What a difference $200 bucks make. Awesome job,Scott. Obviously, there is a lot of hard work using the polisher and products. But what a result. And, yes, for weekenders, what better way to spend time to achieve this result? Thanks for sharing, and inspiring those of us with little ready cash but plenty of enthusiasm.
I like this buffer a lot. The first one I bought got really hot in 30 minute so I brought it back and got a second. That one works perfectly fine but the 20mm throw makes it vibrate a bunch. I regreased the gearbox and put a 5in backing pad on it. The heat went way down and I can work it for a few hours before I let it cool down. Picked it up on an Inside Track deal for $60. Not the best buffer in the world but for the money it’s a solid deal.
One of the better overview videos. After countless videos ,I've discovered much more than what brand compound or why someone dislikes one over another. I went with a Amazon polisher and if I grow into a part time business then I'll gladly pay for a Rupes. Less vibration the better. Getting close to them golden years myself and my body reminds me daily lol
Absolutely. I'm almost 40 and have had a polisher in my hands since I was 16. If you're going to do this in a professional setting, wear some kind of hearing protection and pay the extra for the smoothest operating tools you can. You hands (and ears) will thank you. When the porter cable 7424 came out and that was the latest and greatest thing, it made your hands tingle so badly from running it all day. The Rupes definitely don't do that, and I'm sure the flex doesn't either.
These are the types of transformations that always give me the greatest sense of accomplishment. I'd rather do this than a one step on a $200k+ car any day of the week. Nicely done Scott. Wish Meguiar's released a new series of compound called their "Dusting Series". M105 would sell like hotcakes
@@MarkusKleis Scott! You've made it my friend! Agreed Markus, solid products. I like what you've been doing with the new branding recently. I'm sure it's not an easy job modernizing the look of a brand with so much history. Keep up the good work! A few things I'd love your input on: 1) Has there been any discussion about fully moving to self cleaning bottles someday for your compounds and polishes? 2) Is there any desire at all for companies to be more transparent as to which LSP's contain UV protection and which ones don't? You'd know demographics better than anyone I'm sure, but I think a lot of regular consumers just assume any LSP with the words "wax" or "long lasting protection" have UV protection built into them. From what I understand, hardly any of these super chemical resistant LSP's that are TH-cam famous explicitly say they have UV protection. Feels misleading 3) Should we be concerned that D101, a simple APC, has the same NFPA health hazard rating as Wheel Brightener? This was sort of an eye opener for me as I don't feel too many people use PPE with APC's. I'm trying to educate myself as much as I can on product safety Thank you Markus!
@@derek723 1.) Not all compounds or polishes will work through a sprayer. In fact, I would go as far as to say th vast majority do not. We have played with it before and the abrasives ate the sprayers alive. 2.) The challenge with claims in this industry is that the claims themselves have very little clear cut regulation. Small players (and heck, even some of the medium-sized ones) make utterly ridiculous claims on a daily basis. Heck, these days it seems more if either outright lies, or at least intentionally misleading than there is truth. When it comes to something specific like UV protection, that subject is actually far more complex than the general public would imagine. What constitutes UV protection? A sacrificial component that absorbs UV? How much does it need to absorb? How complete does the coverage need to be? What happens if it stops functioning almost immediately? What about the argument that simply having something over the surface slows degradation, does that count? So on and so fourth. Bottom line, I wouldn't expect more transparency with those claims in this industry any time soon. 3.) Warning ratings can be there for different reasons. This is another area where it is not as cut and dry as one would think. There is a LOT of fibbing out there, that much I can tell you when it comes to claims. For example, are you going to put disclosures for impurity levels of something in a chemical/RM? We do. I know for a fact many don't. So sometimes a "3" from one brand could translate to a "1" or "2" at another. There is a surprising amount of interpretation allowed here. Pro tip... the bigger the company, the bigger the target on their back for lawsuits, and therefor, their appetite for risk will inherently be lower. This is especially true for publicly held companies. I'll let you read between the lines on that, but a simple example would be the use of persistent chemicals. They are in nearly EVERY single coating on the market. Do they even tell or warn you? Meanwhile, *some* brands have decided to remove them entirely before they are legally outlawed (again, liability risk avoidance....). Hope that helped! - Markus
Wait, I thought the only products that work are AMMO's $77 wax and $35 soap, and $300 plastic wash buckets... Glad to see someone post something with sense. I am a detailing nerd, but the YT detailing heros promoting hundreds, if not thousands of dollars of car wash and wax on their channels has gotten silly.
Saw a video of a guy who fixed the balance and vibration by replacing the grease with white lithium grease. And also replacing the backing plate with an LHR15 5” backing plate.
Thank you so much Scott, I think I speak for everyone when I say we love you and hope one day you return to bless us. If not, that's okay too because you've impressed great knowledge that can't be taken away. For anyone else watching this/reading this: If you are like me and used this video as a basis for your first paint correction, harbor freight now sells clay with lube. Additionally harbor freight also sells cheap nitrite gloves which I highly recommend and they now have the spray ceramic that Scott uses in the video. I myself went with Griots which scott tested as one of the top performers in one of his comparison videos that can be found at a local auto parts store. To take it a step further and again if you are like me and this is your first time I recommend spreading this out to a two day job especially if it's a truck or large vehicle (i did a dodge challenger) I'm ocd and had to spend a lot of time telling myself I won't get perfection. Day 1 I recommend wash, dry, clay, dry, tape your plastics and nooks really well. If its your first time you are going to sling some of this stuff, its gonna happen. Then cut and wipe down. Day 2 alcohol wipe down. Polish, alcohol wipe down then wax ceramic. This won't help as much for anyone without anywhere to store the vehicle and its just my first time so I'm sure there are other ways to do it but this just my 2 cents. Good luck everyone, much love to all!
I purchased the same compounds and polisher and later replaced the grease in the head and it's much better. I'm satisfied as I detail about six vehicles a year.
Really GREAT JOB on this F-150. It's amazing what a good tool and products can do to bring back a dull paint surface. Of course there was alot of work to make this happen ! I will be doing same thing soon. I will be using a MALCO rejuvenator product. Hopefully it will do as good a job as seen in this video. Thanks, Billy / Albq. N.M. 6 / 18 / 2023
👍 I plan on buying the other Bauer polisher for my 2012 F150. I am ceramic coating my truck so i want to get rid of the swirls and scratches. Luckily my paint is in great shape so I don't need to do that much to get it ready in terms of compound and polish But that truck looks amazing now, almost brand new looking
great results and like you said your skill and the meguiars products restored that truck more than the polisher. Also refreshing choice of music in parallel to paint transition.
I know that this video is from 2 years ago , but man I just bought my first harbor freight polisher and watching this video makes feel more confident to Polish my first car , thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Amazing transformation! Wow. If M105 and 205 didn’t dust as much, I would use it more. But it does get the job done. 105 is a favorite to shine up headlight lenses
Awesome. It’s almost like successful results are more about the professional experience/education of the worker than it is about the equipment. Who would have thought?! Question. Noticed you wiped off the 105 before using the 205. Other videos I’ve seen the detailer doesn’t both wiping off the correction compound and goes straight to the finishing compound. Is one way better than the other or is it just user preference?
you correct, a good detailer could get results with stuff from the dollar store but a professional doesn’t use junk cause it takes more time which costs you profits, cheap stuff doesn’t last, it vibrates to hell as Scott shows here and while 105/205 is great, other cheaper alternatives are a major pain in harsh climates. Just cause you can doesn’t mean you should. I could paint correct a car by hand, doesn’t mean its a good idea. If your really poor you can actually get decent results with a backing plate chucked up in a drill but I wouldn’t recommend it. Probably need to be spending that time looking for a job at that point.
there is another TH-cam video on the polisher where he took it apart and remove the Chinese lube and replaced it with White lithium grease. Then he use a 5" inch pad from a better polisher that was interchangeable. This improved the vibration on the Bauer polisher and make it easier to use.
I agree that the most critical parts indeed besides the substitution of the Bauer Harbor Freights random orbital dual action polisher; would definitely be the foam pads and cutting medium and fine cutting compounds themselves; one could definitely try using and substituting in the Rupes branded name medium and fine five inch cutting compound foam pads for its more aggressive and complete cutting compound action and also using the Rupes branded name medium and fine abrasive cutting compounds also as well; to see if they can make a visually discernible qualitative and quantitative difference in the final actual vehicle finish quality side by side differences; also one could measure using a gloss meter; if the qualitative and quantitative gloss meter readings were 10 gloss units or higher as that would be a major break thru that would indeed probably be worth paying more in the long run.
Sorry to be offtopic but does anybody know a method to get back into an Instagram account? I stupidly lost my account password. I appreciate any tricks you can give me
@Mathew Wesson I really appreciate your reply. I got to the site through google and I'm waiting for the hacking stuff atm. Takes a while so I will get back to you later with my results.
I myself was wondering if my blue bauer pad wasnt as coarse as a typical orange cut pad, u have answered my question though! Great video. Sometimes detailing a whole car and being only 5'5 is a struggle itself! Thanks for ur informative video!
You are a hardcore-fighter. This bauer polisher is bad-ass with its handling. And you did the hole car! Awesome hardcore-fighter i think. Two-steps. Brutal. It should be interesting. But its Over... Quarter the hood. - one segment meguiars cut with bauer. - one with meguiars cut and Flex and its best pad. - one bauer and meguiars finish - Last one meguiars finish and Flex and its best pad. Best regeards from Germany. Thank you.
Hey Scott, great video. Harbor Fright now has a "Professional Rechargeable Color Match Light" by Braun for $35. Might be worth a try to compare to the scan grip.
You inspired me to wake up & go out spend $200 @ Harbor Freight tomorrow! Black F-150 do you think if I fill in the deep scratches with color match before starting your process would help more?
Great video. I am going to be working on our cars this weekend with basically what you have. I'm a little nervous with not having ever used a polisher and there are so many options. I'll start with my daily as it has the roughest paint and has been painted on a few times. I've just washed them and detailed the insides. Always left the outside to someone else.
Scott great video I use synthetic clay bar after washing the car is faster and efficient and it does remove the dirt from the paint. Again thank you for the info
Enjoyed the video. Not bad for $200. The end result was really awesome. For a weekend warrior I think it would be worth it. I started with the Griots G6 and moved up to the G8 and G9, which I really enjoy. I hope to own a Rupes one day.
I saw some stuff about the backing plate that it's unbalanced and that's what makes it wobble and vibrate I would try replacing the backing plate and see how it does would be a good video idea
Great results you got from consumer grade products! Thanks for demonstrating your technique. Out of pure curiosity, what is the air gun on your hose? It looked like there was something inside the nozzle, in the first shot where you were showing off the two buffers...
Try to have less than 20 man hours in a two step correction and coating. Sometimes less, sometimes slightly more depending on the starting condition and the vehicle size.
Wow you knocked it out of the park looks killer.can you get some orange peel out with just polishing with rupes heavy cut and blue pad thanks for any advice
Many years ago, I bought some HFT tools from the big store in Camarillo, CA. Those were the orange colored tools and were named Chicago Electric or something like that. They were junk, sometimes now working right straight from the box, but they were cheap. Their hand tools were cheap. That was back in the 1990's. Fast forward to today and they've cleaned up their act, but prices have gone up a lot. I bought one of the Chicago Electric maroon colored DA's maybe 7 or so years ago. I'm not a professional detailer, so I figured it would do the job for me. 8mm, shorter unit with a locking switch on the side. It does vibrate and my hands are tingling after a long run. The backing plate isn't balanced either. It uses 6" pads, which I think are on the large side for such a small DA. IT does the job, but if I were a pro, I'd only use it as a back up - the vibrations would do some physical damage. A few years ago, I bought a 20mm DA similar to the one you bought at HFT. It's a cheap made in China tool with even more vibration and not enough power to keep the pad spinning - I'm going to drop the backing plate down to a 5 inch to see if it helps. The tool was cheap - $59 cheap or something like that. If i have to choose which tool to grab, I'm almost always grab the Chicago Electric HFT. I thought the long throw would be better, but it's heavier and it's harder to use. Great job on the truck. It looks nice and shiny now! I have a car in similar condition that I need to do. In a few weeks, when I'm done with my current project.
Scott, for your viewers, I always do a chemical decon when I do a correction before I clay. Also, I have a Porter-Cable DA which is about the same price of the Bauer. Hopefully it would last longer the Bauer? I enjoyed your piano music. Nice job on the correction!
Thanks! Trying to find the sweet spot for the music as I grow this channel! The porter cable 7424 is a good polisher - I had one for several years before the Rupes and Flex came to the US around 2012. It will still do a great job at removing imperfections.
@@every_thing_wood1251 I first wash with a combo of Super Clean, Purple Power Vehicle & Boat wash & Dawn Dish soap. That combo is my striping soap mix, For decon., I use an Iron remover and clay mitt.
Great video(except the music 😂). Great work. I had purchased pretty much everything you did from Harbor Freight and just came across this video. Glad I did before I went to work.
I worked at a dealership for 5 years in the detail department..but was not the cut&buff guy....I'm buying a black super duty crew cab that needs this process... I'm gonna follow this video... With me luck
Big improvement on this F150. I want to mount one. I currently own two Zota 21mm polishers, they are quite similar from what I see in the video. I also put 5-inch backrests on mine. The next thing I'll do is put a better quality grease on them. I loved the video. Greetings from Chile.
Awesome job by the way with the tools you had to work with. Meguiars never lets you down. I would have finished the job just the way you did, those ceramic spray waxes are great.
Great video! I see now that it’s a month old, but you mentioned the microfiber towels being a bit “spendy.” I’d like to know your thoughts on cheap v/a expensive microfiber towels.
Sure. I buy a lot of my MF towels at Costco where they are $15 for 36 of them. Autofiber is another place I get the nicer ones - some of which are still cheaper than HF.
Scott H I use a lot of Costco towel too, and honestly, I suspect they would not scratch any paint. I still have some pricey ones, but I tend to wonder if we are all being ripped off. 😂
Wow that polisher was getting really hot. I use my Milwaukee drill which also gets hot after some time but never to the point where it's uncomfortable to hold.
I just bought a Rupes LHR21. Can I switch to a 5inch backing plate without changing the vibration and does it have to be a Rupes backing plate or can it be whatever backing plate such as a Torq?
Amazing job! I thought I was going to find out about a chinese knock-off compound and/or wax that would blow me away..... Take care and thankyou for the interesting videos.
dumb question, but how do you know which cutting pads to choose? For instance, how come you chose the blue coarse pad over the orange pad or other options?
It really depends on the severity of the defects, but if it is in the condition of this truck, I would generally use something very agressive to make the finishing steps easier.
@@ScottHD oh okay, thanks for clarifying. Also just curious if the defects are not that severe at all would using an aggressive approach such as this still be acceptable and get the job done or does it pose a risk compared to using less aggressive pads? lastly, how many pads do you recommend if you don't have a compressor to blow them out? I was thinking 4 for each step
Looks fantastic ive recently bought the Bauer polisher and will use it on a friend's 7 series with oxidized paint but I'm going back to harbor freight for the pads I only want to use my chemical guys pads on my car, great job thanks for info.
quick question i got a car that the hood is oxidized and we compound and polished it we waited like a couple and then we washed and the oxidized paint kinda came back what can do to make it leave for good
A couple notes: Harbor Freight always has 20% off coupons that will work on the Meguiars Products, but not on the polisher. They do offer coupons on this polisher that makes it $89.99 instead of $109.99, making this even cheaper yet! Edit October 2021>> coupons are gone of course, but the regular price right now appears to be $89.99.
go.harborfreight.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/LPO-Test.png?cid=paid_facebook%7CWeekend+-+15+Off+-+Dynamic+-+Nov+2020%7CRemarketing+-+L90+-+Engaged+with+Post+or+Ad%7C175645_175673_176001%2F+-+Copy&.com&Weekend+-+15+Off+-+Dynamic+-+Nov+2020%3DD175645_175673_176001%2F+-+Copy&fbclid=IwAR2om9RI7TdICwPNmnVdxvy5AfuyngcgwQEMT9tXyr8wjDVxMC_hQe1L9J8 there's a 15% off coupon - no exclusions!
In front of the polisher from harbor freight there’s a little hole above the housing The Alan wrench that comes with insert it turn it clockwise or counter clockwise the balance it that move the block that’s in the polisher and charge the grease you’ll will see the difference
Moderate pressure for the first step, light pressure for the second. The worse condition the paint, the longer you need to spend on each panel. "average" maybe 10 minutes per panel?
How often did you re-apply compound to the pad? I bought the same set up & used it on my truck last week. Same model f150. I re-applied 4 nickel sized drops each time I moved on to another 2 foot section. After about 20 minutes use, both blue pads started putting out a lot of wet compound & then tore apart from the backing. Both happened at speed 4. Wound up continuing with green pads for compound & yellow for polish, both at speeds 2-3, and didn’t have anymore come apart.
Thank you for the video. I recently bought a bright red 2006 motorcycle with only 1200 miles, and the paint on the tank and front fend look good, but there are lots of swirls in the paint. The rear fender looks cloudy and when it is wet, it shiny, and then when it dries it is dull again with a milky tint to it. I plan on doing this right after the holidays and making it look brand new again. Hopefully, It looks close to what it was back when it was on the showroom floor in 2006. Correct me if I am wrong, but that polisher can be used on chrome parts and restoring plastics too, right?
Can I use the yellow pad for compound and polish? Or should I also get the blue pad to just compound and yellow for polish like shown in the video? Never done this before haha
I have the step down version of this, and it's not bad. Heat wise it wasn't terrible. I'm use to high vibration. So I can't really speak on that. But if you try to use the included handle, it vibrates like a freight train coming down the tracks. I'll have to try and use the pad combo you used. I used chemical guys new c4 and P4 with the orange and white pad. Got a lot of scratches out. But not all. And I know the compounds work. So maybe I was just using too fine of a pad.
My local HFs do have Meguiars M21 sealant. They also swapped out 105/205 for 110/210 and don't carry the green pads at all. Weird how the stuff varies by store. Oh, and those white "Polishing Towels" they sell in a two pack have the honor of being the *worst* towel I have ever used. I think you could soak them in a bucket of water and pull them out bone dry. They have literally zero polyamide. They do feel nice and soft though. 😁👍
Thanks for the informative video. I'm a weekend warrior and used that machine too, but I opted for the HF house brand pads. I used the orange pad with Meg Ultimate compound for light swirls and but didn't get the greatest correction results. Because so many good reviews on the Megs compound, i'm thinking my issue was with the pads??
I think that is most likely the issue... I have used several of them now and it seems like they haven't been super consistent with their quality of the pads. May give RUPES, IGL, Lake Country, etc pads a try.
money is worth it for only a couple hundred. i am considering polishing my car because its almost a decade old and lots of sun damage. but am thinking it could take me 6-8 hours, thats whats stopping me right it seems boring like times ive had to sand all day with an orbital sander. I am allergic to hard work. idk if i wanna be that patient. probly gonna do it, ive watched a handful of videos to learn. As a complete beginner how long do u think it could take me to polish a compact hatchback? anybodies experience polishing a car for the first time would be helpful. :)
Nice review. I was really wondering about that Bauer Polisher from Harbor Freight. For the price, and a 20% off coupon, and if your an enthusiast or weekend detailer that's only going to use it a couple times per year at the maximum probably, it's really a great deal. And it performs pretty well for a Harbor Freight tool. It's without a doubt the best polisher they are currently selling. I know people will say, "oh no, it's the knock off Porter Cable they sell", but to me, a knock off Rupes or Flex or Griots, whatever you liken it to, is a great deal. And that long throw polisher coupled with the Meg's 105 and 205 did an incredible job! I was literally stunned after that first section of hood you did, how well that 205 compounded off that flat paint and made it super glossy. Compared to just 5 years ago, Harbor Freight has really upped their game when it comes to polishing products. 5 years ago I went their and got the knock off rotary and knock off Porter Cable for less than $100 for both machines. They actually worked pretty darn good for the price I paid and I used them for many years before going for the more expensive machines (Flex 3401, Makita Forced Rotation/DA combo machine, Flex mini, and a few others). Where Harbor Freight really lacked back then was on polishes, compounds, and especially pads. Their pad choice was CRAP! The pads would induce more swirls than take them out, no joke. They were literally the cheapest pad you could buy anywhere I think. Even Family Dollar probably had better pads. But now, I stopped by Harbor Freight yesterday actually, and I was really impressed with their auto care isle and all the different products they had, good selection of microfiber products, pretty good selection of pads, and yes the Meguiars products, although O'Reily's Auto Parts has a lot of the same Meg's products slightly cheaper actually. And sometimes you can get them on sale too. Anyway, that's a little off topic, but hey, you did an incredible job using stuff from Harbor Freight which is great because it shows us normal weekend warrior car enthusiast types that you don't need to spend your entire pay check or more for all these different tools and products to get really decent results, and to a weekend warrior probably OUTSTANDING results because most of the weekend peeps don't have an eye for blemishes like a professional or more experienced detailer would have. They are going to reasonable gloss, shine, and just a generally good looking car. I drove probably 20+ different cars over the past 40 years since I was 16. I have always taken pride in every car i've owned (even if it was a beater car and had six different shades of paint! (Had one of those in high school actually), but I still washed it out, cleaned it before going on a date, and kept it looking the best I could. Every single car expect the last 3 or so were NEVER polished with a machine polisher, NEVER. I would use cleaner wax by hand to tackle a little of the oxidation and they did an OK job keeping the paint fairly clean. I never knew what a clay bar even was up to 6 or 7 years ago. Now I have 3 different kinds in my garage along with a couple "Liquid clay" products I use in conjunction with the regular clay, oh, and about 5 different kinds of the new fangled clay disc's, clay towels, clay sponges, etc. So i'm covered in the clay arena! LOL. All I pretty much did to detail my car back then was wash it (yeah, I just used a regular bucket, no grit guard (oh my, WHAT, "no grit guard", you heathen you!), I used the same wash mitt on my paint as I did on my wheels (WHAAATTTT!, I know, it's crazy to even think about it), and I always washed my vehicles in full sun ("TAKE THAT MAN'S KEY'S AWAY, HE SHOULD'NT BE ALLOWED NEAR A DIRTY VEHICLE!") After washing (and letting the sun and air "dry" my car, yep, no drying aides, or drying towels, but maybe the occasional old bath towel that was no longer suited for use in our home would be used to dry the car. Then a coat of Meguiars cleaner wax in the maroon bottle with the flip top cap rubbed in with a foam applicator (that's all we had back then before the days of micro-everything!), and a long process of wiping off the hazed residue and my car looked pretty darn good actually. I always got comments from friends on how shinny and sharp looking my car was and "how'd you get it looking so good" type comments all the time. I used stuff like Windex on the glass, and Fantastic or Mr. Clean from under the sink on the interior of the vehicle and to be honest, they worked great. Had a pretty decent shop VAC, nothing fancy, for the vacuum work or id' swipe our inside vacuum (My wife's PRIDE AND JOY) for a couple hours and get it done. Then once a year I would use our "Little Green Clean Machine" spotter to do a full carpet and cloth seat extraction. That little green worked wonders on the seats for what that machine cost. Once friends saw how the interior looked, especially how clean the carpets and seats were, they started asking me if I could do theirs too! I did a few friends cars as favors and they were thrilled! Got back some decent "pay back favors" for those cleaning jobs too! My point to this whole entire rant and life story I guess is that i'm glad you let us know that you can get decent tools and products at Harbor Freight and do a great job on your cars at home for the price you'd pay a detailer or less and YOU GET TO KEEP THE PRODUCTS AND THE MACHINE when you're done! Best bonus yet. Then, once a year, or whenever you get the hankering to clean up your rides, you have the stuff to do it. And you could probably help out a few friends and family members by doing their cars too! The current market is SO SATURATED with detailing products now, it's unbelievable. Back in the day, you had a few companies familiar to everyone, Turtle Wax, Mothers, Meguiars, Rain Dance, Eagle 1, Armor All, oh yeah, and Nu Finish (The wax that lasts for 52 car washes! Yeah right!, but I did actually use the stuff occasionally and it was OK for about 5 washes before it was dead on the paint!) where the products at Wal Mart and the local Auto store. You had a small but pretty decent selection of products. Now, good gosh, Wal Mart has an entire isle dedicated to Auto Cleaner Products! A WHOLE ISLE! Both sides! And they only have a small selection of a few name brands up and down the isle. They even carry Chemical Guys stuff now! I was like "WHAT!" when I saw that. And a few others of the Amazon brands and more well known detailer brands. Autozone carries Griot's Garage now, WHAT! Griot's was formerly just a mail order company, and an expensive one at that. Great products for sure, but a little pricey. I do use several of them myself now. But the amount of detailing products on the market now is STAGGERING! MIND BOGGLING! LITERALLY THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS OF PRODUCTS AND BRANDS! It's nuts. Really nuts. How many polishers to you need? How many different ceramic coatings do you need? How many microfibers do you need? Drying towels? Wash mitts? Wash Buckets? Grit Guards? Clay Bars? Iron Removers? Polymer Sealants?, Drying Aide's? Wet Waxes? Hydro washes? Pressure washers? Vacuum's? And the list goes, as Buzz Lightyear put it "To infinity and beyond!" I've gotten pretty disgusted with the entire detailing market as everyone is trying to outdo the other. Every day a new product or fandangled thing is coming up to upstage a competitor company. "Oh, my graphene coating is my with GOLD FLAKES!, ha ha, mine's better than yours!". "Oh, well, we just upped your gold flakes, and put in diamond dust sucker". "Oh, we're gonna crush moon rock and put that into our next new cerama-mooner-coating!. Don't get sucked into the abyss folks. Go to Wal Mart, get a few products like PH balanced soap, a good wash mitt, maybe a grit guard is helpful, a drying towel microfiber. Maybe a wheel brush, but you may already have a brush at home that would work perfectly fine. Interior, you probably have everything you need, right in your current home cleaners! You can do a pretty bang up job using very little "specialty" products and get a car that, to most every other driver out there, will look SPECTACULAR!
@@ScottHD Yeah, I get that a lot. LOL! Watched several of your other videos. Good stuff. I especially liked the one's on the Trim Restorer products! I recently purchased Cerakote based on some recommendations from other TH-camr Detailers. I haven't installed it yet, I still have to do a polish session on my sports car and then i'm going to apply it. I really like a couple of the other products you tested, especially the look of "That Black Stuff". Man, on camera, that stuff looks great. Very dark black and uniform in appearance. I guess the question will be durability. Can it hold up in the long term. If it can, i'm buying that stuff next time for sure. And it looks like a bottle would last a lifetime.
Dude. How do you not gunk up M105 in the jams. How do you get it to not flash with so little product, even on a hot day? How do you do what you do sensei??
Not gonna lie, it helps having a climate controlled shop. The hot panels outside or on a hot vehicle hood make it tricky. M105 goes a long way on a pad!
Great video, I appreciate your effort! Would've loved to have seen the end result having started with a more aggressive (or second pass) compound. Otherwise, looks great!
Very good video. I am going to do a paint correction on my wife's 1991 red Mazda Miata. The issue I have is that the paint is a 1 stage paint with no clear coat so I can't get aggressive with it. I am going to do a clay bar, then use Mequiars M205 and then of course a wax. What wax would you recommend?
Awesome video. I just bought this polisher today and I got all 4 pads so my black car is sorta like your truck but I think I’ll take back the step 2 pad and step 4 pad. I got other meguairs compound at orielly and their polisher too so I might grab that fine cutting compound instead👍 wish me luck I wanna start on it tomorrow
Damn this is really inspiring, my paint looks just as shit as that truck did. It's just an old used nissan that has too many dings and crap, needs a refresh. Gonna have to find a good polisher in Canada though.
Wow you brought that truck back from the dead that paint was hammered. Nice work on a budget
Thank you!
No clay ba r?
He showed it after the wash@@frozensunset
What a difference $200 bucks make. Awesome job,Scott. Obviously, there is a lot of hard work using the polisher and products. But what a result. And, yes, for weekenders, what better way to spend time to achieve this result? Thanks for sharing, and inspiring those of us with little ready cash but plenty of enthusiasm.
Absolutely. Thank you!
I like this buffer a lot. The first one I bought got really hot in 30 minute so I brought it back and got a second. That one works perfectly fine but the 20mm throw makes it vibrate a bunch. I regreased the gearbox and put a 5in backing pad on it. The heat went way down and I can work it for a few hours before I let it cool down. Picked it up on an Inside Track deal for $60. Not the best buffer in the world but for the money it’s a solid deal.
One of the better overview videos. After countless videos ,I've discovered much more than what brand compound or why someone dislikes one over another. I went with a Amazon polisher and if I grow into a part time business then I'll gladly pay for a Rupes. Less vibration the better. Getting close to them golden years myself and my body reminds me daily lol
Absolutely. I'm almost 40 and have had a polisher in my hands since I was 16. If you're going to do this in a professional setting, wear some kind of hearing protection and pay the extra for the smoothest operating tools you can. You hands (and ears) will thank you. When the porter cable 7424 came out and that was the latest and greatest thing, it made your hands tingle so badly from running it all day. The Rupes definitely don't do that, and I'm sure the flex doesn't either.
These are the types of transformations that always give me the greatest sense of accomplishment. I'd rather do this than a one step on a $200k+ car any day of the week. Nicely done Scott. Wish Meguiar's released a new series of compound called their "Dusting Series". M105 would sell like hotcakes
Agreed. I really should have worn a mask. It is very dusty, but works amazing.
Good news... it already exists - M110 and M210 :)
^^^ There's your answer, straight from the source. :)
@@MarkusKleis Scott! You've made it my friend! Agreed Markus, solid products. I like what you've been doing with the new branding recently. I'm sure it's not an easy job modernizing the look of a brand with so much history. Keep up the good work!
A few things I'd love your input on:
1) Has there been any discussion about fully moving to self cleaning bottles someday for your compounds and polishes?
2) Is there any desire at all for companies to be more transparent as to which LSP's contain UV protection and which ones don't? You'd know demographics better than anyone I'm sure, but I think a lot of regular consumers just assume any LSP with the words "wax" or "long lasting protection" have UV protection built into them. From what I understand, hardly any of these super chemical resistant LSP's that are TH-cam famous explicitly say they have UV protection. Feels misleading
3) Should we be concerned that D101, a simple APC, has the same NFPA health hazard rating as Wheel Brightener? This was sort of an eye opener for me as I don't feel too many people use PPE with APC's. I'm trying to educate myself as much as I can on product safety
Thank you Markus!
@@derek723 1.) Not all compounds or polishes will work through a sprayer. In fact, I would go as far as to say th vast majority do not. We have played with it before and the abrasives ate the sprayers alive.
2.) The challenge with claims in this industry is that the claims themselves have very little clear cut regulation. Small players (and heck, even some of the medium-sized ones) make utterly ridiculous claims on a daily basis. Heck, these days it seems more if either outright lies, or at least intentionally misleading than there is truth.
When it comes to something specific like UV protection, that subject is actually far more complex than the general public would imagine. What constitutes UV protection? A sacrificial component that absorbs UV? How much does it need to absorb? How complete does the coverage need to be? What happens if it stops functioning almost immediately? What about the argument that simply having something over the surface slows degradation, does that count? So on and so fourth.
Bottom line, I wouldn't expect more transparency with those claims in this industry any time soon.
3.) Warning ratings can be there for different reasons. This is another area where it is not as cut and dry as one would think. There is a LOT of fibbing out there, that much I can tell you when it comes to claims.
For example, are you going to put disclosures for impurity levels of something in a chemical/RM? We do. I know for a fact many don't.
So sometimes a "3" from one brand could translate to a "1" or "2" at another. There is a surprising amount of interpretation allowed here.
Pro tip... the bigger the company, the bigger the target on their back for lawsuits, and therefor, their appetite for risk will inherently be lower. This is especially true for publicly held companies. I'll let you read between the lines on that, but a simple example would be the use of persistent chemicals. They are in nearly EVERY single coating on the market. Do they even tell or warn you?
Meanwhile, *some* brands have decided to remove them entirely before they are legally outlawed (again, liability risk avoidance....).
Hope that helped! - Markus
On vacation relaxing to a sweet piano groove while watching you work... 😂😊
Wait, I thought the only products that work are AMMO's $77 wax and $35 soap, and $300 plastic wash buckets...
Glad to see someone post something with sense. I am a detailing nerd, but the YT detailing heros promoting hundreds, if not thousands of dollars of car wash and wax on their channels has gotten silly.
it can be so confusing for sure. AGREE. i love detailing and spending money on can be a hassel!
Great is an understatement. That’s a night and day difference! Great work on the detailing and showing the process that got the results.
Saw a video of a guy who fixed the balance and vibration by replacing the grease with white lithium grease. And also replacing the backing plate with an LHR15 5” backing plate.
Thank you so much Scott, I think I speak for everyone when I say we love you and hope one day you return to bless us. If not, that's okay too because you've impressed great knowledge that can't be taken away.
For anyone else watching this/reading this:
If you are like me and used this video as a basis for your first paint correction, harbor freight now sells clay with lube. Additionally harbor freight also sells cheap nitrite gloves which I highly recommend and they now have the spray ceramic that Scott uses in the video.
I myself went with Griots which scott tested as one of the top performers in one of his comparison videos that can be found at a local auto parts store.
To take it a step further and again if you are like me and this is your first time I recommend spreading this out to a two day job especially if it's a truck or large vehicle (i did a dodge challenger) I'm ocd and had to spend a lot of time telling myself I won't get perfection.
Day 1 I recommend wash, dry, clay, dry, tape your plastics and nooks really well. If its your first time you are going to sling some of this stuff, its gonna happen. Then cut and wipe down.
Day 2 alcohol wipe down. Polish, alcohol wipe down then wax ceramic.
This won't help as much for anyone without anywhere to store the vehicle and its just my first time so I'm sure there are other ways to do it but this just my 2 cents. Good luck everyone, much love to all!
I purchased the same compounds and polisher and later replaced the grease in the head and it's much better. I'm satisfied as I detail about six vehicles a year.
Really GREAT JOB on this F-150. It's amazing what a good tool and products can do to bring back a dull paint surface. Of course there was alot of work to make this happen ! I will be doing same thing soon. I will be using a MALCO rejuvenator product. Hopefully it will do as good a job as seen in this video. Thanks, Billy / Albq. N.M. 6 / 18 / 2023
You are awesome no other way around to that transformation was out of this world !
Thank you!
Awesome work! Starting my own detailing business soon and this explained everything👍
👍 I plan on buying the other Bauer polisher for my 2012 F150. I am ceramic coating my truck so i want to get rid of the swirls and scratches. Luckily my paint is in great shape so I don't need to do that much to get it ready in terms of compound and polish
But that truck looks amazing now, almost brand new looking
Thank you! It's definitely a great polisher for the price too
That was awesome! Love seeing beat up vehicles restored. More please..
Great job! 👍
I'll make it happen!
great results and like you said your skill and the meguiars products restored that truck more than the polisher. Also refreshing choice of music in parallel to paint transition.
Loved this video. I just got a project car and Im going to follow your lead. Thanks for the info!
I know that this video is from 2 years ago , but man I just bought my first harbor freight polisher and watching this video makes feel more confident to Polish my first car , thank you for sharing your knowledge.
You're very welcome! Glad I can help!
How did it go?
Amazing transformation! Wow. If M105 and 205 didn’t dust as much, I would use it more. But it does get the job done. 105 is a favorite to shine up headlight lenses
Awesome. It’s almost like successful results are more about the professional experience/education of the worker than it is about the equipment. Who would have thought?!
Question. Noticed you wiped off the 105 before using the 205. Other videos I’ve seen the detailer doesn’t both wiping off the correction compound and goes straight to the finishing compound. Is one way better than the other or is it just user preference?
I've always done it wiping off and then doing the next step.
you correct, a good detailer could get results with stuff from the dollar store but a professional doesn’t use junk cause it takes more time which costs you profits, cheap stuff doesn’t last, it vibrates to hell as Scott shows here and while 105/205 is great, other cheaper alternatives are a major pain in harsh climates. Just cause you can doesn’t mean you should. I could paint correct a car by hand, doesn’t mean its a good idea. If your really poor you can actually get decent results with a backing plate chucked up in a drill but I wouldn’t recommend it. Probably need to be spending that time looking for a job at that point.
Thanks for sharing, I just bought the same supplies.. incidentally to polish my truck which is the same truck with paint in about the same condition
You should be proud. Came out great! No need to chase perfection.
there is another TH-cam video on the polisher where he took it apart and remove the Chinese lube and replaced it with White lithium grease. Then he use a 5" inch pad from a better polisher that was interchangeable. This improved the vibration on the Bauer polisher and make it easier to use.
Yes absolutely made a huge difference.
I agree that the most critical parts indeed besides the substitution of the Bauer Harbor Freights random orbital dual action polisher; would definitely be the foam pads and cutting medium and fine cutting compounds themselves; one could definitely try using and substituting in the Rupes branded name medium and fine five inch cutting compound foam pads for its more aggressive and complete cutting compound action and also using the Rupes branded name medium and fine abrasive cutting compounds also as well;
to see if they can make a visually discernible qualitative and quantitative difference in the final actual vehicle finish quality side by side differences; also one could measure using a gloss meter; if the qualitative and quantitative gloss meter readings were 10 gloss units or higher as that would be a major break thru that would indeed probably be worth paying more in the long run.
Sorry to be offtopic but does anybody know a method to get back into an Instagram account?
I stupidly lost my account password. I appreciate any tricks you can give me
@Cole Julio instablaster :)
@Mathew Wesson I really appreciate your reply. I got to the site through google and I'm waiting for the hacking stuff atm.
Takes a while so I will get back to you later with my results.
I myself was wondering if my blue bauer pad wasnt as coarse as a typical orange cut pad, u have answered my question though! Great video. Sometimes detailing a whole car and being only 5'5 is a struggle itself! Thanks for ur informative video!
You're very welcome! Lots of steps and ladders for sure!
You are a hardcore-fighter. This bauer polisher is bad-ass with its handling. And you did the hole car! Awesome hardcore-fighter i think. Two-steps. Brutal.
It should be interesting. But its Over...
Quarter the hood.
- one segment meguiars cut with bauer.
- one with meguiars cut and Flex and its best pad.
- one bauer and meguiars finish
- Last one meguiars finish and Flex and its best pad.
Best regeards from Germany.
Thank you.
Great idea!
Hey Scott, great video. Harbor Fright now has a "Professional Rechargeable Color Match Light" by Braun for $35. Might be worth a try to compare to the scan grip.
Great idea!
Nice vid that shows that the result is not always up to expensive equipment but rather to good skills.
Very true!
You inspired me to wake up & go out spend $200 @ Harbor Freight tomorrow! Black F-150 do you think if I fill in the deep scratches with color match before starting your process would help more?
Great video. I am going to be working on our cars this weekend with basically what you have. I'm a little nervous with not having ever used a polisher and there are so many options. I'll start with my daily as it has the roughest paint and has been painted on a few times. I've just washed them and detailed the insides. Always left the outside to someone else.
Also want to try to polish out the scratches where my 2 year old gaughter used a bolt to draw on my car and a rock on my wife's van.
Just take your time. It's easy to want to rush it.
Wow on that first pad on the hood. I've been wanting to see this 👍🏼. Great job
Nice job considering how it started to Wear finished out. Very well done
I learned something from this. Thank you for the time and effort into it man .
Scott great video I use synthetic clay bar after washing the car is faster and efficient and it does remove the dirt from the paint. Again thank you for the info
That truck looks amazing! WOW! Great job!
Thank you!
Enjoyed the video. Not bad for $200. The end result was really awesome. For a weekend warrior I think it would be worth it. I started with the Griots G6 and moved up to the G8 and G9, which I really enjoy. I hope to own a Rupes one day.
You'll love the Rupes. We have several of them in our shop and only had one give up in 8 years...which I planning on rebuilding.
I love the D300 series when it comes to paint correction, never used anything else for 10yrs now hahaaa
Wow that truck looks amazing!! Makes you love it more. Good job!! How often would you have to do this?
WOW! Really nice job. Incredible transformation.
Very nice! I have my own F-150 to polish. Picked up some nice tips here
I saw some stuff about the backing plate that it's unbalanced and that's what makes it wobble and vibrate I would try replacing the backing plate and see how it does would be a good video idea
Great results you got from consumer grade products!
Thanks for demonstrating your technique.
Out of pure curiosity, what is the air gun on your hose? It looked like there was something inside the nozzle, in the first shot where you were showing off the two buffers...
How long do you typically spend on a two step correction using your go to tools?
Try to have less than 20 man hours in a two step correction and coating. Sometimes less, sometimes slightly more depending on the starting condition and the vehicle size.
20 hours??? Holy crap no wonder I never do this ;)
How would you get in the channels on the roof? Great results btw!
Wow you knocked it out of the park looks killer.can you get some orange peel out with just polishing with rupes heavy cut and blue pad thanks for any advice
Many years ago, I bought some HFT tools from the big store in Camarillo, CA. Those were the orange colored tools and were named Chicago Electric or something like that. They were junk, sometimes now working right straight from the box, but they were cheap. Their hand tools were cheap. That was back in the 1990's. Fast forward to today and they've cleaned up their act, but prices have gone up a lot.
I bought one of the Chicago Electric maroon colored DA's maybe 7 or so years ago. I'm not a professional detailer, so I figured it would do the job for me. 8mm, shorter unit with a locking switch on the side. It does vibrate and my hands are tingling after a long run. The backing plate isn't balanced either. It uses 6" pads, which I think are on the large side for such a small DA. IT does the job, but if I were a pro, I'd only use it as a back up - the vibrations would do some physical damage.
A few years ago, I bought a 20mm DA similar to the one you bought at HFT. It's a cheap made in China tool with even more vibration and not enough power to keep the pad spinning - I'm going to drop the backing plate down to a 5 inch to see if it helps. The tool was cheap - $59 cheap or something like that.
If i have to choose which tool to grab, I'm almost always grab the Chicago Electric HFT. I thought the long throw would be better, but it's heavier and it's harder to use.
Great job on the truck. It looks nice and shiny now! I have a car in similar condition that I need to do. In a few weeks, when I'm done with my current project.
Amazingly great job ~! But what to do about water spots on the windows??
Scott, for your viewers, I always do a chemical decon when I do a correction before I clay. Also, I have a Porter-Cable DA which is about the same price of the Bauer. Hopefully it would last longer the Bauer? I enjoyed your piano music. Nice job on the correction!
Thanks! Trying to find the sweet spot for the music as I grow this channel! The porter cable 7424 is a good polisher - I had one for several years before the Rupes and Flex came to the US around 2012. It will still do a great job at removing imperfections.
What do you use for it? A stripping soap? Or what?
@@every_thing_wood1251 I first wash with a combo of Super Clean, Purple Power Vehicle & Boat wash & Dawn Dish soap. That combo is my striping soap mix, For decon., I use an Iron remover and clay mitt.
Great video(except the music 😂). Great work. I had purchased pretty much everything you did from Harbor Freight and just came across this video. Glad I did before I went to work.
I worked at a dealership for 5 years in the detail department..but was not the cut&buff guy....I'm buying a black super duty crew cab that needs this process... I'm gonna follow this video... With me luck
How about something on the balance adjustment for the Bauer to smooth it out?
Big improvement on this F150. I want to mount one.
I currently own two Zota 21mm polishers, they are quite similar from what I see in the video.
I also put 5-inch backrests on mine. The next thing I'll do is put a better quality grease on them.
I loved the video.
Greetings from Chile.
Awesome job by the way with the tools you had to work with. Meguiars never lets you down. I would have finished the job just the way you did, those ceramic spray waxes are great.
Thanks 👍 That they are... HUGE time saver.
Great video! I see now that it’s a month old, but you mentioned the microfiber towels being a bit “spendy.” I’d like to know your thoughts on cheap v/a expensive microfiber towels.
Sure. I buy a lot of my MF towels at Costco where they are $15 for 36 of them. Autofiber is another place I get the nicer ones - some of which are still cheaper than HF.
Scott H I use a lot of Costco towel too, and honestly, I suspect they would not scratch any paint. I still have some pricey ones, but I tend to wonder if we are all being ripped off. 😂
Can you explain what speeds you use throughout the buffing process?
Great job fantastic results! 😎👊🏻
Wow that polisher was getting really hot. I use my Milwaukee drill which also gets hot after some time but never to the point where it's uncomfortable to hold.
...and this is in my A/C shop that is 72 deg F. Outside or in a much warmer temp, it would be even hotter, but it wasn't unbearable.
I just bought a Rupes LHR21. Can I switch to a 5inch backing plate without changing the vibration and does it have to be a Rupes backing plate or can it be whatever backing plate such as a Torq?
Amazing job!
I thought I was going to find out about a chinese knock-off compound and/or wax that would blow me away.....
Take care and thankyou for the interesting videos.
I was willing to try them if they sold them, however I think they made a good decision using Meguiars.
dumb question, but how do you know which cutting pads to choose? For instance, how come you chose the blue coarse pad over the orange pad or other options?
It really depends on the severity of the defects, but if it is in the condition of this truck, I would generally use something very agressive to make the finishing steps easier.
@@ScottHD oh okay, thanks for clarifying.
Also just curious if the defects are not that severe at all would using an aggressive approach such as this still be acceptable and get the job done or does it pose a risk compared to using less aggressive pads?
lastly, how many pads do you recommend if you don't have a compressor to blow them out? I was thinking 4 for each step
Wow! I'm a mobile detailer in Tyler, TX as well. Great video
What brought you to use and 105205 in the pads choice was it hard or soft paint
I was trying to only use what I could get at harbor freight. 105/205 are available there.
Looks fantastic ive recently bought the Bauer polisher and will use it on a friend's 7 series with oxidized paint but I'm going back to harbor freight for the pads I only want to use my chemical guys pads on my car, great job thanks for info.
Amazing video but First thing im doing only cause of personal preference is grabbing a rotary buffer to remove that level of neglect
You aren't wrong. It definitely needed a quicker first cut!
quick question i got a car that the hood is oxidized and we compound and polished it we waited like a couple and then we washed and the oxidized paint kinda came back what can do to make it leave for good
It may be damaged clear coat..a bit worse than oxidized paint especially if it's coming back
A couple notes: Harbor Freight always has 20% off coupons that will work on the Meguiars Products, but not on the polisher. They do offer coupons on this polisher that makes it $89.99 instead of $109.99, making this even cheaper yet!
Edit October 2021>> coupons are gone of course, but the regular price right now appears to be $89.99.
Where were you able to find a coupon for the polisher? I have not been able to.
@@nicksolimini9393 I would watch for them in the black friday ads coming soon. The last one I saw expired in June of this year.
@@ScottHD Hopefully they put one out, I am ready to buy! Thanks again for the great content.
go.harborfreight.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/LPO-Test.png?cid=paid_facebook%7CWeekend+-+15+Off+-+Dynamic+-+Nov+2020%7CRemarketing+-+L90+-+Engaged+with+Post+or+Ad%7C175645_175673_176001%2F+-+Copy&.com&Weekend+-+15+Off+-+Dynamic+-+Nov+2020%3DD175645_175673_176001%2F+-+Copy&fbclid=IwAR2om9RI7TdICwPNmnVdxvy5AfuyngcgwQEMT9tXyr8wjDVxMC_hQe1L9J8 there's a 15% off coupon - no exclusions!
@@ScottHD I saw that, I got an email with it. I am hoping my local store gets it back in stock before it expires. Thank you for the follow up!
In front of the polisher from harbor freight there’s a little hole above the housing The Alan wrench that comes with insert it turn it clockwise or counter clockwise the balance it that move the block that’s in the polisher and charge the grease you’ll will see the difference
it was a super great job man! you are awesome. keep doing videos please.
Absolutely! Thank you!
Your music choice is top notch
So on average, how long do you polish with a machine and how much pressure are you applying?
Moderate pressure for the first step, light pressure for the second. The worse condition the paint, the longer you need to spend on each panel. "average" maybe 10 minutes per panel?
@@ScottHD ok I'll experiment with it thanks
How often did you re-apply compound to the pad? I bought the same set up & used it on my truck last week. Same model f150. I re-applied 4 nickel sized drops each time I moved on to another 2 foot section. After about 20 minutes use, both blue pads started putting out a lot of wet compound & then tore apart from the backing. Both happened at speed 4. Wound up continuing with green pads for compound & yellow for polish, both at speeds 2-3, and didn’t have anymore come apart.
how long did this project take you to do! so good!
Great Scott. 80% skill and rest tools and products
This is ten percent luck
Twenty percent skill
Fifteen percent concentrated power of will
Five percent pleasure
Fifty percent pain
Thanks 👍
Lots of pain. Hahaha
Thank you for the video. I recently bought a bright red 2006 motorcycle with only 1200 miles, and the paint on the tank and front fend look good, but there are lots of swirls in the paint. The rear fender looks cloudy and when it is wet, it shiny, and then when it dries it is dull again with a milky tint to it. I plan on doing this right after the holidays and making it look brand new again. Hopefully, It looks close to what it was back when it was on the showroom floor in 2006. Correct me if I am wrong, but that polisher can be used on chrome parts and restoring plastics too, right?
wow that is ridiculous!!! great job man! go out for a cruise now!!! incredible!
Can I use the yellow pad for compound and polish? Or should I also get the blue pad to just compound and yellow for polish like shown in the video? Never done this before haha
I wish I was this skilled!
I have the step down version of this, and it's not bad. Heat wise it wasn't terrible. I'm use to high vibration. So I can't really speak on that. But if you try to use the included handle, it vibrates like a freight train coming down the tracks. I'll have to try and use the pad combo you used. I used chemical guys new c4 and P4 with the orange and white pad. Got a lot of scratches out. But not all. And I know the compounds work. So maybe I was just using too fine of a pad.
My local HFs do have Meguiars M21 sealant. They also swapped out 105/205 for 110/210 and don't carry the green pads at all. Weird how the stuff varies by store. Oh, and those white "Polishing Towels" they sell in a two pack have the honor of being the *worst* towel I have ever used. I think you could soak them in a bucket of water and pull them out bone dry. They have literally zero polyamide. They do feel nice and soft though. 😁👍
Pure awesomeness. Keep em coming.
Thanks! Will do!
Wow! What a difference!
Truck look great , what speed you had polisher?
Thanks for the informative video. I'm a weekend warrior and used that machine too, but I opted for the HF house brand pads. I used the orange pad with Meg Ultimate compound for light swirls and but didn't get the greatest correction results. Because so many good reviews on the Megs compound, i'm thinking my issue was with the pads??
I think that is most likely the issue... I have used several of them now and it seems like they haven't been super consistent with their quality of the pads. May give RUPES, IGL, Lake Country, etc pads a try.
@@ScottHD Thanks so much for the advise!!
money is worth it for only a couple hundred. i am considering polishing my car because its almost a decade old and lots of sun damage. but am thinking it could take me 6-8 hours, thats whats stopping me right it seems boring like times ive had to sand all day with an orbital sander. I am allergic to hard work. idk if i wanna be that patient. probly gonna do it, ive watched a handful of videos to learn.
As a complete beginner how long do u think it could take me to polish a compact hatchback?
anybodies experience polishing a car for the first time would be helpful. :)
Nice review. I was really wondering about that Bauer Polisher from Harbor Freight. For the price, and a 20% off coupon, and if your an enthusiast or weekend detailer that's only going to use it a couple times per year at the maximum probably, it's really a great deal. And it performs pretty well for a Harbor Freight tool. It's without a doubt the best polisher they are currently selling. I know people will say, "oh no, it's the knock off Porter Cable they sell", but to me, a knock off Rupes or Flex or Griots, whatever you liken it to, is a great deal. And that long throw polisher coupled with the Meg's 105 and 205 did an incredible job! I was literally stunned after that first section of hood you did, how well that 205 compounded off that flat paint and made it super glossy. Compared to just 5 years ago, Harbor Freight has really upped their game when it comes to polishing products. 5 years ago I went their and got the knock off rotary and knock off Porter Cable for less than $100 for both machines. They actually worked pretty darn good for the price I paid and I used them for many years before going for the more expensive machines (Flex 3401, Makita Forced Rotation/DA combo machine, Flex mini, and a few others). Where Harbor Freight really lacked back then was on polishes, compounds, and especially pads. Their pad choice was CRAP! The pads would induce more swirls than take them out, no joke. They were literally the cheapest pad you could buy anywhere I think. Even Family Dollar probably had better pads. But now, I stopped by Harbor Freight yesterday actually, and I was really impressed with their auto care isle and all the different products they had, good selection of microfiber products, pretty good selection of pads, and yes the Meguiars products, although O'Reily's Auto Parts has a lot of the same Meg's products slightly cheaper actually. And sometimes you can get them on sale too. Anyway, that's a little off topic, but hey, you did an incredible job using stuff from Harbor Freight which is great because it shows us normal weekend warrior car enthusiast types that you don't need to spend your entire pay check or more for all these different tools and products to get really decent results, and to a weekend warrior probably OUTSTANDING results because most of the weekend peeps don't have an eye for blemishes like a professional or more experienced detailer would have. They are going to reasonable gloss, shine, and just a generally good looking car. I drove probably 20+ different cars over the past 40 years since I was 16. I have always taken pride in every car i've owned (even if it was a beater car and had six different shades of paint! (Had one of those in high school actually), but I still washed it out, cleaned it before going on a date, and kept it looking the best I could. Every single car expect the last 3 or so were NEVER polished with a machine polisher, NEVER. I would use cleaner wax by hand to tackle a little of the oxidation and they did an OK job keeping the paint fairly clean. I never knew what a clay bar even was up to 6 or 7 years ago. Now I have 3 different kinds in my garage along with a couple "Liquid clay" products I use in conjunction with the regular clay, oh, and about 5 different kinds of the new fangled clay disc's, clay towels, clay sponges, etc. So i'm covered in the clay arena! LOL. All I pretty much did to detail my car back then was wash it (yeah, I just used a regular bucket, no grit guard (oh my, WHAT, "no grit guard", you heathen you!), I used the same wash mitt on my paint as I did on my wheels (WHAAATTTT!, I know, it's crazy to even think about it), and I always washed my vehicles in full sun ("TAKE THAT MAN'S KEY'S AWAY, HE SHOULD'NT BE ALLOWED NEAR A DIRTY VEHICLE!") After washing (and letting the sun and air "dry" my car, yep, no drying aides, or drying towels, but maybe the occasional old bath towel that was no longer suited for use in our home would be used to dry the car. Then a coat of Meguiars cleaner wax in the maroon bottle with the flip top cap rubbed in with a foam applicator (that's all we had back then before the days of micro-everything!), and a long process of wiping off the hazed residue and my car looked pretty darn good actually. I always got comments from friends on how shinny and sharp looking my car was and "how'd you get it looking so good" type comments all the time. I used stuff like Windex on the glass, and Fantastic or Mr. Clean from under the sink on the interior of the vehicle and to be honest, they worked great. Had a pretty decent shop VAC, nothing fancy, for the vacuum work or id' swipe our inside vacuum (My wife's PRIDE AND JOY) for a couple hours and get it done. Then once a year I would use our "Little Green Clean Machine" spotter to do a full carpet and cloth seat extraction. That little green worked wonders on the seats for what that machine cost. Once friends saw how the interior looked, especially how clean the carpets and seats were, they started asking me if I could do theirs too! I did a few friends cars as favors and they were thrilled! Got back some decent "pay back favors" for those cleaning jobs too! My point to this whole entire rant and life story I guess is that i'm glad you let us know that you can get decent tools and products at Harbor Freight and do a great job on your cars at home for the price you'd pay a detailer or less and YOU GET TO KEEP THE PRODUCTS AND THE MACHINE when you're done! Best bonus yet. Then, once a year, or whenever you get the hankering to clean up your rides, you have the stuff to do it. And you could probably help out a few friends and family members by doing their cars too! The current market is SO SATURATED with detailing products now, it's unbelievable. Back in the day, you had a few companies familiar to everyone, Turtle Wax, Mothers, Meguiars, Rain Dance, Eagle 1, Armor All, oh yeah, and Nu Finish (The wax that lasts for 52 car washes! Yeah right!, but I did actually use the stuff occasionally and it was OK for about 5 washes before it was dead on the paint!) where the products at Wal Mart and the local Auto store. You had a small but pretty decent selection of products. Now, good gosh, Wal Mart has an entire isle dedicated to Auto Cleaner Products! A WHOLE ISLE! Both sides! And they only have a small selection of a few name brands up and down the isle. They even carry Chemical Guys stuff now! I was like "WHAT!" when I saw that. And a few others of the Amazon brands and more well known detailer brands. Autozone carries Griot's Garage now, WHAT! Griot's was formerly just a mail order company, and an expensive one at that. Great products for sure, but a little pricey. I do use several of them myself now. But the amount of detailing products on the market now is STAGGERING! MIND BOGGLING! LITERALLY THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS OF PRODUCTS AND BRANDS! It's nuts. Really nuts. How many polishers to you need? How many different ceramic coatings do you need? How many microfibers do you need? Drying towels? Wash mitts? Wash Buckets? Grit Guards? Clay Bars? Iron Removers? Polymer Sealants?, Drying Aide's? Wet Waxes? Hydro washes? Pressure washers? Vacuum's? And the list goes, as Buzz Lightyear put it "To infinity and beyond!" I've gotten pretty disgusted with the entire detailing market as everyone is trying to outdo the other. Every day a new product or fandangled thing is coming up to upstage a competitor company. "Oh, my graphene coating is my with GOLD FLAKES!, ha ha, mine's better than yours!". "Oh, well, we just upped your gold flakes, and put in diamond dust sucker". "Oh, we're gonna crush moon rock and put that into our next new cerama-mooner-coating!. Don't get sucked into the abyss folks. Go to Wal Mart, get a few products like PH balanced soap, a good wash mitt, maybe a grit guard is helpful, a drying towel microfiber. Maybe a wheel brush, but you may already have a brush at home that would work perfectly fine. Interior, you probably have everything you need, right in your current home cleaners! You can do a pretty bang up job using very little "specialty" products and get a car that, to most every other driver out there, will look SPECTACULAR!
You win for best/longest comment. Haha. Great response!
@@ScottHD Yeah, I get that a lot. LOL! Watched several of your other videos. Good stuff. I especially liked the one's on the Trim Restorer products! I recently purchased Cerakote based on some recommendations from other TH-camr Detailers. I haven't installed it yet, I still have to do a polish session on my sports car and then i'm going to apply it. I really like a couple of the other products you tested, especially the look of "That Black Stuff". Man, on camera, that stuff looks great. Very dark black and uniform in appearance. I guess the question will be durability. Can it hold up in the long term. If it can, i'm buying that stuff next time for sure. And it looks like a bottle would last a lifetime.
Very worth it, awesome looking truck now!!!!!
I think so too!
Dude. How do you not gunk up M105 in the jams. How do you get it to not flash with so little product, even on a hot day? How do you do what you do sensei??
Not gonna lie, it helps having a climate controlled shop. The hot panels outside or on a hot vehicle hood make it tricky. M105 goes a long way on a pad!
Came out great from what it was. Great job 👍
Great video, I appreciate your effort! Would've loved to have seen the end result having started with a more aggressive (or second pass) compound.
Otherwise, looks great!
Agreed - if HF made a microfiber cutting pad, I would definitely have used it.
Very good video. I am going to do a paint correction on my wife's 1991 red Mazda Miata. The issue I have is that the paint is a 1 stage paint with no clear coat so I can't get aggressive with it. I am going to do a clay bar, then use Mequiars M205 and then of course a wax. What wax would you recommend?
Great reaults! Is Meguiars 105/205 considered "professional" grade products or just for weekend warriors?
Can definitely be considered professional or weekend warrior products. We use M105 a lot in our shop. It is very dusty, but works well.
@@ScottHD thanks for reply. I've also heard about m100 and m110. One of them being better than m105 with less of a mess. Id have to try them myself
How did you apply the ceramic wax? Did you wipe the truck with alcohol or something after polishing but before waxing? I'm a noob
Can you also use this polisher to apply and remove wax? If so, What are the correct pads for application and removal of wax?
Great job, what speed did you use on the polisher?
Nicely done. Thanks!
WOW NICE JOB BUD. YOU ARE THE MAN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Awesome video. I just bought this polisher today and I got all 4 pads so my black car is sorta like your truck but I think I’ll take back the step 2 pad and step 4 pad. I got other meguairs compound at orielly and their polisher too so I might grab that fine cutting compound instead👍 wish me luck I wanna start on it tomorrow
How did it go?
Damn this is really inspiring, my paint looks just as shit as that truck did. It's just an old used nissan that has too many dings and crap, needs a refresh. Gonna have to find a good polisher in Canada though.
For the record, all the supplies can be had from Amazon Canada for $300 CAD
That's not too bad. Does Canada have Harbor Freight or an equivalent type of store?
@@ScottHD princess auto is pretty close, but I'm not even sure they sell polishers
You got amazing results
Wow. What a transformation. What speed did you use on the cutting phase of the correction?