Hello all. Just bought a Griot's Garage random orbital from Detailed Image and plan on using it this weekend. This will be my first time waxing my car since my accident.

Prior to my accident, I had the clear bra on my front bumper and did that part by hand, as I was worried that my prior orbital would maybe ruin the bra.

Now that I have the entire front of the car wrapped in clear bra (bumper, hood, headlights and fenders) I am wondering if I should still do those sections by hand or if the orbital is safe on it.

Only reason I am asking is that it is literally 1/3 of the car that is wrapped now so of course the orbital makes things a lot easier, but I don't want to ruin anything either.

Thanks in advance!

 

Bump I know I am not the only one on this forum that has a clear bra on my car. Any input would be much appreciated.

 

i am curious of this too, i am about to have my front bumper and hood repainted and going to have the clear bra put on. i have a buddy that i work with that details cars on the side, let me ask him

 

That Griot's buffer will not harm the clear bra. The only place you need to be careful and not use the buffer is on the seam where the bra ends. You can get polish or was pushed under the edge and that will be difficult to remove. I would suggest taping the edges of your clear bra before polishing or waxing.

 

Thanks! Any update from your buddy?

That sounds about right. If I decide to use it on my car I will be very careful on the edges. Most of the edges of the wrap go around the edges of the body so it would be in spots the buffer wouldn't even touch.

 

crap, i forgot... let me IM him now

 

so i talked to him, he said you can but it is not preferred. he said you have to use the right pads and the right speed or you will burn through it, said it is not worth the risk

 

Great thanks! I will do that part by hand. Doesn't really matter since I have no imperfections on the front anyways. I have tons of swirl marks on my hatch I need to take care of, but besides that the paint is pretty good on my car.

 

I would not use an orbital if you are just applying wax especially over your clear bra

I personally try to limit my impact whenever I am using my Porter Cable and if I was you I would just apply it gently by hand

 

The answer is unfortunately a bit more complex than yes or no, but the main thing is that the Griot's polisher is surely not dangerous for the film/clear bra. I could go as far as to say no polisher is dangerous on its own, but that's another topic . As long as you use slower speeds, very minor to no pressure and the appropriate pad/product (no heavy polishes and no heavy cutting pads) you will be fine both polishing the film and applying wax/sealant to it.

As for the edges, there's a pro/con to both taping and not taping. By taping, you will miss polishing or applying protection to say .5-1mm of the film. Also, you will leave the polish or wax residue at that edge of the film that you may have to scrub off and damage the film by scrubbing. On the other hand, you won't get product into the edge of the film. When polishing film, I like to avoid tape and simply polish away from the edge the first few passes, then wen the product is already spread and worked in a bit, go over the edge so as to polish/protect it completely but avoid leaving any or much residue.

Similarly, when polishing paint, I like to only tape the film edge when compounding, then remove it and lightly polish near the edge with a finishing polish so as not to leave any area unfinished. Also, I've noticed that unless you can perfectly tape the edge of film, which is practically impossible, you leave a line of residue that you need to sometimes scrub to remove, possibly swirling up the paint a bit.

Hope that helps.
Ivan @ DI

 

I would suggest that you just do it by hand. Orbital polisher may or might damage the bra. But if you are an experience detailer go ahead.

 

you are over a month late, but great advice