which one

JWNPlumber

JWNPlumber

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going to place an order soon and with the problems with the UDM should I buy it or the Porter Cable? thanks for any feedback in advance
 
It depends what you are using it for. If you are buying a machine for personal use and will only be polishing a few times a year and not trying to remove a lot of defects the PC will be more than enough. The only main difference between the PC and UDM is speed 6 on UDM is a lot faster, making defect removal a tad faster, but for personal use a PC will be just as fine... the UDM also doesn't bog as much as a PC either. It's really up to you though ... I'm not sure the price differences but they are very very similar. I've had a PC for 3 or 4 years now and not one issue. You can't go wrong with either one... if you're concerned about the durability of the UDM, well they have a good warranty system.

BTW order soon ... 15% off is a great deal on buffers!
 
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JWNPlumber said:
going to place an order soon and with the problems with the UDM should I buy it or the Porter Cable? thanks for any feedback in advance
Click to expand...

If you are sure you are limiting your options to the UDM and the PC, it is a coin flip if you ask me. How many cars will you be detailing? How much are you willing to spend? The higher the number is for each of those questions the more you may want to consider a Flex random orbital polisher. The Flex has much more power and therefore the correcting ability that puts the PC and UDM to shame. The Flex's increased correcting ability and the increased speed of being able to do corrections places it closer to a rotary than it does a PC or UDM.

I only polish one car for now but I still wish I would have known about the Flex when I bought my UDM. I would have paid the extra $120 to get the Flex. I still kick myself for that. Once my UDM's warrantly is up (next October) once it starts having problems, it is going out the door and a Flex will be ordered assuming I don't break down and buy a Makita rotary by then. Still contemplating that.
 
While the UDM maybe more powerful I wouldn't buy one.

Some may argue that the UDM has a warranty that will cover any issues BUT my time is at a premium and if I were to plan on doing a car only to find out the machine doesn't work I would be highly frustrated and the warranty wouldn't "cut the mustard" for me.

As budman said, he's had his PC for several years with ZERO issues as have many detailers..... PPM (parts per million) is defects per million which is an automotive industry standard metric that normalizes the agregate numbers. My last tally the UDM was at 3,000PPM* for the issue of the UDM's that just stop working..

*to give an idea of acceptable PPM levels we just set at the compant I work for our 2008 corporate goal for North American operations at 10PPM
 
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I would go with the PC 7424. It has a pretty easy learning curve and with the proper products is very capable.
 
I still love my PC ... is a long term friend. I would consider pricing as deciding factor currently, or save for the Flex.
 
If you don't already have a PC, I'd get the UDM. If you have a PC, it's not worth the monetary difference to get the UDM. If you could get a FLEX, it's worth every penny. The PC is a great tool and is easy to learn. If you're doing this as a hobby and on your own car's maybe only 2-3 times a year, pick up a PC kit with all the polishes and protection while they are on sale.
 
I never owned a PC, I have a friend who lets me use his whenever I want. I don't think he's ever used it. It served the pupose. I thought it vibrated way to much,and it's loud. I would go with the Flex. I have a rotory that I have used for 10 years and it's about done. I bought another one from Harbor Freight for $18. It works fine. But I think the Flex is going to be a plus for my business. Mine should be here any day. I'll use it ASAP and try to give a report on it's performance! MO
 
PC, Flex, or both :D
If you can swing it, get the Flex. That's in my wish list for next year :cheers:
 
Thanks everybody for the feedback I have strongly considered the Flex but it seems that it is on a huge backorder. I will only be using the machine on my own cars and wanted to get some thing to use over the Christmas holidays. My wifes car has some pretty good brush scratches that I can not get out by hand thanks to repeated washings on the lot before she bought it. Do you think that a pc or UDM with the right product (looking at XMT or Menzerna) and the proper pads could fix this? time is not that big of a factor.
 
JWNPlumber said:
Thanks everybody for the feedback I have strongly considered the Flex but it seems that it is on a huge backorder. I will only be using the machine on my own cars and wanted to get some thing to use over the Christmas holidays. My wifes car has some pretty good brush scratches that I can not get out by hand thanks to repeated washings on the lot before she bought it. Do you think that a pc or UDM with the right product (looking at XMT or Menzerna) and the proper pads could fix this? time is not that big of a factor.
Click to expand...

I've knocked some pretty good scratches out with my PC

GM Aura:
Before​
Scratches12-1.jpg

Scratches1-1.jpg

​
After:​
Scratches21-1.jpg

Scratches2-1.jpg
​

Search for Black Aura and you'll find my thread, as I forgot what products I used

 
i say its still too early for the UDM and they may need time to work out all the kinks...if you have a PC and your looking to upgrade go with the new flex or a Makita..
 
Joe- you bring up a good point about it being too early with the UDM ... but the Flex is also new ... and the hype of that is similar that the UDM recieved ... thankfully I haven't had any UDM issues and hopefully the Flex uses don't as well.
 
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