6G Celicas Forums

Anyone know of any cheap rubbing compound that will do a good job? I am on the last step with my car and I need to buff it. Unfortunately I hit my budget and now I am low on money to work on my car. Any help? It will look weird driving around in a color sanded car.

how cheap is cheap???? is $15 cheap???? or $7 cheap????

Less than $20 is what I would like.

A 16-oz bottle of Meguiar's Fine-Cut Cleaner is $12, though if you're talking about buffing out wetsanding marks I'd probably suggest something along the lines of the Compound Power Cleaner (32 ounces for $15).

Where can I find the Compound Power Cleaner?

anyone has any suggestions? prom is this saturday

I had great results with 3M rubbing compound.....grabbed it at my local pepboys (around 10 bucks i believe)!

They have a polish that works great too!

Meguiar's stuff is usually found at the better-stocked automotive shops -- their professional line (Mirror Glaze) is a bit harder to get a hold of short term.

If you cannot find the Compound Power Cleaner, look for Meguiar's Ultimate Compound. It's a consumer-line product, but more aggressive than most of their professional line and uses their newer abrasives formula so it doesn't typically require a follow-up fine polish.

Meguiar's lists Dimmick Auto Supply as carrying professional products in your area, and a whole whack of stores (Advance, Autozone, O'Reilly's, Wal-Mart, True Value, Ace, etc) as carrying consumer products.

Turtle wax rubbing compound is great used it today! like 7 bucks or something like that!

agreed on the turtle wax compound doing a good job! i use turtle wax and meguiar's products on my car... did you ever try clay bar? that stuff will help smooth the finish out!

+1 for Ultimate Compound! Ive used it on my car with great results!

Claybar won't take out sanding marks. It only removes surface contaminates.

I've never had good luck with turtle wax's rubbing compound.

If your scratches aren't too bad I would recommend Griot's Garage "Hand Polish Kit".

If you have access to a random orbital buffer then I would recommend Griot's Garage "Machine Polish". They come in 4 versions ranging from 4 (finest polish) to 1(medium polish). All are 16 ounce bottles.

Each one individually is $17-$13, and the set of four is $52 (you probably would only need the Machine Polish 3 (very fine polish). I use them, as our local Toyota club has a member who is a sales guy for Griot's, and I would recommend them to anyone.

However, I doubt you could get it by today or tomorrow for your prom, so go with something from meguires for now.

Random orbital buffers are the worst, they just put more swirls into your paint. Youre better off doing it by hand or with a proper rotary buffer.

I disagree.

Rotary buffers in the hands of an inexperienced person is a recipe for disaster. Too much heat transfer, and soon you've got no more paint left.


Random orbitals used properly (up and down across the panel, then left and right across the panel) won't heat up and burn your paint.


Now, a CHEAP random orbital will screw stuff up. I wouldn't go to Sears looking for a good random orbital buffer. Porter Cable makes a good unit, and I have Griots' 6" and 3" random orbital buffers and have zero scratch marks in my paint from them. Its just like any tool - use it improperly and you'll screw something up.

^ How much was yours? I'm planning on doing a full detail (clay, buff, polish, etc.) for summer and I was debating on buying a powered buffer. I was hoping $20-30 would get the job done.

ARE there any good budget buffers, or would I just be better off doing things by hand? I don't have any experience using a buffer either.

My 3" mini orbital was $65 with my club discount. I bought my 6" orbital as a kit for $300 which comes with:

Organizer carrying bag
6" buffer
16oz best of show wax
16oz machine polish 2 and 3
2 orange polish pads
Red wax applicator pad
3 microfiber polish removal cloths
3 microfiber wax removal cloths
8oz speed shine
8oz detail clay
8oz spray wax
8oz window cleaner
4 microfiber window cloths
8oz interior cleaner
2 microfiber interior cloths

And a fancy instructional DVD to show you how to PROPERLY use everything.

orbital is great for the DYI guy thats afraid of how much clear is on his/her car.
used correctly, its not super agressive, and does a good job.

in the right hands a good old straight up buffer with good buff/polish pads and materials is hard to beat. just takes a bit of paitence, and someone who knows how its used properly.

I have a Makita rotary buffer, cost me $200 brand new. It's what I used when I detailed cars professionally a few years ago, definitely not something to cheap out on. I don't have a good orbital, but just like everyone says here you'll have to drop some money to get a decent one. The only good one I've had experience with was a Dewalt, was a very good orbital.

As far as buffing compounds, I'm not a fan of anything you can buy at Autozone or Oreilly's if you want to do a good job, especially with a power buffer. If you're going to be going to the effort of getting a power buffer and everything, then I'd go to a paint and body supply shop and get something semi-professional like Blue Coral products (that's what I have experience with at least). Good buffing pads make a different, and different pads get different results.

Clay bar first, get all the dirt off the car so you don't buff the crap against the paint
Do any touchup paint you may want to do
Wet sand with 2000 grit over heavy scratches and touched up areas
then for buffing:
Wool pad first, with a high abrasive buffing compound
Foam pad (yellow pad) second, with a lower abrasive, Blue Coral has a product called "velvet cut" that I liked with a foam pad
3rd, I like to apply wax with the rotary buffer with a black foam pad, then buff it off by hand. The black foam pad is a fine pad and I've had great luck with not having swirl marks after using it.

The biggest advice I can offer is to read all the articles and watch all the videos you can about how to properly buff out the car. It doesn't take much to burn the paint and really mess up your paint job. Tape off trim and such that you don't want to mess up, and be very careful on plastic parts like your bumpers, they'll heat up very fast and burn very quickly.

Ok so I used Megular's rubbing compound and polish compound, but it doesnt give my car a good shine. It barely has any shine at all and I sprayed 3 coats of clear. Any help on bringing out the shine she deserves?

Hey I am a ICAR platinum, ASE Master, PPG platinum certified Painter. What I USE PROFESSIONALLY is 3M Perfect It II rubbing compound. Thats after Ive wet sanded . The compound is one of the best out there. its also pretty cheap I get it for 14.82 a quart. Just look in the phone book for a autobody supply store. You will not get the same result from any of these other products that have been posted. Trust me Ive tried them all. It might satisfy them just enough, But I as a painter would always spot out a half assed didnt know what someone was doing and didnt use the right stuff buff. AND I LOOK AND LAUGH EVERY TIME.Also remember when buffing always use a high speed buffer like a makita 927c. A orbital buffer will not do the trick. and before buffing finish off the sanding with 2000 or 3m trizact 3000 grit disc

This post has been edited by Marbledpearlcelica: Apr 29, 2010 - 5:31 PM