Pad, speed and passes combo for the Flex 3401

[zckid]

Hi everyone.

I finally got my Flex polisher.

I've always used the makita rotary all the way with Menz polishes (old PG, 203s and PO85rd) and LC pads (orange, white, black, red ccs pads and 1 red HT)

So. I'd like to know how you make best use of the Flex forced DA to finish swirl and holgram free?

If it’s possible, info in this way would help a lot for the diffrent stages.

Compounding
Area: Typically 50cm x 50cm
Spread: xxx rpm for x passes (or time)
Working: xxx rpm for x passes (or time)
Finishing: xxx rpm for x passes (or time)

Polishing
Area: Typically 50cm x 50cm
Spread: xxx rpm for x passes (or time)
Working: xxx rpm for x passes (or time)
Finishing: xxx rpm for x passes (or time)

Finishing
Area: Typically 50cm x 50cm
Spread: xxx rpm for x passes (or time)
Working: xxx rpm for x passes (or time)
Finishing: xxx rpm for x passes (or time)

One more thing, if I want to use both rotary & DA, when do I stop using the makita and shift to the flex when machine polishing?

Looking to correct these on my finishing btw:





Thanks a lot


zaid

[R/TED]

Check out "Show car garage" pay per view with Mike Phillips. pretty much answers all your questions. I just bought the Flex 3401 myself and this video is very informative.

[tuscarora dave]

There's really no correct answer to these questions as every job is different. Soft paint, hard paint, lightly swirled paint, completely hammered paint, factory paint, re-paint, With exception to spreading wax or jeweling very soft paint in the final finishing step I run the 3401 at full speed.

The best I can give for an answer is to start least aggressive first concerning pad/product combo during a test section to see what is going to work and go from there. Now obviously if I have a car that looks like a tiger has been tap dancing all over it I'm not going to choose PO85RD and a final finishing pad to start with in my test section. In that case I'll start with orange pad and D-300 or M-105 at full speed for 4 to 6 passes and then clean it up to see what's happening and decide from there which way to go with it. If it's a car that has light to moderate swirls I'll go middle of the road with something like a white polishing pad and M-205 in my test section, clean it up and see where I am before moving on with the rest of the job.

If I notice any paint repairs or body and fender work has been done I know there will be potential that there's 2 different types of paint that may react differently so I'll do a test section on each area before pressing onward to do the entire car. To do things right in the paint corrections world you need to test, test, test.

Only a hack uses a cookie cutter approach to correcting paint on every car they do because in their line of work it's all about the profit and not about what is safe for the paint or good for the customer. On the other hand if a customer seeks out the cheapest work, not doing any research before hand they put their car in a position to have half (or all) of the clear coat cut off to see the results fast and cheap, results that usually leave a lot to be desired. You get what you pay for as true and correct paint correction takes lots of time to do.

Test,test,test practice, practice, practice.

[zckid]

thanks so much Dave.

Much appreciated