DA questions

joleyred

joleyred

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Hi all. I'm a newbie to the site, though a longtime detailer. I have a black Denali GMC truck that I'm a little finicky about. Last year I bought a Flex, I'm interested in a small DA, such as the PC, for hard to get at areas. Any help would be appreciated. Joleyred
 
Welcome to AutogeekOnline! :welcome:


To get into small areas if you want to use a Porter Cable style DA polisher this will work and then get a smaller backing plate and foam pads.

3" backing plate


You could also get the Griot's Garage 6" DA Polisher, (same type of polisher as a Porter Cable) and this backing plate will fit onto the Griot's polisher too.


A lot of people do like you're suggesting, that is use the Flex 3401 for the larger panels and set up a smaller dual action polisher for working the thin panels.


:)
 
3 inch and 4 inch buffing pad options at Autogeek


Griot's 3" foam pads
Griots Garage 3 Inch Orange Polishing Foam Pad 3 Pack

Griots Garage 3 Inch Black Finishing Pad, Set of 3

Griots Garage 3 Inch Mini Red Wax Pad 3 Pack



Flex 3" foam pads
The Flex 3" foam pads work great with rotary or DA style pads, it's the taper that makes small pads work.

FLEX PE8 Rotary Foam Pads – 1, 2, 3 Inch Diameter

The 3" Flex pad will fit on this DA backing plate

3" backing plate



Buff and Shine 4" pads
Buff and Shine offers a Mini Spot Buffing Kit. The kit includes a rotary buffer backing plate with an adapter to fit the rotary buffer backing plate to a DA polisher.

Buff and Shine Mini Spot Buffing Kit


The foam pads and wool pads in this kit will fit on this 3" DA backing plate

3" backing plate




These LC pads fit the above 3" backing plate too...

Lake Country Hydro-Tech 3 x 1.25 Inch Foam Pads


Lake Country 3 Inch Flat Pads 6 Pack - Your Choice





If you can go 4" the Meguiar's 4" foam pads or the Cyclo 4" foam pads or the Buff and Shine 4" pads are great for that size category.

Meguiar's

Meguiars DA Compound Power Pads

Meguiars DA Polishing Power Pads

Meguiars DA Waxing Power Pads


Cyclo

Cyclo 4" pads


Buff and Shine

Buff and Shine 4" pads



RUPES
And the RUPES 4" foam pads are tapered and killer! I use the white pads for machine waxing.


Rupes 100 mm (4 Inch) Foam Pads


Lots of options!


:)
 
Just to note...

When you take a full size dual action polisher and put a small pad on it the effect you can feel and experience when using the tool on a horizontal panel is called,

tippy


That's because you have so much more mass over the top of a small pad footprint. It's no big deal just be sure to hold the tool firmly and focus on the task at hand.

It's not really an issue when working on vertical panels because when working on vertical panels you're already holding and supporting the weight of the tool.


When working on flat panels it's too easy to let the weight of the machine be the downward pressure and this can lead to a tippy feeling if you don't hold the tool firmly.


Make sense?


:)
 
It all makes good sense. Thanks. The flex is not capable of the smaller pads though, correct. It doesn't have the 5/8" arbor required to accept the 3", or 4" pads.
 
Correct, the flex uses its own unique backing plate.

You can also check into the rupes line, they have a smaller da for 3-4" plates.
 
You can get 5" pads for the Flex



New 5" pads for 4" Backing Plate on Flex 3401



5" Hybrid Pads for the 4" backing plate on the Flex 3401!

1965Plymouth009.jpg


1965Plymouth010.jpg


1965Plymouth011.jpg


1965Plymouth012.jpg




Autogeek stocks these pads here,

Lake Country Hybrid Power Finish 5 Inch Foam Pads


See them in action here,

Live Broadcast Video - 1965 Plymouth Valiant - Extreme Makeover


1965 Plymouth Valiant - Extreme Makeover​
[video=youtube_share;VGnDSmMLwk8"]1965 Plymouth Valiant[/video]


:)
 
For the smaller areas, I use my PC 7424XP with a 3" pad. Exactly how Mike laid out above. It works fine. I'm looking into the FLEX PE8 Kompakt for some more definite power in those smaller areas, though.

A mini-3401 that could take on 3" and smaller pads would be a one hit of a product if it existed. (you reading this, Flex?) ;)
 
My thoughts exactly, a mini 3401?? How cool would that be..... I really like the look of the PE8 with the extended arbor. It would be great in small panels or for motorcycle detailing!!
 
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