# Machine polish myself or go to a Pro?



## Dan_Sykes (Jun 18, 2017)

Hi all, our car was treated badly by the previous owner. The video below has almost identical scratches to ours.






Would I be better off having a go myself following this technique and advice from the forum or getting a pro to sort it, including a ceramic coat for around £400 to £500, then keeping up to the detailing on a weekend. I don't have a polisher, pads, etc. So would this be about half of what I'd pay a pro anyway?


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## c87reed (Dec 9, 2015)

I think that only you can answer your question. It depends on how confident you feel about learning and taking on the task, risk of damage (probably depends on the car's value), your free time, your space to do it and what kind of result you're after. 

If you decide to get a pro on the job you then have take the time to find the right one as there are plenty of people calling themselves pros who are far from it.


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## A&J (Mar 4, 2015)

Do it yourself...Its much more rewarding to do it yourself + you will end up with a polisher and pads for future times :thumb:


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## Pars_Andy (Jul 4, 2010)

Is that actually fixable? Some of the scratches look pretty significant 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro


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## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

It really comes down to time constraints. You are NOT going to get great results without investing time to practice. And investing a decent amount on a couple of different machines, pads and a choice of polishes. 

So if you have the space, time and money to invest in practice practice practice with new equipment, 100% do it yourself. You will hopefully learn to love it and get a real sense of accomplishment. But if you want the results soon, get a pro to do it. Nobody does anything well without a lot of practice, or even soon after that. And if a pro would need 3 days, you will need a lot more than that, you certainly wont be doing it faster than them


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## Dan_Sykes (Jun 18, 2017)

Thanks for the replies. Having taking in your comments, I've had a good think about what I realistically could do with current commitments. I'd be better getting a pro to sort the paint and then I'll keep up to it. I'd like to learn a few techniques in the future so if I get the equipment I'll get a couple of scrap panels to practice on.


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## Dan_Sykes (Jun 18, 2017)

Any recommendations for good places to go in the Yorkshire area would be welcomed


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## suspal (Dec 29, 2011)

What I'd like to remind people is people like myself,and those still working as pro detailers have spent years mastering machine polishing and everything involved to detail and spent fortunes on products and different machines and one thing I found was that one thing that could'nt be bought and that is experience.:thumb:


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## minidaveo (Jun 27, 2017)

suspal said:


> What I'd like to remind people is people like myself,and those still working as pro detailers have spent years mastering machine polishing and everything involved to detail and spent fortunes on products and different machines and one thing I found was that one thing that could'nt be bought and that is experience.:thumb:




As in any trade/job/detailing, it's all good reading all about it but nothing is better than gaining experience from getting hands on


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## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

Dan_Sykes said:


> Any recommendations for good places to go in the Yorkshire area would be welcomed


I take back my last reply, you for sure need a pro :lol:

Where abouts in Yorkshire? We are in saddleworth in the hills near huddersfield.


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## suspal (Dec 29, 2011)

minidaveo said:


> As in any trade/job/detailing, it's all good reading all about it but nothing is better than gaining experience from getting hands on


Horses for courses buddy,I'm not here to preach,it's a bit like i'm no good at plumbing neither an I am a medical surgeon so therefore I'd go to a pro,I could do all the reading up on subjects I've never done and know I could'nt be anywhere near competent so rather than making a balls up or spending money on equipment I'm not likely to use again it just makes sense to go to someone who can so the best job within my budget.:thumb:


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## suspal (Dec 29, 2011)

Makes sense to see Stang he's an expert in the detailing craft.:thumb:


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## Dan_Sykes (Jun 18, 2017)

stangalang said:


> I take back my last reply, you for sure need a pro :lol:
> 
> Where abouts in Yorkshire? We are in saddleworth in the hills near huddersfield.


In Leeds but I'm originally from Huddersfield. The next time I visit family is it ok to drop in for an evaluation or would I need to make an appointment?


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## Robbi Hong Kong (Jan 15, 2016)

If yer in Leeds, give Jon at Advanced Detail a shout...he's exceptionally good!...and has a great unit about 5mins from City Centre....Not knocking stangalang...from what I've seen on here he is outstanding....


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## voon (Apr 28, 2010)

Solid equipment from names like Flex/Rupes etc with all the necessary accessories to fix that paint will easily costs you what the detailer will ask. With cheap brands you might get away with half that.

The equipment will pay itself however after you have to do the second or third correction. But: You rarely will descratch your car every year. Usually, for a private normale car enthusiast, it's cleaning up once and then in the future pay attention to not scratch it again, so you won't use the stuff often. You don't want to polish away the entire clearcoat anyway.

In addition, it's quite the work .. so if you don't enjoy it, it's annoying. On the other side you might get addicted to cleaning up really bad cars after seeing the difference and start to detail your friends, mothers, dogs car.


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## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

Dan_Sykes said:


> In Leeds but I'm originally from Huddersfield. The next time I visit family is it ok to drop in for an evaluation or would I need to make an appointment?


im 7 days so you can just call in anytime, but feel free to send me a message through my fb page or e mail me ahead if time


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## Dan_Sykes (Jun 18, 2017)

Thanks for the replies and recommendations!


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## Benfr16 (Dec 3, 2016)

Dan do you have a cousin called Ben who lives in Wakefield? Or is this some massive coincidence lol. 

What car ya got? Ya can see mine on my profile under garage


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