Applying Blackfire Wet Diamond

[Vrumpkin]

Originally Posted by b33g33

What advantages do you see in the Flex over the Porter Cable? I like to buy the best product I can afford because they tend to last longer and give better service. I'm just curious if the Flex is 2x as good as the PC because it seems to be more than twice as expensive.

Originally Posted by Amnizu

Simply put yes. There are a couple distinct differences between the Flex and the PC, Meg polisher and Griotts.

The first is the Flex is a forced DA meaning regardless of the angle, pressure or speed set on the polisher the dual action will always happen. Whereas on the other product this is not the case, if you get the angle wrong or put too much pressure it turns into a rotary.

Secondly, the flex spins a higher RPM, Ie has a more powerful engine. This means you can often remove more imperfections in 1 or 2 passes where it may take 3 or 4 with the others. This can drastically shorten the amount of time you have to polish.

After doing enough cars with it I ditched my flex in favor of both the Meguiars G110 V2 and Griots DA, both are lightyears ahead of the Porter Cable, the Megs is butter smooth and quiet but the Griots does have more power.

The Flex 3401 is an extremely high quality machine, all Flex machines are I have had my 3403 rotary for almost 3 years now.

Problem with the 3401 is its 5.5" fixed backing plate which is horrible for polishing anything other than an SUV if you cant change the size of the pad. The need for smaller pads and backing plates is huge! You could buy the 4" pad adapter for the Flex but I believe is $50 and not a quick change like the Griots or Megs... mind you thats paying another $50 for a smaller backing plate on a $330 machine... the Griots and other DA's are about $129 and can accept any size backing plate without the need for an adapter.

As for use, the Flex is almost too powerful for its own good and the forced rotation actually gets in the way of smooth polishing, the Flex has a tendency to pull you around (some paints way more than others) but either way you need 2 hands firmly on with solid pressure, it doesnt glide unless you make it. The true DA machines, especially Griots can be operated with a much lighter grip and if you push the machine on the paint it will glide smoothy, no grabby behavior. Either use a real rotary or use a real DA, the Flex falls in the middle and gets left behind

Originally Posted by HeyMoe53

I haven't polished by hand for 12 years, which is the age of my Porter Cable.

If it were to conk out, I'd look hard at a Flex.

SD Detail--I'm curious as to which polish(es) you use, if you don't mind my asking. I've been using Meguiar's M205, followed by Menzerna PO85RD. I've never had the need to be more aggressive than the 205, though I do have a few on hand.

Nice shot of the Valencia Orange! I can only imagine what the whole car looks like!

Meguiars 205 works awesome on the 1M colors! If you use 205 with a soft finishing pad there is no need to follow up with Menzerna 85rd, the difference in gloss is negligible if any and 85rd takes longer to use and can streak a little when buffing off, 85rd powder cakes up in the microfiber.

If your car never gets bad than M205 should really be all you need just change the pad depdning on what type of job your doing on the car... ie removing fine wash swirls hit it with a green or orange pad or just doing a gentle polish with no swirls use a black pad

85rd still is one of the finest finishing polishes ever made so always keep it in the garage..

-Dave

[theblackangus]

I use Dawn dish soap to strip the old product from my car every spring.
Car gets washed Friday night and goes into the garage not to emerge until monday morning.
In the garage the car gets claybar'ed, then has the 1st BFWD coat applied.
I wait for about 1 hour then remove the coat and let sit for the night.
Apply two more coats on saturday morning then sunday morning.
Sunday night I them throw on a coat or two of mothers wax.

This is the 1st spring cleaning.
Then once a month I re-apply a coat of BFWD and wax.
All by hand, good for your arm muscles ;-)