Hi - not sure how to ask or who to ask but here goes:
I found three orbital polishing tools in automotive on the metal racks.
Can we order some bonnets / pads for them please?
Thanks!
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Your best bet is you buy your own, there are several different “buffs” or pads to choose from and everyone has their preference. I for one would not want to use one left behind by someone else - that would be like using a condom a second time. They are not expensive in either case.
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I presume they’re like condoms in that you can just turn them inside-out and use them a second time?
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These are more of a “consumable”. DMS rarely supplies consumables. And, eww…
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Even new pads that have sat on the shelf collecting whatever crap is in the air would be ill-advised.
Dirt, dust and debris on the pad will lead to horrible scratching and destroy the paint your trying to improve.
Harbor Freight, detail shops, Summit racing, Auto Parts stores etc. all carry pads. I’d bring your own pads, bring your own polish and make a point to work clean!
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Or used pads with who knows what stuck to/in them scratching your paint.
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Thanks all. Off to the pad shop I go!
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I don’t mean to talk you out of what your doing but I hate those things. Paint correction and polishing is more or less an art, realistically anyone can do it with practice but those low rpm random orbitals are not going to reach the speed you will need to make any major difference in any paints finish and your hand will feel like jelly by the time the entire car is done and probably covered in holographing from all the dust from wood shop. I think they could do more harm than good but just my .02.
I’d recommend investing in a decent random orbital short throw polisher. Harbor freight sells one for like $80 and is a great starter unit but it takes time and practice. They might still have a longer throw if you really want to knock some surface area out. Look into some “Lake Country” pads on amazon or their website, they’re about the crème of the crop. If your a car guy and or want to learn about true detailing I recommend looking into Chromatic Garage on YouTube. He got me into the art of detailing the correct way and majority of the content is therapeutic to watch. Notice the pad should always be moving and never in one spot, go in 2x2 squares at a time, the polish and or compound should never instantly dry, if it does your speed it way to high and you’ll likely burn through paint.
I’m assuming your planning on doing an entire car with one of those though, if your just trying to get a small scratch out then sure maybe they’ll get the job done. Regardless, Clay bar 100% of the time prior or you’re just rotating dirt particles around in the paint like sand paper. I pressure wash and then bucket wash prior to anything though.
If your looking to paint correct the whole car be sure to tape off not painted areas and crevices to avoid 1. pad contamination and 2. compound going in places it shouldn’t- Generally speaking without seeing the condition of the paint, if you want to do a true correction I’d start with Meguiars #105 and maybe a light cut pad. I wouldn’t go with a medium unless you have some pretty deep scratches everywhere. Then finish with Meguiars #205 and a finishing pad. If the paint is in pretty good shape you could probably get away with just the Meguiars #205 and finishing pad. Remember at the end of the day your essentially removing a thin layer of the clear coat one pass at a time. Assuming your going the wax route and not ceramic I’ve grown to like Collinite 845 which can easily be found on amazon and possibly Oreillys. Meguiars has an “ultimate” something something wax that’s okay and lasts a few months. Anything on the shelf at Walmart and the auto parts stores that says “ceramic” isn’t actually a ceramic based product btw. I recommend waxing by hand, I have no problem using the generic microfiber applicator pads. Removing wax should be done by an edgeless microfiber with light pressure. Anyway… If you have a need to polish something I say use the right equipment or pay a professional to do it. There’s a reason why detailers charge $600+ for their services.
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Thanks for the thoughtful and instructive reply - exactly what I’d hoped for when I joined DMS.
I used to details cars at a used car garage (first summers job at school) though you’d never know it looking at my cars. We just used clothes and compound and never did anything tricky, but it is therapeutic (when it’s double digit temperatures). Thanks for the Chromatic YT tip.
The car I’m working on is awful (ex City of Houston fleet Prius), not been waxed since 2009. It’s got missing clearcoat, gouges in the paint from removing stickers with a chisel(?).
It’s more of a scabbed canvas on which to learn, and see what tools / chemicals work. I have giant flame vinyl to put on the sides to cover up some of the gouges if that puts things in perspective.
Thanks again for the recommendations - I’m trying to get it to be “looks reasonable from 4 metres” as an upgrade from “looks terrible in a low res photo on an online auction site”.
Also: are you a teacher here? Not sure if anyone else would like a class on this stuff beyond watching it on YT
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“I have giant flame vinyl to put on the sides to cover up some of the gouges if that puts things in perspective.”
That very much puts things in perspective 
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I support this necessary modification
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I think the Megs wax you’re thinking of might be the Ultimate Liquid Wax. Imho it’s… fine. There are a lot of good synthetic waxes out there these days, it’s certainly one of them. A little overpriced for what it is, at times. Wouldn’t complain if I was forced to use it, though.
Now, the Megs Ultimate Compound – that stuff is magic. I don’t bother using 105 and 205 anymore. Megs Ultimate Compound will cut like 105 but leave a finish just shy of 205 – half the time you can get away with just wax/protect layer after it and you’re good, especially if you’re not doing (or looking to approximate) a “professional” job and are just doing a quick correction for a friend or such that isn’t going to go ape over the mirror finish. And if you’re really looking for the two-pass, then follow the Ultimate Compound with Ultimate Polish and you will get the rest of what you get with 205 and then some – no need for a finishing polisher there, protect and you’re done. Great stuff, 100% would recommend.
And one note on the HF random orbital for the original poster – pretty sure the random orbital short-throw being referred to was the dual-action one. They at least used to also sell a standard alongside the DA – avoid that one. I actually don’t have any experience with the short-throw DA, but I do love the long-throw DA they sell – great value for the price.
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Dual action DA( meaning rotates while rotating) or orbital is mainly polish equipment, rotary or variable speed polishes are going to be where you wanna be if you’re cutting (seriously go down the rabbit hole of knowing the difference between cutting, compound and polishing compound and polish etc) then go down the rabbit hole of wool microfiber or foam, then go down solid foam gapped foam pads like hexagon ones or wave foam pads with peaks and valleys!
Well technically DA means one that can be locked to spin and then unlocked to be an orbital hints dual action
I’m not on Talk that often… good thing, cuz them’s fightin’ words 
I’d have thought we were talking about polishing originally anyway, since you had mentioned the HF short-throw random orbital, but if you’re bringing cutting into it more now I’d probably still disagree. “DA vs rotary for cutting” used to get lots of of column-inches on forums half a decade to a decade ago, but I thought that was pretty much settled onced forced-rotation DAs became ubiquitous. There’s just not a lot that a rotary can do that a DA won’t do just as well at this point. A forced-rotation DA gives you great cutting without as high a probability of burn-through that a rotary would. It’s a win/win. If you have been using older designs of DAs, I could see still thinking the rotary is a necessity for cutting, but I’d encourage you to give a forced-action DA a shot. HF has one of those as well, under their Hercules brand IIRC, and as an added bonus its backing plate isn’t #$^%ing terrible like it is on every other HF polisher. (Though the Flex forced-action DA backing plates will still work on it, if you need different sizes – HF doesn’t offer them.)
Interestingly, I’ve seen a guy do a perfectly fine job cutting with a forced-action DA and polishing with a rotary – since actual “cutting power” doesn’t really differ much, his argument is that rotaries will always just feel smoother (since no throw, so no vibration), so he cuts with his micro or wool pad DA and puts a nice light-cut foam pad on his rotary for polish. (And he says he picked that up from another guy, who picked it up from another guy…) To each their own, I guess! I’m personally kinda intrigued by the idea.
Figured I’d find some YouTube comparison video as an example; my first hit was a “which would burn through faster?” but it found that the forced-action DA burned through faster so I figured you might not buy it and threw it out of consideration 
the next hit was this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtL7RZQdOOI. Pretty much the take I hear as standard these days. The rotary’s still great for detail edgework and such, but its use vs modern DAs is just very, very limited. (I mean, even Rupes now has a forced-action DA as of a few years ago, and they’re the granddaddy of classic DAs/heavily invested in those traditional non-forced action ones.)
EDIT: had to follow up, because two more videos down there was actually a pro detailing shop with their wizened old vet talking about how he prefers to cut with a DA and finish with a rotary (he actually says that verbatim!) – so I guess it’s a more widespread thing than I thought! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ6YAgShmlA
Yea I’m actually pretty good friends with the buffer down at park place Acura collision center. Doing it some odd 30ish years. And kid you not he just uses a good old dewalt rotaries lol! No I agree a ST-DA is always going to be the best go to, and get the best results but someone who’s experience level isn’t much, that’s like woodworking and drum sanders. A drum sander isn’t going to be useful until you have experience to appreciate why you need the higher caliber tools. So someone not familiar with which ones gentler cutting and more aggressive cutting between a wool and a foam pad(yet alone the difference in color or grades of foams) isn’t going to understand or appreciate the difference between and ST DA and just a normal rotary or a normal DA. But i completely agree with what you’re saying 100%