Disappointed with Flex Tools

weeecho

weeecho

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I´m really disappointed with the quality of flex tools

in one year and 8 months

my flex 3401vrg went off sometimes one of the main wires where almost broken

i need to replace the original backplate because the velcro doesn´t work after a year

i bought a 4 3/8 original flex backplate

and now almost 8 months look how is my 4 3/8


10600526_10152230711142373_8642431881187373861_n.jpg
 
that looks like it melted from the pad transfering heat, do you do lots of hard compounding?
 
Looks like classic symptom of overheating the pad/BP, causing adhesive failure


How often are you changing pads while compounding?


Sometimes this can be caused by using too much polish, which can increase the transfer of heat from the paint to the pad to the BP
 
three pads for do all the compound process

lake country and sonax


now i´m going to try to glue some velcro that i found here in my city
 
weeecho said:
three pads for do all the compound process

lake country and sonax


now i´m going to try to glue some velcro that i found here in my city
Click to expand...

Three pads, may not be enough, depending on the amount of downward pressure & machine speed you are using. I use 5-6 during compounding.

Make sure you clean the foam on the BP of any polishing oils that may prevent the glue from adhering


Good Luck


Looking forward to the "After" pictures and hearing how the repaired BP performs
 
the first try will be with glue, if doesn´t work with staples lol


i´m in the middle of this vw truck

10408999_746977088678879_6506445327844009542_n.jpg
 
That's nuts!! I've never seen that with any of my 4 buffers, 2 of which are Flex. My bet is you got a defective unit.
 
left the polisher before lunch and when i return it was like that

:( :cry:
 
Looks like the backing plates are failing from over saturating the pads, constant heavy pressure, and not cleaning them enough and switching out to fresh pads after each panel.

Any tool will eat backing plates if subjected to this abuse.
 
Mike@DedicatedPerfection said:
Looks like the backing plates are failing from over saturating the pads, constant heavy pressure, and not cleaning them enough and switching out to fresh pads after each panel.

Any tool will eat backing plates if subjected to this abuse.
Click to expand...

I gotta agree with this. I don't think it's a defect in the Flex product - but over exposure to heat over a long time. Do you live somewhere very hot and detail outside? Ambient temps seem to contribute a fair amount to machines getting "too hot".
 
I've never seen a backing plate fail like shown in the picture that wasn't also pushed to it's limit.

Not saying that's what the OP's doing but just what I've seen in my life.

The BIG PICTURE I want to point out is Flex makes very high quality tools. I know I use them and I've also toured the plant and documented on this forum their production process and their quality control process and their tools are top notch.

When it comes to "buffing out cars" the weakest links are the backing plates and the pads and specifically the adhesive used to hold Velcro to both backing plates and pads.

The problems are caused by,

  • Heat
  • Exposure to chemicals that seep through the pad and saturate the adhesive that holds the Velcro to the pad or buffing pad.
  • High speed VIOLENT oscillating action.
  • Downward pressure.
  • Time - Add time to all 4 of the above and sooner or later something's gotta give and the "something" is the adhesive and then the velcro hook & loop material.

The BIGGER picture is this.... a thread like this sharing an issue with a component that's used with the Flex tool gets posted once in a while and often times it is a case of the person doing lots of correction work, (the most punishing type of work), with too few pads, thus failures happen.


If you look for threads that are actual threads about a real problem with a Flex tool they are far and few between, in fact they are the exception... never the rule. Flex makes great tools and their quality makes you money, it doesn't cost you money.


:)
 
probably the backplate thing is a operator problem, but the wire broken inside the machine ?

when i take the decision to buy flex i think this tool is going to work with any issues at least two o three years only change the brushes

i will need to buy another backplate due the velcro that i found here its heavy duty and when you try to separate the pad from the velcro its too hard
 
I wonder what chemicals that are commonly used to clean pads have an adverse effect on the adhesives of the pad and BP

Weeecho,

What are you cleaning your pads with?


Just a thought
 
a made a bucket with dp polishing pad rejuvenator and the do the method with a terry towel to squeeze water and left upside down to get dry
 
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