Considering getting a DA

Slattsy

My car is swirl+tastic.
Nothing I use hides them. Wrecking my head at this stage.

So I might go down the DA road.

I've never used one before though. Are they hard to use? Can I do damage to the paintwork if it's not done correctly?

Or is there a guaranteed product out there to remove swirls by hand?!?!

GSBellew

DA's are fantastic, yes you can still damage the paint if you do it wrong
but you are much less likely to do so than you would be with a normal
rotary polisher.

I have both, being honest I tend to use the rotary first & finish with the DA
unless the paintwork is already in reasonable condition.

This was the result the first time I used a DA:







That was with a Meguiars G220, diamond cut , finesse it & Auto Glym HD wax

georgefalls

I recently got my first DA. From www.cleancar.ie
Really easy to use, and very forgiving. You'd have to go at the same spot for a solid hour, with no polish, to do any real damage.
Results are brilliant too..

Slattsy

Looks good lads.

What one did you get from clean car? Did Larry give you plenty of advice yeah.

Once you've used the DA for the first time on your car, do you generally use it every time there after or just occasionally when you want it looking it's best?

georgefalls

Used it once on the Spider. Medium pad, medium paste. That was a couple of months ago.
Topped up the wax three times since. Didn't need to re-polish.

Larry will talk you through using it... Top bloke...!!

Curran

You only need to use a machine polisher when you start getting swirls back in the paintwork.
How long between each time you need to use it will depend on how well you wash the car, using the two bucket method, wash mitts, etc, etc

Also, the DA is a very safe way of correcting the paintwork. With patience, you will get the same results as a rotary, but if the paintwork is very bad, correction can be slow. Although you'll be very impressed by how the car will look even if you dont remove a lot of the swirls, getting the gloss and shine back into the paint work only needs a light polish and this is enough to please most people.

Slattsy

Cool.

Is there specific products made for a DA that can only be used with a DA though? Like can Autoglym SRP or EGP be used??

Curran

AG SRP wont do a whole lot on a machine polisher.
You'd need a polish that is designed specifically for a machine. There are plenty of options out there!
Chemcial Guys, Menzerna, Scholl, Autobrite, etc, etc

georgefalls

^^^+1

I use Menzerna. Good stuff, and easy to buff off.