Flex xc 3401 (can it replace these 3 polishers)

asap2stacks

asap2stacks

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Can it replace all 3 of my current polishers?

Porter cable
Meg's mt300
Makita rotary
 
It can replace all 3 but it deosnt hurt to have a rotary in your arsenal at all times.
 
For heavy work, nothing can beat a rotary in the right hands.
 
•IMO:
-No


•Even when considering the near
redundancy of having the two DAs
(nice to always have a back-up):
-No


•Keep the Rotary: Yes.
-(If for no other reason than "jeweling")



Bob
 
You will need the Makita in situations where the 3401 doesn't have enough oomph.
 
Well the Maktia is my go to whenever I do boats but as we all know it's so heavy to work with. Me and my crew have never worked with any flex or rupes and we just got a good quote on 3 of these Flex xc 3401 so I didn't know if I should take it or not and get rid of the other buffers just wanted everyone's opinion on it before I made a decision because even tho it's a good deal it's still a decent amount of $ to spend.

I think I'll just buy one and see how I personally like it first then have to get back to him about it.
 
If you ever encounter a situation where there is sanding, the rotary will be your friend there too. Imagine a situation where your customer decides to wet sand his car with 1000/1500, and all you have is the Flex. Gonna be a hard road to hope without a good strong rotary.
 
Flex & the rotary. Great 1-2 punch. Just did a really bad hood yesterday that would have taken forever with the flex. Still took a while with the rotary but came out nice.
 
I would keep them all.

The Flex 3401 will not replace a rotary and you can get a smaller backing plate for one of the DAs and put 3" pads on it for small areas.
 
The 3401 is my main polisher, but I still pull out my PC every once in a while as it's set up for only 3" pads now. Whenever Flex jumps on making a mini-3401 for 2-3" pads, the PC will get retired.
 
asap2stacks said:
Can it replace all 3 of my current polishers?

Porter cable
Meg's mt300
Makita rotary
Click to expand...


I'd say "no".


The PC is very handy for all kinds of tasks,

Machine waxing - lighter more compact than the FLEX 3401 which makes it easier to hold with one hand when machine waxing vertical panels. You can hold the FLEX 3401 with one hand and machine wax vertical panels but it requires a lot more muscle than the PC. That's my take and I do use both for machine waxing cars.

Machine sanding - Including car paint, gel-coat boats and aluminum pontoon boats. I cover two of these topics in my boat how-to book.

Machine scrubbing - In the past few weeks I've shown the PC used to machine scrub tires, convertible tops and vinyl hard tops.


I've also shared all the new SUPER THIN foam pads now available for the PC that maximizes its ability for correction work.

5.5" SUPER THIN FOAM PAD OPTIONS for your Dual Action Polisher



As for the rotary, like others said it's the best tool for removing sanding marks or serious paint defects and major oxidation. For major oxidation on gel-coat boats I would machine sand first and then use the rotary buffer to remove the sanding marks versus spending hours and hours of intense grunt labor pushing a rotary against the side of a boat hull that tapers away from you. I cover this in my boat detailing how-to book too...

I've answered the question "Can an orbital polisher be used to remove sanding marks?" for years and the answer is yes but my follow up answer is,


Machine compounding to remove sanding marks using a rotary buffer already takes a long time.... why would I want to use a tool that will make it take longer and be less effective




As for the FLEX 3401?
After I wrote my FLEX how-to book I instantly started signing it like this,


The FLEX 3401 is a BEAST!


Now FLEX officially calls the FLEX 3401 the Beast and the XFE is now officially called the Finisher.


If you do any type of production detailing, be it for cars, boats or motorhomes - then get a FLEX 3401. It's my tool of choice when I need to,


Power through a detail job



:)
 
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