M
Mike Phillips
Guest
Mike Phillips recommended foam pads for the FLEX Family of BEAST 8mm Gear-Driven Orbital Polishers
I get asked a LOT about which pads to get for the FLEX family of BEAST tools. If you don't know, the BEAST family of tools includes,
FLEX XC 3401 VRG - the original and also known as The BEAST - and the BEAST is spelled with all capital letters. This is a 8mm gear-driven fixed orbit orbital polisher.
FLEX XCE 10-8 125 aka The Supa BEAST - Supa is short for super and only the first letter is capitalized. This is a 8mm gear-driven fixed orbit orbital polisher.
FLEX XCE 8-125 18.0 aka The CBEAST - All capital letters and the letter C before the word BEAST simply stands for cordless. This is a 8mm gear-driven fixed orbit orbital polisher.
As of February 9th, 2021 - here are my preferred choices for pads for compounding, polishing, finishing work and when using AIOs
For heavy correction work I like the Lake Country 6.5" Force Hybrid Orange Foam Cutting Pad. When doing this type of work you should have at least 6 pads per car.
For polishing, finishing work or when using AIOs, I like the new RUPES yellow and white CP foam pads. The white finishing pad is NOT the softest finishing pad on the market, so if you're working on soft paint you may want to go with a Buff & Shine white finishing pad or a Lake Country 6.5" BLACK Force Hybrid pad. It does work great on most paints though.
For a complete set of pads, cutting to finishing, the Buff & Shine 7" Uro-Tec Pads are a good match for the BEAST tools. They would be better if Buff & Shine redesigned them and created a pad with a tick more taper like the old, now discontinued RUPES 7" foam pads.
:updated:
7 inch RUPES Coarse Wool Polishing Pad
I have also been using these for when I need more aggressive paint correction.
Here's the links to get them on the AG Store
6.5 inch Lake Country Force Hybrid Orange Cutting Pad
Buff & Shine 7" Uro-Tec Foam Pads
RUPES 180 mm / 7" Foam Pads
7 inch RUPES Coarse Wool Polishing Pad
NOTE: RUPES likes to use metric measurements for their line of products because the metric system is more accurate when it comes to small dimensions. This "forum" and the AG store being in the United States of America does in fact cater to the world, but I think it's also fair to say that a lot of our customers are here in the states and because the metric system never took-off or never caught-on here in the U.S., most Americans still use the U.S. Standard system for measuring. Thus the reason you see 180mm or 7" - they are close to the same in measure.
Make sense?
Also - for what it's worth, I have not arrived to the point where I like the new RUPES Blue foam cutting pad. I have not given up on it yet, but I find myself still preferring the Lake Country Orange Force Hybrid pad for cutting, compounding, paint correction - whatever you prefer to call aggressive work.
:buffing:
I get asked a LOT about which pads to get for the FLEX family of BEAST tools. If you don't know, the BEAST family of tools includes,
FLEX XC 3401 VRG - the original and also known as The BEAST - and the BEAST is spelled with all capital letters. This is a 8mm gear-driven fixed orbit orbital polisher.
FLEX XCE 10-8 125 aka The Supa BEAST - Supa is short for super and only the first letter is capitalized. This is a 8mm gear-driven fixed orbit orbital polisher.
FLEX XCE 8-125 18.0 aka The CBEAST - All capital letters and the letter C before the word BEAST simply stands for cordless. This is a 8mm gear-driven fixed orbit orbital polisher.
As of February 9th, 2021 - here are my preferred choices for pads for compounding, polishing, finishing work and when using AIOs
For heavy correction work I like the Lake Country 6.5" Force Hybrid Orange Foam Cutting Pad. When doing this type of work you should have at least 6 pads per car.
For polishing, finishing work or when using AIOs, I like the new RUPES yellow and white CP foam pads. The white finishing pad is NOT the softest finishing pad on the market, so if you're working on soft paint you may want to go with a Buff & Shine white finishing pad or a Lake Country 6.5" BLACK Force Hybrid pad. It does work great on most paints though.
For a complete set of pads, cutting to finishing, the Buff & Shine 7" Uro-Tec Pads are a good match for the BEAST tools. They would be better if Buff & Shine redesigned them and created a pad with a tick more taper like the old, now discontinued RUPES 7" foam pads.
:updated:
7 inch RUPES Coarse Wool Polishing Pad
I have also been using these for when I need more aggressive paint correction.
Here's the links to get them on the AG Store
6.5 inch Lake Country Force Hybrid Orange Cutting Pad
Buff & Shine 7" Uro-Tec Foam Pads
RUPES 180 mm / 7" Foam Pads
7 inch RUPES Coarse Wool Polishing Pad
NOTE: RUPES likes to use metric measurements for their line of products because the metric system is more accurate when it comes to small dimensions. This "forum" and the AG store being in the United States of America does in fact cater to the world, but I think it's also fair to say that a lot of our customers are here in the states and because the metric system never took-off or never caught-on here in the U.S., most Americans still use the U.S. Standard system for measuring. Thus the reason you see 180mm or 7" - they are close to the same in measure.
Make sense?
Also - for what it's worth, I have not arrived to the point where I like the new RUPES Blue foam cutting pad. I have not given up on it yet, but I find myself still preferring the Lake Country Orange Force Hybrid pad for cutting, compounding, paint correction - whatever you prefer to call aggressive work.
:buffing:
