Unquestionably yes, the RO is worth it. I got my car used and the PO took crappy care of the paint. There were a ton of swirl marks on it and a few deep scratches.

Here is are a few pics under the fluorescent lights after 6 hours of polishing, using 4 different polishing products. Note the reflection of my house and the high, thin clouds off the hood of my car in the last pic.

There is NO WAY you could get these results by hand and certainly not in one day. BTW, this was the first time I ever used a RO polisher.

 

Yes. Go to Autopia and read some of the tutorials, get yourself a good set of products and pads and some microfiber towels and you'll be amazed with the outcome.

Once you start using an Orbital (Porter cable, flex, G110) you'll realize you really have to TRY to screw up the paint to really do any harm.

 

Same experience as Tim - previous owner had not looked after the paint well.

After wash, dry, clay and the a few hours with a Porter Cable polisher and pads, I had a result which exceeded my expectations.



Local detailer wanted $150 to even break out a polisher, so I figure I get the cost of the pads and Porter Cable recovered in the first two uses.

Wifey was happy that I used her Boxster to practice on as well



Since using the PC, I've moved away from any form of weekly waxing, and now do a PC polish and a last step sealant product, just twice a year.



So I have the look I want, and I have more spare time to enjoy the car.

 

Hmm very convincing. Guess I have another purchase to make in the near future. I'll go read some of the links now too. thx

 

Definitely read everything you can in the Concourse forum here:

https://rennlist.com/forums/concours-and-car-care-86/


People who have never used a machine to polish their car usually have a tendency to do the wrong things. It's not as intuitive as you might think.

If I hadn't read for a few hours in the concourse forum, I would have made some big mistakes in using a clay bar, and in making a decision to re-use a pad that flew off the porter cable random orbital machine, and in how much compound and polish to use, and in masking with tape, and covering stuff up, and in polishing black trim with the machine by accident.... There are plenty of ways to go wrong, and I must confess I was very ignorant about the proper techniques initially. But I learned by reading and watching YouTube Videos.

Do a search for Porter Cable Porsche in YouTube, and you'll find some guys with the latest polishes showing the basic techniques for using a PC machine.

PC machine is definitely the way to go, or there is also some "Flex" machine that is probably even better.

The best thing about using a PC machine is that you are quite unlikely to damage your car because it doesn't heat up the pad or the paint. But if you are thinking you can do a better job by hand "wax on wax off" forget it - you'll probably never get as good of a shine by hand as you could with a PC machine.

I have seen the local dealers "detail" cars, and all they do is put MORE swirls in the paint - same goes for most of the local detailers in my home city here - they do not have a clue how to polish a car. Now that I know how to properly polish a car with the PC machine, I have checked out most of the local pro detailers to see how their customers cars are looking when they are finished, and I couldn't believe it - they all still have tons of spiderweb swirls! They just don't know how to get rid of them. But I do, and so will you if you do some research from the Concourse forum. The main point I want to make is that 90% of the regular guys you talk to do not know that they don't know how to polish a car properly. Come at it with that knowledge and you will eventually get over all the mystique, and you'll soon be able to get a great polish on your car with a PC machine, some pads, and polishes.

I wish I had learned this stuff 20 years ago - to think that I used to slap on some wax and armor all on my old BMW's and think I was doing the best for my car back then - that was pretty naive.

Good luck - I hope I made enough of a point to get you reading more about doing the job right.

 

Yeah, those guys are the ones that created the swirl marks on the car in the first place. I'm pretty sure the reason for swirl marks is that these detailers are too lazy to clean their pads properly once they use them. The wax or other stuff dries on the pads, and then they use the pad on your car, which is like using a pad with embedded dirt in it. I've always done my own polishing, and I never take any of my cars to a car wash -- EVER.