There is no secret to making paint shine. I would NEVER use any magical prodyct. It may loom good at first but down the road who knows. And who kknows what it's actually doing to the paint maybe down the road when you decide to do it the right way you won't have any paint left. You don't need to break you back rubbing anything. Buy a buffer, find some junk around the farm, get some good buffing compounds and start practicing. Practice on the junk first. Intentionally see how much it takes to burn through the paint, see how to accomplish things with minimal swirls etc etc. Practice. Then move onto your pride and joy. Most farm equipment is some from of single stage paint/powder. Some Lile Fendt use clear coats but the only way to know is to test it.

Except for on white paint take some compound on a white rag and rub the paint. If pigment comes off its single stage. If not it's clear coated. Generally If It Looks Very Faded It's Single stage. Clear coat always has some shine to it until it fails the. It peels and yellows. It's more important to maintain clear coats than single stage IMO. Single stage can be brought back easy. Clear coat failure requires repainting. The thing to remember with clear coats is that they are hard and thin. Don't worry about deep scratches you have to leave some of them or you risk running out of clear coat. Focus on the swirls and micro marring. You'll be surprised how good it looks. Back to single stage like most farm equipment. What you see is years of oxidation eroding the surface. On a microscopic level the paint is nothing but hills and valleys reflecting light. TThe more you even these out the more shine you get.

WAX DOES NOT SHINE. I say it in every thread like this. The reason you get shine with the waxes you buy at the store is because they are cleaner waxes.  This means they have some mild abrasives in them that abrade the paint and give you the shine. The wax is the protectant and while it does enhance gloss and give it more depth without the abrasion youd have nothing. Its like clearcoating paint sanded with 400 grit. Its not going to majically shine because of the clear coat.

I reccommend the DeWalt 849X for most people or Makitas rotary buffer as both are lightweight and easy to use.  I have the DeWalt but use it exclusively for metal polishing. If I end up buffing something tough like gel coats I'll switch to it also. Throw the damn side handle away, that is not how you use a buffer. The bale handle is okay, but grabbing the head is the best approach. With a side handle its very hard to keep even control and pressure. You want the pad flat, not on an angle like you see many peopel doing. this leads to terrible buffer trails and deep gouges. Keep it mostly flat.  My favorite rotary buffer is the Flex PE14 but its double the money. If you do a lot though your body will thank you for its lightweight and smooth running. German engineered and built.

No you cannot use a grinder. I get asked that enough, you need variable speed and you almost never will be over 2000RPM. Most grinders run 6000RPM or higher. No to mention they are much heavier and do not have the nice padded heads of buffers.








Now for pads, I reccommend getting some velcro backing plates and using 6.5" foam pads. I use Lake Country pads but there are many others out there. Remember bigger isnt always better, you can apply much more pressure to a smalller pad but at the same time on a rotary the edge speed of larger pads will be higher. Remember it will take a lot of power to turn those big pads though too and some strong arms.  I'll use 8" sometimes 10" pads on huge surfaces but not often.  I onky use 6.5" foam pads though. The bigger ones are all wool. I like TufBuf black wool pads because they stick on the velcro and do not shed like twisted wool but 3ms wool pads are nice too, I have a few of both. 3m's twisted wool cuts a little more but I prefer the tufbuf day in and day out over them.  The Tufbuf cleans out much better and does not shed as bad.  You will need a way to clean your pads also. For foam you can buy a pad washer or just buy some extra pads and wash them in the sink then air dry.  You can brush them some with a nylon brush but you will need to change pads at some point, so buy extras unless you dont mind waiting for your pads to dry. A tip to dry them, once done cleaning them spin them on the rotary at full speed, this will dry them fast, then let them air dry the rest of the way with the velcro side up on top of a towel. For wool pads you will want a spur to clean them. Clean your pads after every section. Only work in sections. A section is about 2'x2'. You want the buffer directly in front of you chest. Once you start reaching or walking you loose control. It may not feel like ti but you are not applying even pressure anymore. Work in sections. Work every section 6 passes. First spread the product. To do this lay out a bead of product (not too much, too much and you wont accomplish anything) then tilt the buffer so tha the 10 o clock position is slightly off the paint and run the bead of product into the buffer at that position. This is called picking up the bead, then quickly lay the buffer flat and spread the product across your section. This technique prevents splatter. Mask off areas if you are concerned about splatter.  Next increase your RPM's and start working back and forth vertically with a 50% overlap then horizontally with 50% overlap. Do this 3 times in each direction then dial the speed back and do a final slow pass to help take out some of the swirls. Most products use diminishing abrasive technology. this means you have to work it long enough to break down the abrasives, if you do not you will be left with a subpar finish.  You should not see a big white mess when you start, if you do you are usiing way to much product, you should just see a clear film. Some products like M105 dry very quickly, keep some distilled water close by to wet it if it drys too fast. Do not buff dry, you will have issues.  Wipe the excess product off with a microfibert towel. Use ones with a short nap for this, plush towels do not work well for compound removal. You can use water, 15% IPA or any other specially made product like Menzerna Top Inspection to help remove the compound. You will need to use IPA or some other product to strip the paint before applying the Last Step Product anyways.

As for compounds, I couldn't live without my Menzerna FG400. Stuffs amazing, very agressive but finishes out nice enough for most farmers. 3M's stuff is usually available more locally but Menzerna can be found only at many importers of their products (They are from Germany). Meguiars is also good, their professional line combo is M105 and M205 but even their Ultimate compound and ultimate polish that you find at the auto parts store will work good.

If you use foam pads study each brands colors and what they mean.


If the rotary buffer scares you still, there are some DA choices. For many vehicles I always follow up with a DA because its very hard to finish out a car with no swirls/holograms with a rotary. The DA with a mild polish gets them out.  Again I like my Flex 3401 but its pricey. it is a forced rotation DA meaning it does not stop rotating when you apply pressure like a normal DA.  That is what makes normal DA's like the PC 7424XP so safe. The PC is only $100.  With a DA its important to remember that smaller pads allow more correction because they can take more pressure before they stop rotating. Once they stop rotating you are no longer correcting the paint. Put a mark on your backing pad with a sharpie so you can tell when it stops rotating.  There are different pads and compounds geared towards DA use and some geared towards rotary. Others work good for both.




 


One thing you dont want is an arm jiggler. You are not trying to burn calories, jiggling doesn't work anyways. These things are common everywhere and do nothing but spread wax and jiggle your arms. They have no correcting ability.

 

Menzerna's compounds

 


For the final coating you need to strip the paint. Dawn will do this otherwise 15% IPA or a product made specifically for it will work too. Thi is to ensure proper bonding.  Wax works but is kind of old school and doesn't last as long. Polymer sealants are the best. I use Menzerna Power lock. Its good for 4-8 months providing you use LSP safe soaps on it. It is tougher than wax is though too. Wax can be stripped pretty easily.

For the ultimate protection you can use something permanent like Opticoat 2.0 but be aware it is extremly tricky to apply when compared to waxing.


Good luck, ask any questions you need or email my if you prefer to talk through there or on phone.


Examples.


Fendt with Clear coat after polishing with FG400 and then applying Opti-Coat 2.0. You can see why  single stage paint jobs are more fun. Clear coat generally starts out fairly shiny and the results arent as jaw dropping.  A fun thing to do is apply a tape line down the middle of a section, buff on side but not the other. This will let you see what your results actually are and if you are using the best process.  Also getting good lighting helps too. Most guys shops have plenty of lights otherwise some strong halogens work good too or you can buy swirl finder lights. The color of light matters. Halogens work great for finding swirls but you need flourescents for applying Opti Coat.

After washing but before polishing.



After polish and opti coat.

 

 

 

Buhler before and after using just one pass with FG400 and tufbuf wool on rotary



 


Cant forget the aluminum which uses different compounds wheels and techniques but follows the same philosophy. Abrading the surface smooth, no such thing as a magical polish.



 








Agco with FG400



 


Magnum with 3401 DA and PF2500.  Very little paint on these tractors have to be careful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


50/50 of clear coated freightliner hood (repainted) that was etched badly from corn silage andscratched by lots of trees. Agin with FG400

 

 

 


50/50 of clear coated jetta trunk. this was before they had FG400 so it was with PG1000 which is not as nice to use and finished with SF4000.

 

 



















Polishing is no mystery, do you believe the guy who stops at your door to sell you miracle products to gain 20 bushels per acre? Why believe in miracle paint products. Its not rock science, its a simple concept that has been the same since the stone age.