Originally Posted by rtfmdude
I have been polishing and waxing my car by hand and it doesn't seem to give my car a wet/mirror look like some of the pictures above. Do you have to use those electrical buffer to get a good result? Human power doesn't seem to cut it.
Aight, sorry for the short response, I was on my way out the door. I have always detailed my vehicles by hand until recently when I splurged and treated myself to a Craftsman Obital polisher
Nowhere near as good as a Porter Cable unit but it does the trick. In any case, I have never had a problem w/getting a beautiful finish when doing it by hand. The key is to use the correct products, use those products correctly, and use the right materials with those products. Being able to judge your paints condition helps too as it will help you choose the right products to get the job done. If you have oxidized paint that has contaminants in it, swirl marks, light scratches and such, depending on the severity you may need to use a light rubbing compound first(after washing/waxing of course). After the rubbing compound you should use a good polish to bring out the gloss and depth in the paint. Then use a glaze to further enhance the shine and remove any remaining superficial imperfections. And finally, apply a good wax to protect all of that hard work you just did to your beatifully shiny paint.
Make sure to read the directions on the bottles to make sure you are applying and removing the product right and most of all, be paitent. If you only have 45 minutes to get this done, don't even bother. Set aside a nice chunk of your day cause to get the results you want, it's gonna take some time. Good luck and post up some pics of the finished product!