coffeeisgood

What would you do with a brand new

DeWalt 20V MAX XR 5 in. Cordless Variable-Speed Random Orbit Polisher
DCM848B
https://www.dewalt.com/products/powe...l-only/dcm848b

what polishing, pads, compound, wax would you use? (links / part #s if you got them)
this is a brand new cordless DeWalt tool... (the 5 inch is new, they also have a 7 inch)
Also what tool (polisher) do you use today? (assuming since this is a new DeWalt tool, nobody really is using it yet)

if you have black paint, I really want to hear from you.
I love working / detailing my Porsche Cayenne but this paint seems softer then Audi / VWs. I like it but it is different....

normp

I would very carefully put everything back in the box, wrap it up with some nice Christmassy wrapping paper, put a really big bow on the box and give it away. 😎

Unless you really know what you’re doing you can mess up a good paint job- expensive to fix.

John Young

Find a detail garage in your local SD area. They offer classes on how to do paint correction and will allow you to learn on someone else's car before you do your own! I usually stick to chemical guys products or meguiars. I do believe in taking the time to learn how to do my own work, learning new manual labour type of skills- it's relaxing from my high tech management life.

coffeeisgood

this is the plan to get some hands on help & agreed it is relaxing to do this stuff away from my high tech life
i actually own a practice car. its a beater but it has some qualities... I really only use it to move my surfboards but now this too.

i did not pickup this Cayenne to be a garage queen where someone else does something i can do
am i nervous, will i screw it up? maybe, but it will be me who did it not someone else. is this work for everyone? no, clearly not. of course you will have folks that will run away from doing any of their own manual labor. especially in a Porsche
pretty sure I'll pickup the chemical guys pads & their hand pads. start slow. so far their products has worked pretty well. I actually really like their black light wax product. I have a few others to try.
anyway, I am sure there are hundreds of products out there. everything i keep reading is that Porsche paint is soft but a dream to work with

what i am curious about is for the folks that actually do this work themselves (use a polisher / buffer tool), what has been your experience?

deilenberger

The random action orbitals are actually quite gentle. You need to use the correct pads on them. One for each stage of polish. There are probably 100's of video's on U-Tube explaining how to do it - some are quite good and detailed.

hotrod2448

If it were a high speed rotary I'd be concerned about you burning the paint but, it's just another random orbital so you should be fine. I use a cyclo with lake county pads and chemical guys products for my upkeep but, to be honest I struggle to get any of the CG stuff to cut the way I want it to with a random orbital. After polishing forever with their second most aggressive cutter I'm still not able to get out some of the fine scratches I know I can with a rotary and a finer compound.

dollarlongnecks

I have black paint - well, it's super dark blue metallic, can't remember the actual name - and it's the first black vehicle I've ever owned... I don't know that it's "soft" (as I've had a large part of the vehicle repainted) but I've noticed that the black "amplifies" any errors in the clear-coat, so everything appears to leave a mark.. Heck, if I use anything but certain microfiber towels I'll leave all sorts of visible marks

So, since the vehicle is so susceptible to scratches, etc., I invested in polishers right off the bat. I went with stuff from Griot's, and have the 6" random orbital which I've converted to 5", and the mini 3" random orbital. I also have a small selection of pads, and several different polishes/waxes - all along the more gentle side of things.

I've never run into any problems, and haven't caused any damage, but I can see how someone could if they got in a hurry... I think the ones that are dangerous are the professional ones that don't have random orbital, and you can burn right through the paint if you're not careful with those.

Ken968

I bought a porter cable polisher and some pad/wax a few years back. Never got a chance to try my hand at it but I found this website helpful with picking pads and wax.

Ken

https://www.autogeek.net/dewalt-849-...r-pad-kit.html

twodollardoug

These videos really helped me. Start here.

FlyingMoose

I like Chemical Guys hex logic pads. They’ll have products recommended for black paint. I use the Nanoscrub paint cleaner pad in lieu of a clay bar.

if you’ve never used one before, watch some videos. You can easily get the paint too hot and ruin it.

raydog9379

Adams Polishes has a series on paint correction and whatnot, several youtube videos. I'm actually going to get back into it (been a few years). I got some deals on black friday on products that I'm going to dig into once it's not freezing here in Chicago. Dealer ran my car through the wash last time it was in (and I told them not to), and it left micro swirls/scratches all over... one freaking wash. I really don't want to drop a ton on paint correction since these aren't too bad and something I should be able to handle.

Have 2 black cars, a black Infiniti JX35 (that is going to be sold in spring), and my Cayenne. Going to re-test my skills on the Infiniti on say one panel and then go from there. I've used different compounds and polishers in the past thanks to some bad driving of my wife scratching the side of a car on the garage (and quite honestly you couldn't even tell there was ever 15 inches x 10 inches of scratches in the clear coat when I was done). It's not all that hard really. You can screw it up if not using a random / dual action and you don't know what you are doing. But the DA polishers and available products now make it pretty easy on novices. Don't start with compounds and pads for heavy cutting until you are more experienced and go slow, take your time.