Best choice DA polisher medium to major jobs

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patricemougeot

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Hi Mike, what DA polisher would be best suited for medium to major paint correction ie: swirls, scratches equivalent to the Rupes15 or 21mm throw? Any brand to suggest?
 
what polishers/pads do you currently own? how many times a year do you plan on using it?
 
patricemougeot said:
Hi Mike, what DA polisher would be best suited for medium to major paint correction ie: swirls, scratches equivalent to the Rupes15 or 21mm throw? Any brand to suggest?
Click to expand...

I will clarify what I mean.

The Meguiars G110v2 has a stroke length of 8mm. The porter cable 7424XP has a stroke length of 8mm, the Flex XC3401 has a stroke length of 8mm, the Rupes LHR 15ES has a stroke length of 15mm and so on with the other ones. So my question again, if you come upon a vehicle that has medium to major swirls and scratches, which DA polisher would be best suited for the job.
 
patricemougeot said:
I will clarify what I mean.

The Meguiars G110v2 has a stroke length of 8mm. The porter cable 7424XP has a stroke length of 8mm, the Flex XC3401 has a stroke length of 8mm, the Rupes LHR 15ES has a stroke length of 15mm and so on with the other ones. So my question again, if you come upon a vehicle that has medium to major swirls and scratches, which DA polisher would be best suited for the job.
Click to expand...


ronkh57 said:
imho
flex 3401 or rupes 15/21
Click to expand...

:D
 
patricemougeot said:
I will clarify what I mean.

The Meguiars G110v2 has a stroke length of 8mm. The porter cable 7424XP has a stroke length of 8mm, the Flex XC3401 has a stroke length of 8mm, the Rupes LHR 15ES has a stroke length of 15mm and so on with the other ones.

So my question again,

if you come upon a vehicle that has medium to major swirls and scratches, which DA polisher would be best suited for the job.
Click to expand...


IF by the word best you mean,

Which tool is the most effective at removing paint? (that's how you remove swirls you remove a little paint and level the surface)

The I agree with Ron.

Ron said:
ronkh57

imho

flex 3401 or rupes 15/21
Click to expand...


If by the word best you mean which tool will do it the fastest no matter what the shape of the body panel then gear-driven tools trump free spinning tools no matter which brand.


For example, I can do a production detail or a show car detailer faster with the FLEX 3401 than I can with a Griot's BOSS 21 simply because of the gear-driven aspect of the FLEX 3401. No matter how hard I push the FLEX 3401 or what the shape of the body panel the pad will not stop oscillating or rotating. Free spinning tools like the Porter Cable, Meguiar's MT300, Cyclo polisher, etc. use counterweights and inertia via speed to maintain pad rotation and pad oscillation and all of them work best on flat panels. As soon as you have to tackle curves, especially convex curves and/or thin panels it requires more time and more skill or finesse to hold the body of the tool in such a way as to maintain effective pad rotation.

I think the 21mm stroke tools like the RUPES BigFoot 21mm and the Griot's BOSS G21 can leave the nicest looking finish over the widest spectrum of surface assuming a person is using great abrasive technology and the right pad for the job.


Here's the real deal though... due to the counter clockwise rotation of the buffing pad on the FLEX 3401 AND the gear-driven aspect, some people don't like how the FLEX feels to HOLD as they buff out a car. It never bothers me but nothing bothers me. Free spinning tools, no matter the orbit stroke or the brand are much easier to hold and move over the surface.

So until you use ALL the tools you might not ever know which tool is best for you and the type of detailing you do. That's one of the benefits for the people that attend my Competition Ready 3-day detailing class. They get to use ALL the tools and they get to use them on cool cars and daily drivers. By the time a person goes through my class they all know which tools they love and which tools they'll take a pass on.


Here's a few questions for you...

1: What type of detailing do you do?

2: Do you detail for money?

3: If so do you primarily do daily drivers or special interest cars?


Great question by the way...


:)
 
Mike.Phillips@Autogeek said:
IF by the word best you mean,

Which tool is the most effective at removing paint? (that's how you remove swirls you remove a little paint and level the surface)

The I agree with Ron.




If by the word best you mean which tool will do it the fastest no matter what the shape of the body panel then gear-driven tools trump free spinning tools no matter which brand.


For example, I can do a production detail or a show car detailer faster with the FLEX 3401 than I can with a Griot's BOSS 21 simply because of the gear-driven aspect of the FLEX 3401. No matter how hard I push the FLEX 3401 or what the shape of the body panel the pad will not stop oscillating or rotating. Free spinning tools like the Porter Cable, Meguiar's MT300, Cyclo polisher, etc. use counterweights and inertia via speed to maintain pad rotation and pad oscillation and all of them work best on flat panels. As soon as you have to tackle curves, especially convex curves and/or thin panels it requires more time and more skill or finesse to hold the body of the tool in such a way as to maintain effective pad rotation.

I think the 21mm stroke tools like the RUPES BigFoot 21mm and the Griot's BOSS G21 can leave the nicest looking finish over the widest spectrum of surface assuming a person is using great abrasive technology and the right pad for the job.


Here's the real deal though... due to the counter clockwise rotation of the buffing pad on the FLEX 3401 AND the gear-driven aspect, some people don't like how the FLEX feels to HOLD as they buff out a car. It never bothers me but nothing bothers me. Free spinning tools, no matter the orbit stroke or the brand are much easier to hold and move over the surface.

So until you use ALL the tools you might not ever know which tool is best for you and the type of detailing you do. That's one of the benefits for the people that attend my Competition Ready 3-day detailing class. They get to use ALL the tools and they get to use them on cool cars and daily drivers. By the time a person goes through my class they all know which tools they love and which tools they'll take a pass on.


Here's a few questions for you...

1: What type of detailing do you do?

2: Do you detail for money?

3: If so do you primarily do daily drivers or special interest cars?

Great question by the way...


:)
Click to expand...

1: What type of detailing do you do? Swirl and scratch removal, polishing, nothing major as this would include wet sanding.

2: Do you detail for money? Not at the moment as this is a still a hobby for me, but I do plan to change that in the very near future. Hence my questions regarding the tools :)

3: If so do you primarily do daily drivers or special interest cars? I will mostly invest my time on collectible cars. But if a daily driver comes in, I will take it.
 
patricemougeot said:
1: What type of detailing do you do? Swirl and scratch removal, polishing, nothing major as this would include wet sanding.

2: Do you detail for money? Not at the moment as this is a still a hobby for me, but I do plan to change that in the very near future. Hence my questions regarding the tools :)

3: If so do you primarily do daily drivers or special interest cars? I will mostly invest my time on collectible cars. But if a daily driver comes in, I will take it.
Click to expand...

From reading articles and listening to videos, which one of these 2 DA polishers would you recommend: Griot's Big Boss 21 or Rupes LHR 21ES.
 
Again take the Griots lifetime warranty with a grain of salt. If you are a production detailer and run your polisher all day every day they may not give you a new polisher if you wear it out. The guarantee is from manufacturing defects. Saying that, it is a matter of preference on which tool you buy. Tough to go wrong. Rupes also has outstanding support for all of their products.
 
rlmccarty2000 said:
Again take the Griots lifetime warranty with a grain of salt. If you are a production detailer and run your polisher all day every day they may not give you a new polisher if you wear it out. The guarantee is from manufacturing defects. Saying that, it is a matter of preference on which tool you buy. Tough to go wrong. Rupes also has outstanding support for all of their products.
Click to expand...

They put the 2 year warranty for professional users. But Griot's said that if you're just a hobbyist, you're pretty much going to have lifetime warranty. They said that when they receive a tool, they usually see if it's been abused or not.
 
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