Buffing a new car

FirstWorldProblems

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Can any of the dealer folks on here explain why this is done? The wife is buying new es350 and the sales lady sent me a pic...and there's a dude with a buffer to the car. I told her that if there are any buffer swirls that the deal is off; she said there won't be. We'll see how it looks in the sunlight

Can anyone tell if this is a hi-speed or low-speed buffer?

I can't think of any reason to take a buffer, especially a high speed one, to brand new paint.

n20gt-albums-all-picture3186-lexus.jpg
 

1quick

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Looks like a makita highspeed, you can turn them down and run it at a pretty low speed as well but for as light of a job as a brand new car would be I'd have a yellow pad and the speed as high as it goes with a light compound, if they know how to use that thing there won't be a single buffer mark
 

FirstWorldProblems

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I'd have a yellow pad and the speed as high as it goes with a light compound, if they know how to use that thing there won't be a single buffer mark

Thank you for the input...just out of curiosity what would need to be done on new paint that would require a high speed buffer? I'd be nervous as hell with the speed set on high, on brand new paint
 

1quick

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Thank you for the input...just out of curiosity what would need to be done on new paint that would require a high speed buffer? I'd be nervous as hell with the speed set on high, on brand new paint

I buff all my new cars out they normally look like crap from sitting on the lot, scuffs and just environmental junk stuck to the paint from sitting with no wax on it, it looks like a nice car I'm sure the dealer has someone that knows how to buff a new car I wouldn't worry too much, I would still look it over very well
 

1quick

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Thank you for the input...just out of curiosity what would need to be done on new paint that would require a high speed buffer? I'd be nervous as hell with the speed set on high, on brand new paint

I will add that when cars are painted they get wet sanded and buffed after, it makes them look more smooth and adds the look of depth to the paint, I recently went to look at some cars at a Chevy dealer and every new car needed wet sanded and buffed on the lot including the zo6's they had in the show room, they all had terrible orange peal, that can be fixed if there is enough clear coat on the car
 

Grabber

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Also - For the sake of understanding the difference between a high speed and low speed.

Rotary polishers are actually very much slower than a DA, which are considering to be high speed.

The latest/greatest Makita rotary has a max RPM of 3,000, whereas the Rupes LHR15 starts it's low speed @ 2500RPM and max RPM at 5300.

DA's and Orbitals oscillate and move in a circular motion.

Rotary's are direct drive as the auger connects directly to the electric motor for a more powerful stroke at slower speeds.

just thought I'd throw this out there.
 

LikeABauce302

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The lady said they buff all their new cars, especially black. Said it needs to be buffed due to the paper and glue/sticker stuff they come wrapped in

I would think there are better ways to remove that stuff. I won't buff a car until the paint is 100% clean. The last thing I want to do is pick up contaminants on the buffer pad and drive it into the paint.

Whenever I buy a car from a dealer, I tell them right away not to wash the car. I took my Boss 302 home filthy as hell when I bought it because I didn't want any swirls put into the paint while the porter rushed to "detail" the car while I was signing the paperwork.
 

FirstWorldProblems

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Bumping this up. We ended up buying the car because the holograms were barely noticeable when we picked it up. I think they must have used some filler wax because after a couple washes they were TERRIBLE. I ordered a blackfire swirl remover kit that worked perfectly

Pics. It's a little cloudy right now so these images aren't perfect comparisons, but you can't see a single hologram on the entire car now. I'm gonna send these to the dealer and tell them they really need to change their practices







After:



 

LikeABauce302

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Bumping this up. We ended up buying the car because the holograms were barely noticeable when we picked it up. I think they must have used some filler wax because after a couple washes they were TERRIBLE. I ordered a blackfire swirl remover kit that worked perfectly

Pics. It's a little cloudy right now so these images aren't perfect comparisons, but you can't see a single hologram on the entire car now. I'm gonna send these to the dealer and tell them they really need to change their practices







After:




The dealer should throw in a few free oil changes for your trouble. That would have cost $300 for a professional detailer to do.

Nice looking car though! Looks great now.
 

Gav'sPurpleZ

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Nice job on the correction.

Any new or used car I buy, I'm telling the dealer not to touch it AT ALL.
I bought my truck in IN and asked the salesman not to have it washed before i got there.
Well, the washed it... thankfully I did not see any swirls...and being a lighter color, i was able to use a lighter polish before coating the paint.
 

FirstWorldProblems

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The dealer should throw in a few free oil changes for your trouble. That would have cost $300 for a professional detailer to do.

Nice looking car though! Looks great now.

I'm not going to ask for anything but I will word my email rather direct/harsh in regards to their porters. The extent of my buffing knowledge is basically applying polish with a porter cable at low speed, yet I was able to do a much better job than they were with some off-the-shelf products and a $120 buffer.

The main reason I'm not asking for anything is because we bought it at a dealer in IL and the first 3 oil changes are already free. I don't want to have to drive out there more than that. It wouldn't surprise me if they offer something as compensation for the paint issues, they are stand-up people and they gave us a great price, they just don't know shit about paint.

One thing this did teach me is the benefit of buying local. This dealer beat lexus of Merrillville on price by a sizeable number, and because I know someone at this dealer in IL, I didn't take their offer back to Merrillville to give them a chance to match it. If this was an issue I couldn't correct myself I'd have wasted a lot of time driving out there and getting it fixed.
 
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