# B&Q MAC Polisher, not removing swirls



## gardian (Apr 4, 2008)

Hi

I have a MAC polisher from B&Q, a menz light cut pad and a elite car care finishing pad, and Sonus SFX1,2 and 3, tried this out on my cars at the weekend. I styarted with SFX2 on a finishing pad, from elite car care, and didnt notic any improvements, moved to a menz light polish pad (Orange) and sfx 2. still no real improvement, so i moved to sfx 1 and the menz pad, slight improvement to the very fine swirls, but still can see swirls.

Is it that this polisher does not do correction, or my pad / combo is wrong? or possibly technique? im not really sure if i was meant to be applying pressure or how fast to go...

any help or comments welcomed


Cheers

Ian


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## joe_0_1 (Apr 7, 2007)

What speed does the polisher do? Any links?


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## gardian (Apr 4, 2008)

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/n...efview=search&ts=1223993790037&isSearch=false

Link for the polisher, should have done that in the first post......


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## Step_7 (Apr 25, 2008)

What makes of car?


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## withoutabix (May 28, 2008)

how long were you working the polish for?? possibly you arent actually breaking the polish down enough meaning its not really doing a great deal

what car we talking about also?? as paint hardness varies from manufacturer to manufacturer?

neil


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## drive 'n' shine (Apr 22, 2006)

As its a sander it won't have the power or throw to do any correction


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## Step_7 (Apr 25, 2008)

Actually there's a big thread on the silverline sanders where quite a few people have achieved great results with a similar machine. I have one of these and if I ever get a dry day where I'm not at work I'll be trying it out on a few of my own cars.

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=83874


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## gardian (Apr 4, 2008)

I tried it on my Seat and our lass' Renault, I was trying to move the pad slowly, took me a good while to do half the bonet of the renault (Megane)


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## gardian (Apr 4, 2008)

Am i meant to be applying much pressure? i was basically letting the weight of the machine dictate the pressure


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## karl_liverpool (Sep 25, 2008)

on a machine like this you need to apply pressure. but not too much


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## Christian6984 (Dec 20, 2007)

If we were talking of using the Meguiars G220 for pressure wise then usually some but not very much. but the B&Q machine is not a commonly used machine for the task of correction


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## notsosmall (Sep 13, 2008)

I have one of these Mac's and it works great for me, i used it only yesterday on a few scratches and worked really well, i use polishing pad's with Meguiars stage 1 paint cleaner and stage 2 polish.

I apply the product on speed 1 not applying any pressure just the machine weight till the area is covered then up it to speed 3 with a bit of pressure and give it a good work in passing the area a good 4-5 times, wipe off inspect and repeat if needed (i only had to repeat once on a really bad bit)

Heres a link to what my car is like after using one of these, no bad before pics though but it was swirls and holograms galore before i used the machine, i actually looked at getting it done by a pro but decided to try it my self first.

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=86343


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## MidlandsCarCare (Feb 18, 2006)

Why are you using a finishing pad? Do you have a polishing pad you can try?


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## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

I wouldn't dismiss the machine off hand on not being able to carry out correction - correction being the physical process of abrading away paint by mechanical action of abrasives so anything that can effectively move the abrasives over the paint to cut into the paint will correct - its the _speed_ of correction which typically varies a lot more. Certainly not because it is a sander, as the venerable Porter Cable 7335 (and 7424) was designed as a sander.

How are you working your polishes? You want to be keeping the work area nice and small with this machine - no more than 1' square. And work the polishes for a good 3 - 5 minutes over the section until the residue near vanishes. Pressure - small amount, not enough that the machine bogs down as this will be your limiting factor.

Check you work area and times first as these are the common culprits for poor correction.


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## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

Christian6984 said:


> If we were talking of using the Meguiars G220 for pressure wise then usually some but not very much. but the machine is not ideal for the job of correction unfortunately


The G220 isn't ideal? I'd say the opposite myself, its adapt at correction. Small working areas required and it is slower than a rotary on harder finishes but its perfectly capable of correction of even the hardest paints.


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## Christian6984 (Dec 20, 2007)

Dave KG said:


> The G220 isn't ideal? I'd say the opposite myself, its adapt at correction. Small working areas required and it is slower than a rotary on harder finishes but its perfectly capable of correction of even the hardest paints.


sorry must go re-read stuff i right (just going to edit it so it makes sense), i mean the B&Q sander is not one of the favorite choices, the PC and G220 are brilliant machines, how did i ever cope with out them.


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## VIPER (May 30, 2007)

drive 'n' shine said:


> As its a sander it won't have the power or throw to do any correction


With all due respect, that's not correct!

(Hey, just realised that ^^ rhymes! I'm a poet, and I DO know it!!)

Post # 259:-
http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=83874&page=26

I don't think anyone (and certainly not me) has ever claimed these type of machines can compete with a specialised 'detailing' machine (even though as Dave rightly says some did originate as sanders). It's just a case of having realistic expectations and allowing for a bit more time to do the job. With the correct technique and pad/polish combos they can correct light to medium swirling on most paints. If you've got super hard paint and/or heavy swirling & RDSs, then granted they will be found wanting and a more powerful unit will be required. As with most things it's 'horses for courses'


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## gardian (Apr 4, 2008)

I was doing half the bonnet as one go, using an X of polish across the pad, i think i will have to do less in one go. the Polish was clear when i buffed it off.

Thanks for the replies guys


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## -Kev- (Oct 30, 2007)

was it variable speed, like a g220?


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## Step_7 (Apr 25, 2008)

fiestadetailer said:


> was it variable speed, like a g220?


Yes they are variable speed.


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## robrobc (Sep 8, 2008)

gardian said:


> I was doing half the bonnet as one go, using an X of polish across the pad, i think i will have to do less in one go. the Polish was clear when i buffed it off.
> 
> Thanks for the replies guys


I think that you are taking on too much area at any one time. I work an area of about 15 ins square and get cracking results.


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## reefer110 (Sep 29, 2008)

Just wanted to add that I had a go with one of these last night on my GF's Celica. Only tried a smallish area but it had a variety of markings on it from swirls to nasty RDS. Using an Elite Light cut & Finishing pads with Megs 80 & 83 it completely removed the swirls and is making inroads on the RDS although I didn't spend too long on these areas.

I gather the Celica paint is easier to work on compared to others though.


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