Can someone recommend a polisher for polishing the paint so the car painted sections become glossy. I used the colorspec step 1,2 and 3 from SCA and the clear coat is garbage doing nothing and polishing by hand kinda worked but definitely needs a polisher to get it done. Got confused between the dual polisher and the normal ones, so wasn't sure which to get.
Recommendation for a Car Polisher after Paint
LGoofyGoober on 06/03/2025 - 01:35
Comments
Nah man, I want to do it myself. My car has multiple section that needed a small paint job and well the paint shop nearby quoted me for 4 figures to do the paint job. So yeh it is something I will do more of.
Then find a detailing supply place convenient to you, they'll likely have a starter kit of DA polisher, variety of pads and at least one polish for the $400 - $500 mark. You don't need a Rupes so just get something that fits in your budget.
Dual action polishers are easier to use and less likely to cause damage due to human error. If it’s infrequent usage, a cheapie one from Bunnings will be fine.
If you’re doing this more often or you want a higher quality one, Rupes are your go to.
Id personally prefer a Ryobi one and spend money on good pads.
Sand paper
Ryobi DA polisher is good for just polishing but cannot do paint cut and correction at least on hard paints e.g. euro cars' paint.
If you need paint cut and correction as well, you need rupes etc. I reckon the normal one is rotary polisher which rotates only and is used by experienced painters/detailers. Dual action, in a rough analogy, like earth spins around itself and rotates around the sun. Pad plate spins and rotates at the same time probably at the same speed. Lots of youtube info available.
1200 wet & dry first
Look it up on youtube. There is a channel called custom spray mods. You've likely used acrylic clear so it needs more work after the fact to look good.
Do 1000, 1500, 2000, 3000 wet sand. Then cut and polish.
I tried 1500 grit wet sand then polished by hand. I watched few videos but they dont bother naming the type of polisher they use.
Rupes, Festool.
Can you post a picture of the paint? Two things will help: a polish (e.g. Meguiars or Turtle Wax) and a polish attachment (e.g. a buffing tool) for your powerdrill.
So from what I can see, that surface is pretty rough - looks like the primer has just been sprayed on. If you want a shiny finish, you'll need to sand down that panel, starting from something like 200 down to 1500, with most of the grades in-between. You can use a sanding disc for this. The primer is going to be pretty rough right out of the can or spray so you need to make it as flat and smooth as you can. The paint is shiny when all the light beams are reflecting back into your eyes, which is why unsanded spray paint looks dull. Sanding the primer makes it smoother.
Once you've sanded the primer nice and flat, spray a few coats of colour, then clear. From there you might be able to get away with polishing and waxing (depending on how good your sanding was to begin with), but more sanding might be needed, then polish, then wax.
The key is in the sanding (i.e. preparation).
You may want to wet sand first, depends on how bad it is. Other than that you want a dual action polisher as they're far more forgiving for a novice. By the time you buy a polisher, pads and a couple of grades of polish you can probably have a detailer do it for you. Is it something you're going to do more of?