# Had a go with the Clarke DA....



## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

Well I had my first proper go at polishing with a DA yesterday/today.

An early Chrimbo present to myself was a trip to Machine Mart for the Clarke DA and speedy delivery of the Menzerna sample kit from Elite Car Care and some pads from Serious Performance (thanks chaps!) and I was set to go.










The paint work on the Accord is in very good nick for a 15 year old car (all those years polishing by hand have obviously paid off) so I was little disappointed with my quick practise on the boot as it didn't make much difference. Certainly gives a better/deeper shine than by hand and with a little experimenting should look very good.

Paint before…










After a quick few passes (still some scratches showing)










A not too great 50/50…










But what I really wanted to do was tackle the bonnet on the Prelude which had been very neglected by it's previous owners and despite my half-arsed efforts, I couldn't get looking at all nice by hand.










So some 50/50 shots. There are still some deep scratches but the swirls have gone, as has the white mottled effect that was sitting on the paint.



















Didn't quite work it enough near the tape here as there is still some of the white cloudy marking on the finished side.























































Can see some of the deeper scratches still here.










The Prelude's paint was in a very poor state but the polishing has put right most of it and I am very pleased with the results. I didn't expect a 99% recovery, only a paint shop will sort that, but it worked well enough even for the missus to notice!

The Clarke DA was easy to use, although very slow with the red finishing pad. Taking off the ring under backing plate (saw this mentioned in another thread) makes one hell of a difference and then it was working at a fine pace.

C&C always welcome.


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## joe_0_1 (Apr 7, 2007)

Nice work, how much was it?


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

£51 for the Clarke polisher.


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

looks very good - some good 50/50's there :thumb:


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

Shiny said:


> £51 for the Clarke polisher.


That's a good price. Can you change the backing pad to use 4" spot pads? Is it multi-speed?


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

It's 6 speed, but the backing plate is held on by screws so it can't be changed. I suppose you could always get a spare plate and cut it down, but the 6" is fine for me at the moment.

To be honest, £50 was my max spend, as you have to factor in another £40+ for pads and polishes, and this seemed to be the best choice for my budget.


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## caledonia (Sep 13, 2008)

Looks a good machine for the money. As you say there is a down side due to the disks but for £50. How can complain. Also your paint correction is good considering you have just got your hands on the machine. Takes time to master any equipment. Love you 50/50 shot and as for you write up you know where you have went wrong. Top class write up on product and demo. :thumb:


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

Thanks for the comments Caledonia, much appreciated. I finished the bonnet today and it looks great! Strange driving down the road and getting reflections in it! lol!

I started on the wing today as well with the intention of eventually doing the whole car, but i've given up as i'm not really in the mood. I had to get my cat of 17+ years put down today, so i'm now sat indoors with a glass of Wolf Blass drowning my sorrows


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## 3dr (Mar 1, 2008)

lets not forget that this machine costs less than the transformer needed for a PC :doublesho :thumb:


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## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

Yeah man, now these 50/50s look superb - first go out with a machine polisher? Impressive if so! :thumb: In fact, damn good regardless and that Clarke polisher does look interesting for sure....

Something which I have been finding interesting of late I have to say, seeing other machines being used for polishing purposes to widen the horizons of machine polishing away from the more traditional "detailer's machines".


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

Cheers Dave, yes it was my first go.... i'm not just a good looking insurance man...*cough*

To be fair, i had a good a read of your guide before setting off and it gave me the confidence to have a go. I started with the finishing pads and finishing polish as i was worried with Honda's rep of soft paint, but to be honest, where the bonnet was so poor, i worked my way up the polish/pads combos and i got the best results with the intensive polish on the orange cutting pad, then finished off with the PO85RD on the red pad. 

Finished off with #7 and 476s by hand and it has come up a treat.


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## VIPER (May 30, 2007)

Superb results there, Lloyd :thumb: - I'm extremely impressed by that, considering that A. It was your first go and B. that paintwork was in a right old state so an ambitious correction to tackle.

Can you elaborate what you meant by 'removing the ring'? I'm sure I'll see it for myself when I get mine and do the comparision test against the Silverline DA in the next week or so.


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## GeeJay (Jun 10, 2007)

Very impressive results there Lloyd! Seems the Clarke's a good contender in the budget DA race!


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

Behind the backing plate is a ring with like draft excluder round it, i think it may be part of the dust extraction, but it slows the rotation.

Got some petrol last night and i got excited by the finish and the lack of swirls which always show up under the forecourt lights. I'm probably banned from there now! lol!


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## dominic84 (Jan 27, 2007)

Nice 50/50's any more 'lude pics?


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

Some pics here, i've sprayed the wiper arms, rewired the stereo and redone the rear lights since and they have come up much better - http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=75189


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## dominic84 (Jan 27, 2007)

> Some pics here, i've sprayed the wiper arms, rewired the stereo and redone the rear lights since and they have come up much better - http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/foru...ad.php?t=75189


Nice :thumb: It makes me regret selling mine  I had a silver 2.0 but I sold it a few months ago... have you seen the prices these things are selling for? about 20-40% more than book in a lot of cases - at least they where when I sold mine - crazy!


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

Don't tell my missus though! She's not a fan of it for some reason.

I still prefer the Accord, but the Prelude is so much more fun to drive!


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## Chris`I (Apr 9, 2007)

Looks like a good job for your first time 



Shiny said:


> Got some petrol last night and i got excited by the finish and the lack of swirls which always show up under the forecourt lights. I'm probably banned from there now! lol!


Always a good test. I did a quick test on my 350z with the new Kestrel DA on my boot lid and lip spoiler and always satisfying going to the forecourt and not seeing any swirls any more :thumb: Then crying when you see the roof that hasnt been tackled.

I did get a bit scared though as the swirls were removed with only a couple of hits of the finishing pad with SSR1. Either Nissan has desperately soft paint (it is a known issue) or the swirls werent very deep. It has left a few deeper imperfections, but I think I might try and get someone to measure the paint thickness before I go any deeper.


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## VIPER (May 30, 2007)

Chris`I said:


> Looks like a good job for your first time
> 
> Always a good test. I did a quick test on my 350z with the new Kestrel DA on my boot lid and lip spoiler and always satisfying going to the forecourt and not seeing any swirls any more :thumb: Then crying when you see the roof that hasnt been tackled.
> 
> I did get a bit scared though as the swirls were removed with only a couple of hits of the finishing pad with SSR1. Either Nissan has desperately soft paint (it is a known issue) or the swirls werent very deep. It has left a few deeper imperfections, but I think I might try and get someone to measure the paint thickness before I go any deeper.


Wouldn't hurt to do that but I suspect that they just weren't very deep, so you should be okay.


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## GeeJay (Jun 10, 2007)

One thing I'll add from write ups on here is that 350z's tend to have impressively thin paint...just so you know


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## Hair Bear (Nov 4, 2007)

Wanna' give one of these a go but can't find one anywhere? :wall:

Anyone know where to get one? And a model/part number would be good :thumb:


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

Machine Mart.

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/cros2-contractor-150mm-random-orbital-sander/path/


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## Hair Bear (Nov 4, 2007)

Shiny said:


> Machine Mart.
> 
> http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/cros2-contractor-150mm-random-orbital-sander/path/


Chuz :thumb:


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## petenaud (Feb 17, 2008)

looking good mate, great 50/50

I had a go the other day (1st time) on my Accord, was bricking it to be honest, but kind of got used to it. I guess its a massive learning curve this machinng lark.


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## mshinepolisher (Jan 8, 2009)

In my opinion. That is just a random orbit sander. not a really D/A polisher. And has not the variable speed dial. So cheaper. Kestrel, G220,UDM is the D/A for car detailing.


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## GeeJay (Jun 10, 2007)

mshinepolisher said:


> In my opinion. That is just a random orbit sander. not a really D/A polisher. And has not the variable speed dial. So cheaper. Kestrel, G220,UDM is the D/A for car detailing.


It does have variable speed control - it's on the trigger switch.


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

Either way, did the job for me.


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## TopTrainer (Jun 6, 2009)

I have read all this with much interest....................whilst I have a DeWalt rotary..............I also have 125 Bosch Angle grinder with 6 speed control points. I was thinking based on what has been said here if it would be a good spot polisher?

I would welcome the experts views


Pete


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## -Kev- (Oct 30, 2007)

TopTrainer said:


> I have read all this with much interest....................whilst I have a DeWalt rotary..............I also have 125 Bosch Angle grinder with 6 speed control points. I was thinking based on what has been said here if it would be a good spot polisher?
> 
> I would welcome the experts views
> 
> Pete


an angle grinder will be WAY too fast - use it on the paint if you want to strip it off


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