I am only a weekend polisher and only work on my family cars(6) ya we got a lot of them or occasionally my friends. But my griots polisher is just not doing it for me anymore. Since I am in no rush when detailing I have no need to learn the rotary. I am thinking the flex 3401 will be perfect for me. My mini cooper has has water spots from the day I owned it(got it used) My griots has polished them out but not perfectly due to me not wanting to spend the extra few hours on my roof. I want something with a little more grunt to help me when I need to do minor correction. What should I be worried about other than the backing plate issue? Thanks, Nick
Before you go spending a wad on another polisher, what pads and polish are you using? You can do amazing correction work with a pc so my guess is that you merely need to change your supplies.
I am using LC pad which consist of the yellow, orange(my favorite), and white For my polishes I am using prima polishes which I really like but I am going to try menzerna polishes very soon though due to how good everyone rate their polishes I really like to keep my vehicles looking great I am a little ocd
Try the orange pad with Power Finish first and if that doesn't work try Power Gloss on orange and then clean up with Power Finish on white. Start on speed 2 and work the polish on speed 5 until it goes clear. If for some reason these two don't do it, get some Megs 105 and use it on orange followed by Power Finish on white.
I get what you mean by the pc its a great tool but you can use 4 inch pads for correction which with a pc works pretty quick, but my griots is and older model which the backing pad is not on a central thread like the pc rather it has 4 screws holding the backing plate. If i also recall the pc has more orbits per minute than my griots. I can only use 6.5" pads on my griots polisher I just feel rather than buying the pc I mind as well go for the flex for the advantages you get such as forced rotation which is good for me since I have some experience but do not feel like learning the rotary so I get a little more power but keep it safe.
Remember that flex's backing plate is NOT interchangeable. You can't run 4" or 5" pads. I'll double check on mine but I believe 5.75 are the smallest you can use.
If I recall correctly... The original Griot's machine creates an orbit size that is smaller than a Porter Cable 7424, 7335, 7336, or Meguiar's G110. So, you will not get the same type of performance characteristics out of that machine as the others. Before you buy ANY other machine, perhaps one of the DB members could let you try their Flex or random orbital? The total orbits per minute are not necessarily as important as stroke size or pad rotation. As an example, the Dynabrade #61379/61384 Dual Action Buffing Head attaches to a rotary buffer. So, if the rotary features a maximum speed of 3,000 RPM, the Dynabrade will rotate/oscillate 3,000 times per minute (it is a 1:1 ratio). The big deal about the attachment is that is features a 3/4" stroke, which really creates a lot of speed and cutting power! Another thing to consider- the Flex XC 3401 VRG lists its maximum orbits per minute as 9,600 and its RPM maximum as 480. In fact, if we "define" the oscillation as do all other manufacturers of random orbital machines, the actual number of orbits this machine creates is 4,800. A friend and I were able to confirm the RPM factually as maxing out at 480 on the Flex, which is what they claim. If the backing plate is rotated by hand, it creates ten half-circle motions per rotation. This is a 10:1 ratio of oscillations versus rotations. The orbit shape is actually quite a bit different than the shape created by the random orbital, but not a big deal. Like you said, the forced rotation IS a BIG deal. There are benefits AND drawbacks to a forced rotation machine. Same goes for the random orbital. I hope you can get your hands on a few machines to try out prior to buying one! Good luck! :thumb:
Why this made me giggle, I don't know... But thanks for the compliment! I didn't mean to ramble on. Just don't want to see a guy spend money on a machine before trying (if at all possible).
Where are you located? I see that you are using Prima Polishes. I have not seen many people outside of colorado mention Prima. If you are in colorado you can give my PC a try and i have access to the new Griots machine. Let me know if you live in colorado and we can set something up. So you can try a few before you buy.
I'm glad you are posting here... I have read other things you have written but this is the only forum I enjoy to be on... I actually skipped straight to the rotary because I didn't think a PC could do what I wanted
