A solid, reliable, powerful polishing machine and sander combo is an awesome multi-tool to keep in the garage for those of us who are more particular about the gleaming paint job on our cars. Keeping that looking nice and shiny takes quite a bit of effort, so rather than putting in the elbow grease to polish and sand it manually with your hands, tools like the Ryobi 18V ONE+ cordless detail polisher and sander make this way easier. It really only does two things – it sands, and it polishes – but it does those two specific things incredibly well.
We’ve covered some Ryobi tools in the past before, and we’re typically left with a pretty positive impression of them after using each one. In addition, this cordless detail polisher and sander tool here is a part of the brand’s ONE+ ecosystem, which all share the same, interchangeable 18V battery. So, this means you can quickly swap out the battery in your ONE+ chainsaw, vacuum cleaner, or shop light (among 200 other individual tools), and use it with any other ONE+ tool. It’s quite handy, but is Ryobi’s cordless polisher/sander worth it?
Well, using it is pretty straightforward, so we’ll give it top marks for ease of use. There’s a trigger that rotates the oscillating head (either fitted with a sanding disc or polishing pad), though you can’t change the direction that it rotates (not that you need to). And, there’s a button just above the trigger that you can use to safely lock the rotating head, for when you need to swap out the sanding disc or polishing pad, which screws on and off the sander/polisher really easily. And, there’s even a handle that you could mount on either side of the sander/polisher.
Easy To Use, Yet Supremely Effective
That ought to make it easier to apply pressure onto the surface of whatever you’re detailing, sanding, and polishing. For some finer control, there’s a switch on the very top of the Ryobi cordless detail sander and polisher, where you can swap between two modes – 1 or 2. Just like the gearing on a power drill, this basically changes between a lower speed (0 to 2,800 OPM) or a higher speed (0 to 7,800 OPM) of oscillation. One mode is made for sanding, while the other is optimised for polishing, and it’s a single button click to switch.
Then, there’s the subject of the sanding discs and polishing pads themselves. In the box, Ryobi includes a few of each that you can use straight away, which are more than suitable enough for basic, day-to-day detailing with your car. Some of those sanding discs included have a high enough grit level, and they’re not too abrasive, so it’s safe for use with automotive paintwork. If you want additional grit levels, you’ll need to purchase the optional sanding discs. For our review, we managed to sample the optional 14-piece set of 50mm sanding discs.
The varying grits of sandpaper include 60 grit, 80 grit, 120 grit, 400 grit, 800 grit, 1,200 grit, 1,500 grit, as well as 2,000 grit. Ryobi also sells an optional 4-piece set of 75mm polishing pads, which includes a microfibre pad, a wool pad, a foam correcting pad, and a foam finishing pad. One thing to bear in mind, however, is that the Ryobi cordless detail polisher/sander is a bare tool, so it doesn’t come with either the battery or charger (just some discs and pads), both of which are compatible with the rest of the Ryobi 18V ONE+ ecosystem.
Varying Levels Of Sanding And Polishing
You might’ve noticed it already, but the sanding discs and polishing pads on the Ryobi cordless polisher/sander are rather small. Although, that’s not necessarily a bad thing if you know how to use it. See, some of the other sanders and polishing machines that I’ve used before utilise larger (6-inch, usually) discs/pads, but they’re also very thin. As such, they don’t have that level of sponginess, which could be nice to have if you’re trying to sand or polish around the harder edges and sharper corners of your car if you’re seeking thoroughness.
Some of those aforementioned sanding discs and polishing pads themselves are quite flat and rigid too, so this can make it a bit more challenging to work around some of the curvature of your car’s bodywork. It might not matter for basic car detailing or using it every now and then to get rid of a tiny scratch on the paint, but think twice if you’re going to rely on them more frequently or use them for commercial work. Meanwhile, Ryobi’s polishing pads and sanding discs, though they’re smaller in diameter, are thicker and spongier.
In addition, having this smaller radius does make it easier to sand or polish around more intricate parts of your car, like the bumper or front fascia, with the many nooks, crannies, bulges, and strong body lines that you have to apply pressure onto. Some scenarios where I’d much prefer this smaller diameter would be trying to polish and sand over aero bits (i.e. front splitters, wing vents, or the rear wing), or going over smaller sections of the car, such as the side mirrors and door handles, etc. Granted, there are downsides to this, as well.
Small, But Incredibly Mighty And Versatile
Given that Ryobi’s sanding discs and polishing pads are smaller in diameter, they might not be the best for any large-scale detailing work, or needing sanding or polishing over large body panels (Ryobi have the dual-action polisher for that). However, if you’re trying to buff out smaller scratches and tiny scuffs on your paint job that you may encounter day-to-day, having those two gearing modes is definitely a nice addition compared to a more commonplace dual-action sander/polisher, the Ryobi cordless polisher/sander affords you more control, and it also allows you to be more gentle.
One example of how it can prove handy, for instance, is what happened to my car a while back, when a charging cable was accidentally dragged over the paint, scuffing the paintwork a tiny bit. It’s not bad enough that you’ll see through the base coat, but it did scratch up the clear coat. The Ryobi cordless polisher/sander has most of what I needed to fix it (except for the polishing compound). In my use case, the finishing pad is the most ideal, as I wanted a gentle polish to buff out the clear coat, so there’s no need to go too hard on it.
Then, all I had to do was set the Ryobi polisher/sander here to its polishing mode and then gently work back and forth to smoothen the clear coat layer. Finally, I could then buff up the paint lightly with the wool pad. For the price (£109.99), Ryobi’s cordless sander and polisher is a compact, lightweight, powerful, and easy-to-control tool that definitely deserves a spot in your garage. It may not even be your primary sander or polisher, but for when you need to get between a rock and a hard place, I can’t think of anything better.
