Well, I decided to give mine a shot.
I did not go for the full cut 'n buff, thank god. The 8" pad on mine is far too big to be useful, at least on this car. It cant get into all the 'dips' this car has, such as the low areas on the hood, the lower side panels, etc. etc. Larger, flat areas are OK, but I wouldnt try to polish with it for the already stated reason.
I used it to apply wax, and I would give its performance an OK at best. Erring on the side of caution, I kept plenty of wax on the pad (paranoid as hell using this thing). I will say it makes quick work of applying too much wax, LOL. I used it on the hood, roof, top of the trunk, and upper portion of the doors. All the more curvy or contoured areas were still done by hand. I removed everything by hand as well, though that isnt the buffers fault, the terry cloth pads I bought for wax removal were quickly rendered ineffective by the amount of wax on the car, hence me having to break out the extra towels and doing it by hand.
A 4" pad with a more manuverable unit is best.
I will say my shoulders were less tired than usual. And with the subframe busted and my car just sitting outside, at least it has a nice coat of wax. Car still looks great after sitting in 2 days worth of rain!
Pete, I wish you were just local and could do the full polish for me. I will end up buying a PC, but honestly Im a bit apprehensive about doing a full polish. I would hate myself forever if I jacked the paint. It needs it, though, so I guess Ill eventually give it a shot. Id rather try myself than let some local yahoo go nuts with a power buffer.
