Can anyone recommend a good car buffer. Is it worth getting the full unit or or a part that fixes to a drill 

 

Thanks 

Is it for the 2023 Puma? If so why? These polishing machines are designed to remove the top layer of clear coat which is very thin. They have potential to cause damage to the paintwork in inexperienced hands.

Without any experience you should avoid using a rotary polisher or drill extension. The same applies to the wool polishing pads that often can be found in hardware stores. Without experience these usually result in (hard to remove) holographic marks or in extreme cases even in irreversible damage to the paintwork.

It is much safer to use a dual action or orbital polisher. Which cutting pads and cutting compound to use fully depends on the condition, hardness and thickness of the paint.

If you want to start polishing, I strongly recommend getting a test sample (for example a front fender or bonnet) from a scrapyard.


As an alternative for a dedicated dual action polisher an orbital sander can also be used. I have been using a Bosch PEX 400 AE orbital sander (dedicated for polishing) in combination with a custom backing plate and Poorboy's pads and cutting/polishing compound for many Years. This works perfectly and a decent brand orbital sander is usually cheaper and better quality than a dedicated dual action polisher.

I also measure paint thickness before, during and after polishing to determine the optimal type of cutting pad and compound to use and to make sure only the bare minimum of paint thickness is removed. A soft paint for example requires completely different cutting pads and compound than a very hard paint.


Be aware that the cost of a dual action polisher (or orbital sander), different backing plates, different cutting/polishing pads and different cutting/polishing compounds can easily be hundreds of Pounds just to start with.

2 hours ago, pcaouolte said:

Is it for the 2023 Puma? If so why? These polishing machines are designed to remove the top layer of clear coat which is very thin. They have potential to cause damage to the paintwork in inexperienced hands.

It's for my 25 plate Puma. Had it 3 weeks and can see some blemishes on the paintwork 

14 hours ago, Markstev27 said:

It's for my 25 plate Puma. Had it 3 weeks and can see some blemishes on the paintwork 

Sounds like a warranty claim. Back to Ford.

Depends what you mean by blemishes.  There were a few areas of poor quality paint on my brand new Focus, but nothing that Ford would class as a defect, they don't seem bothered by orange peel or slight panel mismatch.

26 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Depends what you mean by blemishes. 

Back in my company lease car days, I had what I initially thought were paint defects on one new car. Turned out to be hardened wax residue as they hadn't de-waxed the car properly at PDI.😀

7 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Back in my company lease car days, I had what I initially thought were paint defects on one new car. Turned out to be hardened wax residue as they hadn't de-waxed the car properly at PDI.😀

Blimey.  They don't even wash them properly nowadays, never mind wax them!