Orbital buffers?

[Salil Gaitonde <gaitonde@xxxxxx>]

Anyone have any experience with Orbital Buffers?
Are they considered harmful in any way to the 
finish of the car?  I have one and I buy new
waxing/buffing pads each time I wax my car.
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I used a fairly inexpensive low powered orbital buffer on a Cadillac 
that I had for 11 years. I waxed it twice a year using Rain Dance, 
now made by Borden.  This is a hard wax to buff off and the buffer 
worked well:  No scratches or swirl marks, but I used very light 
pressure and went through 3 to 4 pads each time.  The pads must be 
clean!  Any grit on the pad will cause a wiggly scratch in the clear 
coat.  The paint look new when I gave it to my Dad a few months ago.  
This is not a result of the buffer or that particular wax (I have no 
idea whats in the wax, but Borden makes no metion of carnuba), but 
probably more a result of the car being in a garage when parked at 
home and at work.  The point is the buffer made it easier to remove a 
hard-to-emove wax and didn't hurt the clearcoat.  I still use the 
same approach to my mini-van, although I wax my 328 by hand since its 
quite a bit less surface area.

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