Oh, I see.. I have a 3M 3inch backing plate that is seemingly the same thing except it's yellow. I guess the resulting failure could have been either under tightening or over tightening, who knows. When I bought mine I was shocked at the price of it and will only ever use it with one particular thread setup so when I installed the 5/16" 24 arbor into the backing plate I used a drop or two of Loctite on the threads.
Kind of a mute point in your case as you'll be going with the LC backing plate but a tip for anyone else who buys that particular backing plate system for use on one style of polisher only. I add that last "one style of polisher only" comment because Who knows if the Loctite would remove the plastic threads in the event one should decide to remove the arbor that was Loctited.
You're welcome for the tips, I try to help where I can.
Good job on working from least aggressive first. Too bad you had the backing plate failure before really getting a feel for what would be the magic bullet, if there is a magic bullet for "Vivid Black" HD paint.
I seem to recall reading forum member TLMitchell's accounts of struggle to get HD Vivid Black to finish perfectly without getting toweling marks back in the paint upon product wipe off.
I did a Black Kawasaki that was like that, drove me nuts and the customer thought I was nuts too, because he couldn't even see the marks I was talking about. Good luck with that paint and please post up your experience with it.
Great!!
I've done quite a few Harley (and other brand bikes) paint corrections and found that a 3.5" backing plate and green and white Cyclo pads do the best work on them because of the Cyclo pad's ability to compress and contour to the curvature of tanks and fenders. Their orange pad is quite a bit stiffer and doesn't contour so well so it will leave behind more hazing with a DA polisher or holograms with a rotary polisher. Sometimes it's use is necessary though, when tackling more severe defects.
As a last (or most severe) resort, Cyclo makes nice 4 inch wool pads that work well on a rotary polisher. Here are a few links to some of the pads and plate's I recommend.
For a PC or other similar DA polishers for use with 4" pads.
3.5" Dual Action Flexible Backing Plate- porter cable 7424XP hook and loop backing plate 3.5 inch.
For rotary and use with 4" pads.
Rotary 3 inch Backing Plate
The foam pads that I have found to work best on bikes.
4 Pack Cyclo Premium Green Foam Pads
This is the best 4" foam finishing pad there is as far as I'm concerned and I've tried many brands.
4 Pack Cyclo Premium White Foam Pad
The orange foam cutting, you really should have these on hand if you'll be doing bikes regularly.
4 Pack Cyclo Premium Orange Foam Pads
These wool pads last a long time, in fact all Cyclo pads are pretty tough pads that far outperform and outlast Lake Country pads simply because of the double glued hook and loop backing on the Cyclo pads.
Well upon looking for the wool pads I realize that since Buff&Shine (supposedly) is now making pads for Cyclo, AGO no longer has the wool pads that I relied on for years. (I hate how economic struggle changes things, and usually not for the better) I can say through experience that the foam pads are still a good quality purchase with great performance, but unfortunately I can no longer speak for Cyclo wool pads.
Hope all of this help you and/or others, TD
