 grade paper before the polish, since the polish is designed to take out 2000 grade sanding marks. But it does take out 1200 sanding marks...with an extra pass of the PC. I will pick up some 2000 grade and do the whole area before the final polish pass. Wet-sanding at 2000 isn't a bad thing...and can be safer than using a compound on a foam or wool applicator.

Its very satisfying work and I think I can repair this bonnet to almost new condition. There is a bit of etching from bird droppings on the bonnet and elsewhere on the van. I hope to be able to repair that too...but will need to spray some colour to sort that out...so will leave that and do all the spraying at the one time.

Most of the van just needs a quick polish to remove oxidation. I may put on a glaze coat to feed the paint. Then I will stick on some Klasse AIO...and I've decided to use a polymer protection final coat.

Clear coat stone chip repair on the Mini will be similar. Just blob in some colour...let it dry...then blob in some lacquer. I won't be putting 1200 near my car though...it will be the correct 3M sanding block with 4000 paper on it...and then the least invasive polish and foam pad to get the job done. My Mate is picking up one of these little sanding blocks tomorrow for me.

Need to get the van finished first though :)

mark

[sedgie]

Can eh get a wee shotty Mark!?;) :D

[vintageb3]

Why do you need it Lesley?

mark

[sedgie]

Cos the car is manky!...why else!?:p ....n loads n loads o scratches!:eek:

[vintageb3]

Cos the car is manky!...why else!?:p ....n loads n loads o scratches!:eek:

Let me get to grips with my Mini...and then maybe i could let it rip on yours:eek:

mark:D