Anyone know how to buff paint?

[Audiomechanic]

Ok, so I'm a detailing n00b. I wash. I wax. I nap. That's about it. But my truck has several spot where the paint is rough and the clear is pretty scratched up all over the truck. I have an angle grinder and was looking at pics of buffers...they look the dang same so I'm wondering...can I adapt a polishing pad to the angle grinder and it'll work?

From what I've read, I want to use a foam pad with a light polishing solution, no compounds. I'm mostly just looking to make the paint (in the areas where it's not TOO bad) glisten and shine and not look all dull from the millions of little scratches all in it.

What say ya'll?

[dscort]

the difference between a buffer and an angle grinder is the speed. i usually run my buffer at 2400 rpms, a little on the fast side. an angle ginder is around 7-8000 rpm. major difference.

actually if your just buffing spots and not a whole bedside, one of those powerball things would work w/ the drill. get something like meguires polish/cleaner. use medium pressure at first, working to light pressure to polish to a shine. other wise they sell cheap buffer polishers, they run on the low rpm side but still get the job done. just stay away from the paste rubbing compounds, they have a pretty harse scratch thats hard to get rid of.

[OneSickPsycho]

You'll tear through that paint like a fat kid through a bag of Oreos if you use an angle grinder.

Get an orbital buffer... they work really well... and you can get a cheap one for like $20.

[OneSickPsycho]

Just be sure to clean the surface really good beforehand (clay bar preferred), then take your time with a quality polish...

[Audiomechanic]

Originally Posted by OneSickPsycho

You'll tear through that paint like a fat kid through a bag of Oreos if you use an angle grinder.

Get an orbital buffer... they work really well... and you can get a cheap one for like $20.

Understood.

Originally Posted by OneSickPsycho

Just be sure to clean the surface really good beforehand (clay bar preferred), then take your time with a quality polish...

Gotcha. Thanks!

Originally Posted by dscort

the difference between a buffer and an angle grinder is the speed. i usually run my buffer at 2400 rpms, a little on the fast side. an angle ginder is around 7-8000 rpm. major difference.

actually if your just buffing spots and not a whole bedside, one of those powerball things would work w/ the drill. get something like meguires polish/cleaner. use medium pressure at first, working to light pressure to polish to a shine. other wise they sell cheap buffer polishers, they run on the low rpm side but still get the job done. just stay away from the paste rubbing compounds, they have a pretty harse scratch thats hard to get rid of.

Uh.....yea....that IS a little bit of a difference. Well, the whole truck pretty well needs it. There's a few spots where the clear coat has turned white and rough. It's got little scratches in the clear coat pretty much all over from being a 9 year old 4X4. I should probably take the truck to a professional detailer to buff and polish the light to moderate stuff out. I just don't have money and am trying to be cheap.

[Audiomechanic]

Well, since the angle grinder idea was a bad one, I noticed that the local parts house also has 6" and 8" foam buffing pads for drills. I have a high speed variable drill that spins up to 3200 RPM so that sounded just about perfect! I tested it out using the lightest buffing compound they carried (lightest cut). Seems to work well! I need to go back and get a medium cut compound because the light compound is working out the really tiny scratches, but the truck is covered with heavier clear coat scratches from brush and brnaches and junk hitting it while mudding.