*meh* experience with old school PC 7424

[MarkD51]

I gather other members here know what they speak of, when they say for best correction abilities, use Speed 6 if you are using a 5" Backing Plate with 5.5" Pads. If not using such, both Lake Country and Griots as well make specific Backing Plates that are compatible with the PC7424.

They likely recommend Speed 6, as the PC7424 being an older model likely has slightly less power than the newer XP Model, which you could get by if careful with Speed 5 with 5.5" Pads, particularly the 5.5 LC Thinpro Pads.

But one beauty with the Porter Cable D/A, is versatility, meaning one can also use 4" Pads, and even 3" Pads with the correct sized Backing Plates. Those Backing Plate Sizes would need to be a LC 3.5" (For 4" Pads) and the LC 3" (actually 2-7/8" diameter) for the use of 3" Pads.

With 4" Pads, these sometimes are actually easier and more efficient to use on smaller vehicles, and smaller panels than the 5.5" Pads I've found.

And what you might lose in Pad size to cover areas better, you'll actually gain better Pad rotation, and correction abilities with the smaller 4" Pads. Then you might likely find Speed 5 works just fine with the smaller 4" and 3" Pads.

And with 3" Pads, these sure come in handy in the tight areas, license plate coves, near-around Mirrors, Door Handles, Bumpers, for Headlight-Tail Light correction-polishing, near Badges-Emblems, A and B Pillars, etc.

With my own PC7424XP, I keep all such goodies in a little cheapie Wally World variety Plastic Stanley Tool Box.

In it are the PC D/A, 3 Backing Plates of the sizes I mention above, Backing Plate Wrench, and a small quantity of the small Fiber Backing Plate Washers. The Washers are a definite must have, and if you don't have spares on hand, it is wise to get some in the event one goes bad, or gets lost. All that I mention in this post are sold here.

Besides Lake Country for the various sized Pads, others such as Meguiars, Griots, and others here carry the requisite Pad sizes one can use.

[Paul A.]

Sterling responses to your questions. I certainly agree with higher speed and Thin Pro pads.

I still have and use my PC7336 purchased new in 1998! It's been dropped several times and , like the old Timex watch ads, keeps on ticking. Other than regular maintenance and a few brush changes it's still rockin' and rollin'.

Since my Flex gets 80-90% of the work for me now my PC7336 remains the occasional "finesse" machine on certain paints. I do use 3"-4" pads with it after changing the counterweight from OEM 6" to now 5". It vibrates a bit more easily swinging 3" pads but works great.

Speed 6, Thin Pro pads and feel the right pressure to keep it spinning and a little pressure to work the abrasives for the correction you're after.

It's kind of a forgotten machine nowadays with all the advancements available but as Mike reminds us...pick the right machine and approach for certain jobs. Sometimes it's the PC (still) for me occasionally. Plus it's my wax/sealant machine all the time.

[vaca22]

Oops!!

Coming out of Costco today under cloudy skies and saw an ugly streak down the entire side of the passenger door. Looks like Ixll definitely have to redo that panel, this time on the appropriate speed.

I'm assuming that claying and polishing will get rid of the coating that wasn't leveled down, correct?

I couldn't tell without my polarized sunglasses but it really sticks out now that I've see it.

Thank you all again, I intend to practice a lot more with this old trusty machine!

[WillSports3]

Don't need to clay, just go ahead and polish. You can literally just use a towel and a finishing polish if you want to. Wipe a few times, and then re-coat.

[vaca22]

Don't need to clay, just go ahead and polish. You can literally just use a towel and a finishing polish if you want to. Wipe a few times, and then re-coat.

I was hoping you'd say that. I literally just finished reading a post from Mike Phillips describing the same process. Going back to the importance of good lighting, I severely underestimated the need for it.

[vaca22]

**UPDATE**

I did a dumb thing the other day by using Meg's plain 'ole Quick Detailer to wipe off some light debris after a rainstorm. The debris was just a little more than pollen and the like, and while I misted both the panel (in this case the trunk) and the towel itself, I felt odd inside because I assumed I was doing more harm than good. So after this wipedown I noticed plenty of micro marring. That's not to say this was caused by just this last wipe, but probably from doing it a bunch of times over the last few weeks.

So that wasn't cool, because the horizonal trunk deck is something you can easily see and it was by far worst panel on my car and it irked me that it looked so out of place.

With some free time before work yesterday I washed the car and clayed the trunk only, going back to the old PC but this time with the PROPPER speed setting. Wow, what a difference that made! After a bunch of slow passes I was easily able to see that I had removed about 90% of the defects, leaving only the deeper RIDS which for me is totally fine as I'm not looking for perfection.

So thank you all for the meaningful suggestions. My *meh* experience has turned into a much more meaningful one and I'm looking forward to using the trusty PC soon.