I'm going to buy a GG6 for my 12 year old son to start learning with and I will use on occasion. For myself I would like to use 3" or 4" pads to do pillars and some touch up spots. Would 3"or 4"pads be best and what brand/style would y'all recommend?
Hey Bud,
The best bet would be to get him using the GG6 converted to a 5" System. That is a simple backing plate swap. This would give him safe operation with effective paint correcting ability. Using the GG6 with a 3" System (3" or 4" Pads) focused a lot of energy and torque in a smaller footprint. The pad rotation would be very high! Delivering very fast paint correction. My son is 10 and I wouldn't put that in his hands. There is high probability he may burn an edge...particularly when using with a Micro Fiber Cutting pad.
Our Foam Pads are bulletproof. They will not delaminate. The foam pads feature reticulated foam for long lasting durability and cool polishing.
Ranked from most aggressive to least...
5" Micro Fiber FAST Cutting Pad- one super sweet pad. Conformability and ultra-fast paint correction. This is a hidden gem in the line and one many haven't even been exposed to. It is killer!!
5.5" Orange Correcting Foam Pad- Cuts light to moderate defects and finishes out exceptionally well.
5.5" Black Finishing Foam Pad- excellent for light defect removal and finishes out great! Can be used with All In Ones- AIO
5.5" Red Waxing Pad- excellent for spreading waxes and sealants evenly for fast wipe-off and reduce product consumption.
These pads offer conformability to contours which will benefit a novice. They are far more forgiving. Another option is to pair our
BOSS Pads with the GG6...something few have been exposed to yet, but will once the word is out. Hope to do a write up on that soon.
The three foams are available in 3" and 4" too. If you still wanted to go that route, I'd recommend this backing plate from Autogeek:

LC-43-073DA
Another drawback with this ...the plate is smaller than the counterbalance shroud. That could potentially expose small fingers to come in contact with the counterbalance, causing injury. Please be aware of that! We currently do not recommend the use of the 3" System on that tool for that reason. It will perform excellent, but user beware...it hurts like heck to engage a finger with a counterbalance. Ask me how I know
Hope that helps. Please let me know if you've got any questions. PS, Thank you for picking up a GG6! We appreciate it
Brownie