Machine polish or polish by hand?
 

Jus wondering who uses machine to polish or do you polish by hand?

Depending on what you are trying to accomplish, polishing by hand is typically very laborius and not very effective. A Porter Cable or Griots DA polisher can be had for less than $150 new or even cheaper on eBay/Craiglist. One of these will shorten you polishing time considerably.

thanks 911fanatic, lookin forward to purchase a Porter Cable from you before summer starts. What are the pads tat the Porter Cable use? Any steps you would recommend when using the Porter Cable?

If you come out to pick it up, I'll show you how to use it. No worries. I typically use 5.5" B&S pads. The Meguiars MF discs are awesome but prone to delaminate so watch for the Optimum ones in the store shortly.

I polished and waxed my entire car once before by hand. Never again. Couldn't move my arm for a few days lulz

is there any sort of "paint safe" degreaser? I feel my paint has hard/stuck on stuff on it.

yah there is, check this one Carpro TarX. you can get it from autowerkes
its all made from natural ingredients, wont harm the paint

There are lots of paint safe degreasers available. Autoglym Powermax, Optimum Powerclean, P21S Total Auto Wash etc. All are safe when the directions are followed.