# Polisher noise complaints



## v8paul (May 5, 2010)

Hi folks, i'm having a bit of bother with complaints from neighbors about my polishing. 

I polish cars but could be doomed if i can't quieten down a bit. I'm using a cheap Silverline rotary machine and wondered if the more expensive machines are less noisy ?

Apart from shooting them or moving are there some good alternatives ?

Thanks


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## justina3 (Jan 11, 2008)

you jinxed me me next door neighbour just had words with me as well.


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## robj20 (Jan 20, 2009)

Ignore your neighbors as long as your not polishing at midnight i cant see a problem.


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## M4D YN (Nov 24, 2007)

how about looking at were the noise will be at its worst,then go and look at sheets of sound proofing and just move them to the problem area when you need to and keep them to one side otherwise :speechles

or tell them to do one


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## millns84 (Jul 5, 2009)

As long as the hours are not anti-social what can they do? It's no noisier than a lawn mower/strimmer etc. 

Sounds like they're just being *****


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## v8paul (May 5, 2010)

Sorry for the jinx !

Forgot to mention next door is a copper, need i say more !!!


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## millns84 (Jul 5, 2009)

Doesn't amount to anything though, unless you're breaking the law


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## Maggi200 (Aug 21, 2009)

v8paul said:


> Sorry for the jinx !
> 
> Forgot to mention next door is a copper, need i say more !!!


So he should know. Between 11pm and 7am iirc is the hours when you gotta keep it down. Between them hours, people can cut the grass, dig up roads etc


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## Mini 360 (Jul 17, 2009)

Offer to polish their car and then they agree not to moan?


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## Maggi200 (Aug 21, 2009)

Or get a stereo out there and blast him with spice girls or something just as horrid, then when you turn that off polishing won't seem so bad


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## alexf (May 23, 2009)

exactly its no noisier than a mower so where's the problem? This kind of stuff makes me irate to the core actually, people trying to tell you what to do on your private property


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## v8paul (May 5, 2010)

Thanks for the replies, sound proofing as M4D YN says is probably the way to go for me i guess.

Now there's an idea Mini 360, polishing all the squad cars... not for free though.

Mmm spice girls up loud that made me laugh.


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## npinks (Feb 25, 2008)

take up playing the drums, get a mate to polish the cars and then when you've practiced enough go on Britain's got Talent


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## DetailMyCar (Apr 19, 2010)

Come on guys, i know what the lad means - you don't want to pi$$ off any neighbour if you can help it, let alone a copper - Talk about giving him an excuse to get his "mates" to pull you over everytime you're out and about in the car etc.... let alone getting into things like damaging your car when you're not there or whatever.

I know it's annoying, but he must be pretty fed up with the noise to have complained - A lot of coppers work shift remember so he might be on Nights sometimes and really need to sleep in the day??

Nobody seems to have actually said if you can get quiet ones or not so i'd be interested in that too??

Fair enough, mowing / strimming etc are all noisy but that rarely takes more then 1/2 hour or so at a time - if you've got a neighbour with (what sounds like) a really noisy polishing machine going a few hours a day it is probably quite irritating......

I'm sure there must be some quieter ones out there though - anyone know??


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## dominic84 (Jan 27, 2007)

Just make sure you get paid indoors as the last thing you want is a nosy neighbour like this trying to grass you up for running a business from home to the council or HMRC or whatever.


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## Maggi200 (Aug 21, 2009)

v8paul said:


> Thanks for the replies, sound proofing as M4D YN says is probably the way to go for me i guess.
> 
> Now there's an idea Mini 360, polishing all the squad cars... not for free though.
> 
> Mmm spice girls up loud that made me laugh.


Pretty sure I got the idea from the us army :lol:


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## Gandi (Dec 18, 2007)

Id tell um to Jog on, TBH the Silverline Rotary isnt even loude, the sound of water hitting the car makes just as much noise lol


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## Guest (May 6, 2010)

Better start complaining about planes flying overhead then!!!


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## bluenose (Aug 15, 2007)

As a rotary user who uses it outside, noise is something I've considered. I've got a Kestrel SIM180 and whilst it's no worse than a power drill, even I find it noisy.

From hearing some other machines, I'm personally considering upgrading to something like a Metabo PE12-175 (when cash allows) purely on the basis that they are much quieter IMO. Obviously you'll get much better build quality, ergonomics etc as well

That said, even a higher quality machine might not be quiet enough for some :thumb:


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## Guest (May 6, 2010)

Hello,this is my 500th post :lol:


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## ZedFour (May 6, 2008)

Why can't people be reasonable with their neighbours?

If he has a problem with it he shouldn't _just_ complain, and you shouldn't retaliate by (as was loosely suggested) telling him to "do one"

How about asking him why it is a problem? If he is working shifts or has some other reasonable argument, see if you can come to a compromise or work around his sleep time.

Only if it turns out that he is being unreasonable should you consider ignoring his complaints and just get on with it.

Neighbourhood disputes are a frickin' nightmare and you should avoid getting involved in one at all costs.


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## PETER @ ECLIPSE (Apr 19, 2006)

yes but cutting the grass , hour or so unless you own a field , and in that case most of the time youll be out of hearing range anyway .
machine polishing hours and hours and hours and hours , and all in the same area , which can become annoying , especially if you are doing it all the time .
have a word with him explain a bit about what your doing , otherwise it could get awkward if he kicks off , the fact hes a copper is irrelevant


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## DetailMyCar (Apr 19, 2010)

ZedFour said:


> Why can't people be reasonable with their neighbours?
> 
> If he has a problem with it he shouldn't _just_ complain, and you shouldn't retaliate by (as was loosely suggested) telling him to "do one"
> 
> ...


Completely agree with you, disputes with Neighbours can quickly escalate into long term problems - and don't forget should you come to sell your house you will have to advise of any disputes / problems you've had with any neighbours which can easily put potential buyers off....

Noise is one of those things that is really tricky, as some people can be very impatient and get irritated by the slightest thing whereas others won't bad an eyelid and just let you get on with it....

As i say, maybe he's working shifts so worth having a chat with him and at least apologising, then just seeing what you can do to compromise but best to talk about it now before it escalates into anything else.


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## v8paul (May 5, 2010)

Thanks again for the replies, some good funny ones !

I didn't mean for the discussion to go in to neighbor disputes as i'd rather not discuss where and when i'm polishing as its not actually my neighbor ! 
It is at the moment a one day all day thing and can't choose which day, so not surprised of the complaint, i wouldn't want me living next door !

Just need to trim the noise down a bit... or maybe a lot.


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## shaqs77 (Jun 10, 2008)

like its already been mentioned, if your not doing it in unsocialble hours they cant do jack!!!!! bill or no bill!!!


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## shaqs77 (Jun 10, 2008)

dont get me wrong, YOU dont be a n a l about it, have a word. if he is a copper he will be working shifts. just compromise.


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## RandomlySet (Jul 10, 2007)

just wear ear plugs, and assume because you can't hear it as loud, no-one else can :lol:...... Failing that, give him your ear plugs


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## RandomlySet (Jul 10, 2007)

seriously tho, are any other rotarys quieter? I have a silverline (orange), and it is fairly loud, but saying that, I've never used another

Here's the orange in action


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## SheffSean (May 1, 2010)

I have a Megs G220, and aint that quiet, all I get from my neighbours is "when you gonna do mine" drives ya mad


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## MattDuffy88 (Apr 6, 2009)

I've found the noisiest part of my Silverline to be the gearbox, so stripped and regreased it all. It's much quieter now


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## RandomlySet (Jul 10, 2007)

is that easy to do? At low speeds is when mine sounds nasty


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## m4rkie23 (May 19, 2009)

wait til he next cuts the grass, and tell him to keep the noise down.


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## Shug (Jul 13, 2007)

I found the makita to be a lot quieter than my orange silverline.


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## MattDuffy88 (Apr 6, 2009)

-Mat- said:


> is that easy to do? At low speeds is when mine sounds nasty


Yep, it's quite easy to do. I'll strip and regrease it tomorrow and put up a tutorial if I remember


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## Olly1 (Feb 21, 2010)

Anyone know how loud a Das-6 pro is?

Just ordered one and will be using it in an underground car park this weekend. Probably worse in the carpark as everything echo`s in that. :tumbleweed:


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## Alex_225 (Feb 7, 2008)

I'd say it's a bit unreasonable for someone to complain if it's only every now and again!! 

If you're out there machine polishing every weekend I'd say I'd understand it. Especially if you're sitting in the garden relaxing with someoen whirring away round the corner. 

With neighbours it's all about compromising though, we're all human and can't go round in complete silence all the time.


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## SteveOC (May 26, 2007)

Sounds like the neighbour is a lot more aware of the law than a lot of those posting in this thread.
The first thing that the council will advise, in the event of something that may be construed as a statutory nuisance, is that the complainant speaks to the person causing the nuisance - after that the council will look at taking action which could result in an abatement notice.

I am sure that when I read this thread earlier there were suggestions that this was being done as a 'sideline', i.e. for profit, but the references seem to have been removed.
The major difference I have found between domestic and commercial noise nuisance is in the fines levied for breach of an abatement notice - £5000 as opposed to £20,000.

You need to check with the relevant local council as to what their policies are, most have a website, and I seem to recall that they have additional powers if the source of the noise is a council owned property. 

Steve O.


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## timbo4321 (Aug 23, 2009)

As most of the noise comes from the gearbox as well as stripping and greasing the gearbox how about wrapping some soft foam around the gearbox to absorb some of the noise - at least then you can demonstrate you are trying to do something about the noise.


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## RandomlySet (Jul 10, 2007)

MattDuffy88 said:


> Yep, it's quite easy to do. I'll strip and regrease it tomorrow and put up a tutorial if I remember


cheers fella :thumb:


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## alexf (May 23, 2009)

SteveOC said:


> Sounds like the neighbour is a lot more aware of the law than a lot of those posting in this thread.
> The first thing that the council will advise, in the event of something that may be construed as a statutory nuisance, is that the complainant speaks to the person causing the nuisance - after that the council will look at taking action which could result in an abatement notice.
> 
> I am sure that when I read this thread earlier there were suggestions that this was being done as a 'sideline', i.e. for profit, but the references seem to have been removed.
> ...


And it will take the council approx 3 months to do anything after filling out numerous forms, then there will be a preliminary visit and then about a month later the action will be taken if necessary.

(and that is not misinformed because I had the exact same situation about 2 months ago)

So one hopes he will have finished machine polishing a few swirls in this time frame, :tumbleweed::wave:


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## SteveOC (May 26, 2007)

alexf said:


> And it will take the council approx 3 months to do anything after filling out numerous forms, then there will be a preliminary visit and then about a month later the action will be taken if necessary.
> 
> (and that is not misinformed because I had the exact same situation about 2 months ago)
> 
> So one hopes he will have finished machine polishing a few swirls in this time frame, :tumbleweed::wave:


In my case, all it took was 1 telephone call, no forms to fill in, and the problem ceased the same day with no need for an abatement notice. 
The simple fact is people can't do whatever they like in terms of making noise that affects other people.

Steve O.


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## Nanoman (Jan 17, 2009)

alexf said:


> And it will take the council approx 3 months to do anything after filling out numerous forms, then there will be a preliminary visit and then about a month later the action will be taken if necessary.
> 
> (and that is not misinformed because I had the exact same situation about 2 months ago)
> 
> So one hopes he will have finished machine polishing a few swirls in this time frame, :tumbleweed::wave:


It's a bit easier in Scotland. You get 10 minutes to stop the noise or all noise producing equipment is seized from the property. My bro-in-law is one of the neighbourhood wardens and does this kind of stuff.


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## alexf (May 23, 2009)

blimey, how the system differs lol


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