I just got my Makita...

[kpagel]

Sorry, I'm not asking for any help, I'm just excited. I finally got my Makita in the mail. I think I'm going to practice on my dad's car. Or would that be a bad idea?

[hoghead00]

You have to start some place. Good luck! Let us know how it comes out!

[gregcavi]

congrats on the purchase. I to have a makita. I would highly highly not reccomend starting on a mercedes. I woudl find a junker of a car to practice on until you get the hang of it. There are so many things that can go wrong when you dont know how to run the rotary.

I dont use meguiars polishes with the rotary as they dont work as long as I like and find they contain fillers that hide rather than remove. Totally my opinion of course. IF you are using megs polishes via the rotary then mix up some IPA. Isoprophyl alcohal. 50/50 with water. this will remove fillers from polishes to see if you have a halogramm free and swirl free finish. Try donig an IPA after #80.. you will be suprised.

Lastly is that the rotary is alot more aggresive than a pc.. dont run at speeds over probably 1200 rpm when you are starting out. I am very comfortable and get excellent results with the rotary . I dont run over 1500 rpm. remember that you dont need as aggresive polish with the rotary. YOu can probably use #9 with the rotary and remove things that #83 didnt touch with the pc.

Congrats on the purchase, and good luck. I bet you will never regret buying the makita, its an excellent tool.

Greg

[kpagel]

Originally posted by gregcavi
congrats on the purchase. I to have a makita. I would highly highly not reccomend starting on a mercedes. I woudl find a junker of a car to practice on until you get the hang of it. There are so many things that can go wrong when you dont know how to run the rotary.
Greg

Don't worry, I was kidding about practicing on my dad's car. I'll be practicing on my sister's old truck. I'm also going to get some junk body panels from my buddy's body shop. My plan is to intentionally burn the paint (on one of the junk panels, of course) so that I can find out right away what the limits are.

Thanks for the rest of the advice. I can't wait to test this thing out.

[Five Star]

every car is different and every paint has its own breaking point, so intentionally burning the paint is not a good idea

I would concentrate more on getting the feel for the tool, and start with light pressure gradually increasing it until you can manage removing the defects without getting anywhere near the burn stage.

[Accumulator]

I think you'll find that intentionally burning the paint takes a lot of doing. IMO the bigger danger is simply taking off too much clear, which will result in problems down the road despite nothing *looking* wrong now. Except for the obvious danger points (high points, edges, crown lines, plastic panels), burning paint or cutting all the way through the clear isn't really that big a worry if you're careful and use common sense. But take off a fraction of a mil too much and *look out* in a few years....

[RamAirV1]

I think maybe you should start out on a Bentley or Ferrari first. That way you will be more careful!

RamAirV1

[tumbler]

take it slow and practice, practice, practice