Wet Shine Detailing: 2011

A locally available dual-action(non forced rotation) polisher! woohoo!

Firstly, wow it has been a looong time since the last post and the reason will all be explained in due time. I'm sure you wouldn't want to hear the boring story anyway, so let's skip to what we all love, detailing!

Us UK voltage countries do not have much choice when it comes to dual-action polishing machines. The Americans are so spoilt for choice, they have the Porter Cable, Cyclo, Flex and a machine from everyone's favourite brand, Meguiar's.

We are resorted to import these machines and used with a step-down transformer i.e selling an arm. Machines suited for our voltage is only the Flex XC3401VRG, which isn't exactly cheap (about MYR 2600?).

On the other end of the scale we have the Bosch GEX-125AE random orbital polisher, this machine is only capable of paint cleaning and to make it able to remove light defects, you really have to spend a lot of time by doing slow and multiple passes.
However, it only costs MYR 330! Perfect for the beginner.

But there is the gap in the middle. Of course a Makita 9227c rotary fits the bill nicely at MYR 900, but for the beginner's who aren't ready to spend the time mastering it, a rotary polisher might not be the best choice.

So in comes the Dodo Juice Buff Daddy, which is really just a rebranded Kestrel Das-6. I dig the funky green colour.

With a longer throw compared to the Bosch ROB, the Buff Daddy remove defects more effectively. I would estimate about 2-3 times the effectiveness(more if it had forced rotation).

Variable speed.

The quintessential Dodo Juice logo.

The paint was in an okay condition. So I just gave it a one step polish at speed 4.5 using Osren Perfect Cut 2.0 and Meguiar's yellow polishing pad.

This was followed with Meguiar's Gold Class Carnauba Plus applied with the same machine on speed 1 using a white detailogy pad.

Head-lamps and tail-lamps were polished and coated with GTechniq C1 Crystal Coating

The whole car was machine polished and waxed in 2 hours.

I was well pleased with my purchase at MYR 770. Costing at a fraction of the Flex XC3401VRG, I think it is pretty worth it.

I used the side handle the whole time, if I gripped the whole handle, my palm felt numb after polishing one door(need more flesh to buffer the vibration?). So I 'clawed' the edge of the handle, or hold the head instead. I didn't try the supplied 'D' handle (a.k.a bale handle).

Turning it off and on is intuitive, although not as convenient as the trigger on most rotary polishers. The speed dial is on the back of the polisher, hence adjusting speed while polishing might not be ideal. I think this isn't a very big issue since you do not really need to adjust the speed while polishing using a dual-action. For a rotary, adjusting the speed is essential(dependent on operator) during compounding, polishing or finishing.

The head of the polisher has a soft matte finish, same goes with the body of the polisher. It looks nice and provides excellent grip, but it gets scuffed and scratched very easily, will have to think of using something to cover the head.

All in all, I love it. If you are a beginner looking to polish your own cars, this is it, with no forced rotation, it is extremely easy to handle. Working time is also shorter compared to using the Bosch ROB since polishes will be broken down quicker.

Its variable speed allows it to be used for polishing or applying waxes and sealants. Removable backing plates allows it to be used with smaller pads for polishing tight areas.

I have not tried to use it for machine sanding yet, but have seen people on the detailingworld.co.uk doing it. Only challenge now for the Dodo Juice Buff Daddy is durability. I noticed my machine was a lot more silent than the demo machine, which wasn't very heavily used, will keep an 'ear' on that.

Initial Impressions Rating: 4/5

If you'd like to purchase one, do contact Osren Malaysia(+603 6250 2616 or mail@osren.com).

Now for some unrelated photos. Henry from Osren was kind enough to demonstrate to me the leveling ability of a velvet pad and a rocks-in-a-bottle compound.

Very good eh?? That was achieved without a single use of sandpaper.

Now that I have more time on the weekends, I will be posting a little bit more frequently. It is time for a comeback (again...), there will be more changes for sure. (hint: www.wetshine.net). Until then, keep on polishing!

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