All Ive been having an heathy arguement with my mate about dual action polishers Vs Hand Polishing
I’m on the Hand polishing side of the fence and he likes his quite expensive dual action polisher we settled on we both liek our own. and unfortunetly neither of us do it for a living but we do have a rivalry of who sports the cleanest car I’m loosing at the moment due to one horrible bird messing on my bonnet
so I’m putting this out to you guys who supports the Dual Action and who like me like to get the same (or better) more careful results with hand polishing
As a complete and utter novice, i’ve only had my DA 4 weeks and it’s a learning curve at the moment, i will vote DA.
I have practiced on my Suzuki and on my son’s Toyota by sectioning various panels off with low tack tape and if you let the machine do the work wow what a difference, the paintwork really does pop.
I can’t and wouldn’t try and advise you how to use one as i said i’m a complete novice, but £84 (£72 with a Halfrauds trade card) is the best money i’ve spent, maybe i will trade up to a better machine in the future as i get more in to it.
see I’m still of the opinion that hand polishing will do the work as pressure shouldn’t be applied too much. only advantage I can see is a DA speeds the process up.
I guess I’m going to have to buy one as I’m already out voted, find a suitably faded contaminated car and test it for myself.
Cheers Guys looks like I’m buying me a Dual Action especially as I’ve just been asked to do some work to a few mates cars for beer tokens. well modification tokens I want a smart top controller
I was an avid hand polisher for many years and put off buying a DA. I’m now 100% DA and don’t look back, no way you can get the same results with hand polishing.
Cheers gents looks like i will get myself a Dual Action come payday. with some microfibre polishing pads and go for the soft paintwork setup as most jap cars are soft paint, I also hope soft setup will work well on my other half’s VW
Thanks everyone looks like I’m going to be 200 notes poorer
Was going to vote but couldn’t because it said I’d already done so. Rather odd since this is the first time I’ve even seen the thread!
Anyway, for what it’s worth I’m very much in the DA camp. Whilst I didn’t mind hand polishing I found it took two or three times as long to get the same finish I get with the DA polisher. If you use it right you won’t do any damage.
I always “hand polished” very car I owned, that was until September last year when a chap at our local club (Mark…) did a demo and explained the “ins and outs” of doing it right.
That same weekend I bought a dual action and now wondered why I spend so many hours working so hard to achieve better results in a third of the time. I will be honest I still give the MX5 a lick over by hand now and then, because as you say there is sometime nice about doing it the old way.
Buy a good make and model and don’t buy cheap as you will be buying twice that way. Have a good look round the detailing guys web sites for recommendations. Enjoy as it will bring a smile to your face when you see the end result on your pride and joy.
That is most generous of you. I’d love to take you up on that offer. I’d quite like to run through my whole detaillling routine with you see if I can gain more knowledge to make my process better.
Cheers Chris much appreciated. Can I just say what a pleasure it is to be on this great forum too. All you lot have been very welcoming and helpful I’m glad I’m a fully paid up member with my membership card happily tucked in my wallet. Stickers to do in the car after it’s next clean :)
well modification tokens I want a smart top controller 
I like hand polishing though I know it takes a very very long time but Its so rewarding.