Thanks Rich, is the "white diamond compound" your talking about the same as the "white compound" bar that comes in the sets with black, brown, green, ect? Do I just rub it on a felt rag and then start polishing? For some reason I thought these bars needed heat from the spinning wheel to work properly(I'm not exactly sure why I thought that). I had already talked to an automotive store but didn't know how aggressive their compounds were. There were labeled by terms like final polish. Does anybody know about what grit the white compound might be and is there a liquid/paste alternative?

Jake

The buffing compounds in sticks are just grit plus was/grease/binder, etc. They work fine cold, often better that way, actually.

Typically, hand rubbing compound is faster cutting (coarser) than machine rubbing compound, and the final polish stuff is the finest of the lot, having only polishing, as opposed to cutting, particles in it.

Cutting compounds, such as pumice, emery, tripoli, white diamond, etc, are sharp little particles of abrasive that abrade away the surface of the work. Polishing compounds such as rouge are typically composed not of sharp grains, but of tiny platelets of material that "burnish" the surface of the work.

Aggressiveness of various compounds is all relative. Pumice is highly aggressive on paint, moderate on soft metals, and does nothing to hard metals like carbides.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for your help Rich, that answers a lot of questions.

Jake