GG DA Questions as well backing plate issue?

[bossmustang16]

bought a 3" backing plate and it says its actually 2 7/8" so it should be fine for 3" GG Pads but I went to put it on today and its pretty tight fitting as in you have to have the pad almost perfect on it.. is this normal? should i buy a 4" pad? and since the backing plate takes up almost all velcro idk how to remove the pad? any thoughts please guys..

and i know i should use speed setting 5 or 6 for compounding but what about swirl removal using a gg finishing pad and swirlx? should I use a high speed like 5-6 to act as a cutter and maybe like 3-4 to act as a polish? because they say that product can be used as both.. (its similar to m205) please some info.. thanks!!

 

[wdmaccord]

Sounds right. You would only have 1/16 inch of pad beyond the backing plate. You can go to 4" but I would recommend a 3.5 inch backing plate if you do that.

 

[cardaddy]

Sounds right. You would only have 1/16 inch of pad beyond the backing plate. You can go to 4" but I would recommend a 3.5 inch backing plate if you do that.

:iagree:

I use the Meguiar's pads with their backing plate, (the get wider from the Velcro to the face). I also use the Lake Country 4" pads, no problemo. :xyxthumbs:

 

[bossmustang16]

what do y'all think about my second paragraph statement? accurate? and also, how should i go about removing the pad since there is so little velcro available to pry on..

 

[99monguse]

I have found that speed 6 is too strong, you can use 6 on a PC but the GG6 is much stronger and it'll melt pads, I went through a green UBER in seconds!

 

[builthatch]

slow everything down, esp with the small pads. slow the speed, slow the arm...make your passes, check you work, repeat if necessary. imo no need to go that fast with that machine imo - maybe someone has another idea. just make sure the pad is spinning when you're working.

about the backing plate - as mentioned, what you have is fine. i use a 2 7/8" rotary plate with 3" Griot's pads on both my rotary and DA. i got it a long time before they made 2 7/8" plates specifically for DAs.

 

[wdmaccord]

what do y'all think about my second paragraph statement? accurate? and also, how should i go about removing the pad since there is so little velcro available to pry on..

5-5.5 is usually about as high as I need to go when compounding using the GG6 and say an LC orange pad. That would be with the 5.5" pad. With the four inch pads, I usually drop down .5-1 so 4-4.5.

Just squeeze the side of the foam pad and pull it off. They are sturdier than you think.

I don't use swirlx so I can't help you out there. On the polishing chart it is rated the same cut as M205. Using it with an orange pad would give you more cut and a white pad to polish. Personally, I like to use dedicated compounds and polishes. If you want something that cuts well and finishes near a polish, pick up some Ultimate Compound. Even with an orange pad it finishes really nice (can vary by paint systems). On soft Honda paints, I have gone straight to LSP after Ultimate compound.

 

[dcjredline]

I have found that speed 6 is too strong, you can use 6 on a PC but the GG6 is much stronger and it'll melt pads, I went through a green UBER in seconds!

I would have to agree. I tried an orange pad (actually 2 of them) on speed 6 last year and I never burnt up a pad so fast in my life. I thought it was just cause the temps outside but NOPE. :xyxthumbs:

 

[cardaddy]

what do y'all think about my second paragraph statement? accurate? and also, how should i go about removing the pad since there is so little velcro available to pry on..

As long as you are careful, and get the Velcro in your grip you should be able to get them off.

slow everything down, esp with the small pads. slow the speed, slow the arm...make your passes, check you work, repeat if necessary. imo no need to go that fast with that machine imo - maybe someone has another idea. just make sure the pad is spinning when you're working.

about the backing plate - as mentioned, what you have is fine. i use a 2 7/8" rotary plate with 3" Griot's pads on both my rotary and DA. i got it a long time before they made 2 7/8" plates specifically for DAs.

THIS!!!:dblthumb2:

While your Mustang paint isn't particularly hard.... more like it's towards the soft side, I'd not go ripping at it with super high speeds.

I don't use GG pads so can't comment on that particular pad, but SwirlX will likely not do anything to both compound and polish. It might, because it has a bit more cut than 205, but you'll need to do your test spots to find out.

If it starts to cut like you want with a cutting pad then *yes* once you have two pads primed, then switching to a non cutting pad halfway through the process, or say do 4~5 passes with the cutting pad, then switch to a polishing pad and do 4~5 more passes you'll end up with only the product cutting and not the pad. When using one product with 2 different pads that's generally what we'd call a 1.5 step process (instead of a 2 step process).

I'd still switch to say Megs Ultimate Polish and finish down with it. You'll get better results, especially on soft paint.

OTOH, I just did a 2015 C7 with Megs D300 and a white pad with the Flex for the most of it. Used the GG6 and Megs microfiber pads on the worst spots with the D300. Then went back with D302 and a blue pad and if finished down great. :dblthumb2: (But that paint is a lot harder than Mustang paint... or at least the one's I've done.)

 

[bossmustang16]

5-5.5 is usually about as high as I need to go when compounding using the GG6 and say an LC orange pad. That would be with the 5.5" pad. With the four inch pads, I usually drop down .5-1 so 4-4.5.

Just squeeze the side of the foam pad and pull it off. They are sturdier than you think.

I don't use swirlx so I can't help you out there. On the polishing chart it is rated the same cut as M205. Using it with an orange pad would give you more cut and a white pad to polish. Personally, I like to use dedicated compounds and polishes. If you want something that cuts well and finishes near a polish, pick up some Ultimate Compound. Even with an orange pad it finishes really nice (can vary by paint systems). On soft Honda paints, I have gone straight to LSP after Ultimate compound.

I use ultimate compound as my compound, not sure if i mentioned that above.. but sometimes I like to use the swirlx if the finish isn't bad just has swirling and light scratches like my mustang.. I haven't tried it on the orange gg pad i have but i hit a test spot with the black finishing pad yesterday and it did pretty good.

 

[wdmaccord]

I use ultimate compound as my compound, not sure if i mentioned that above.. but sometimes I like to use the swirlx if the finish isn't bad just has swirling and light scratches like my mustang.. I haven't tried it on the orange gg pad i have but i hit a test spot with the black finishing pad yesterday and it did pretty good.

If you like how it finishes on a black pad then I guess stick with that. You might try Ultimate Polish and see how you like that.

 

[dlc95]

SwirlX is a very versatile product. I position it as a "one step" polish, and can alter it's performance by choice of pad. Microfiber being the most aggressive, and the blue lake country ccs being the least.

In my small travel kit, is where I keep the SwirlX, and find that I like it best paired with an orange Hex Logic pad, which is considered a light cutting pad. Personally, I find that while the pad itself doesn't offer much in the way of "pad bite", the firmness and density allow me to manipulate how hard I dig with the abrasives. In this set up, I'm not going for 100% perfection, just a basic clean up.

 

[tuscarora dave]

This is the best backing plate I've used for working with 3" pads on a DA polisher. The holes in the backing plate cut way down on the amount of heat generated during compounding/polishing, the velcro material on these plates is the strongest and longest lasting in the industry, bar none.

3M Clean Sanding 3 inch Disc Backing Plate Kit, 3M sanding disc backing plate with adapters, backing plate adapter kit, six hole sanding disc

It's totally worth the inflated 3M price tag.

If you do go with this backing plate, you'll want to apply Loctite (red) high strength to the adapter threads before inserting the adapter into the backing plate then tighten the adapter with a wrench.

 

[bossmustang16]

so the question is for polishing effect, I should use my black gg pad and speed like 3-4.. and if i wanna remove swirls with it, the orange pad with speed 5? (somebody please answer that question > But it feels like theres never a need to actually just polish up after anything.. the ultimate compound finishes so dang good and the swirlx does as well no matter what pad i choose..

 

[cardaddy]

so the question is for polishing effect, I should use my black gg pad and speed like 3-4.. and if i wanna remove swirls with it, the orange pad with speed 5? (somebody please answer that question > But it feels like theres never a need to actually just polish up after anything.. the ultimate compound finishes so dang good and the swirlx does as well no matter what pad i choose..

I believe those questions were answered.

slow everything down, esp with the small pads. slow the speed, slow the arm...make your passes, check you work, repeat if necessary. imo no need to go that fast with that machine imo - maybe someone has another idea. just make sure the pad is spinning when you're working.

about the backing plate - as mentioned, what you have is fine. i use a 2 7/8" rotary plate with 3" Griot's pads on both my rotary and DA. i got it a long time before they made 2 7/8" plates specifically for DAs.

5-5.5 is usually about as high as I need to go when compounding using the GG6 and say an LC orange pad. That would be with the 5.5" pad. With the four inch pads, I usually drop down .5-1 so 4-4.5.

Just squeeze the side of the foam pad and pull it off. They are sturdier than you think.

I would have to agree. I tried an orange pad (actually 2 of them) on speed 6 last year and I never burnt up a pad so fast in my life. I thought it was just cause the temps outside but NOPE. :xyxthumbs:

First, make sure you take a magic marker and mark your backing plate, just a solid line, about ¼" wide in one place. That way you can see the pad is rotating, and what that speed is.

With a 4" pad you will always see increased rotational speed at the same speed than you would with a 5½" or a 6½" pad. With that in mind, William already stated that you'd drop down your speed a factor of -.5 over what you'd use with a larger pad.

I generally don't have to run anything faster than 4.5 MAXIMUM with a 4" CCS pad on the GG6. It'll start doing it's job as low as 3.5 and really go to work by the time you get to 4.0. Polishing doesn't necessarily have to be slower than compounding either. In fact, it can be a bit faster.

When doing the final polishing step you can lighten your arm pressure, go from an arm speed of 1" per second to 1½"~2" per second, and speed up your machine speed .3 to .5 depending on what's working for you at the time. And.... of course what type of product you're polishing with. If it's a DAT product you're going to have to work it down completely to get the most out of it anyhow, which means 8~10 section passes. (Whereas with SMAT products you can, (and will) reach the end of the working cycle much faster.)

 

[bossmustang16]

Awesome thanks for all the info guys! love this forum, just wished i could use the search function more effectively.. maybe i'll figure it out lol