tried out my new flex today

**tonym** · 04-08-2008, 07:46 PM

I got my new flex DA yesterday and I tried it our for the first time today. I was using XMT #3. I forgot the name of the manufacturer of the pad, but I know it was one step down from the most aggressive.

The product started to turn into little balls. I found the polisher to be a little more difficult to control than either my PC or my rotary. I quickly put it away and took out my Makita rotary to finish the job.

Any idea what caused the little XMT balls?

Tony

**Surfer** · 04-08-2008, 08:51 PM

Little balls sounds like it dried to fast, either from not using enough or weather etc. Polish will flash quickly and then if you keep going you end up grinding the left over stuff dry stuff making balls. If it wasn't bad then maybe the product was dusting.

**:::houseofbunny:::** · 04-08-2008, 10:24 PM

This has happened to me with XMT3 using the UDM and an orange LC pad.
I was working outside on a sunny day on a panel that was shaded. It was about average humidity for central FL, maybe 50%.

I decided it was from using too much polish. It would get gummed up in the pad and then start spitting out little balls. I also had little corkscrews of gunked polish smeared on the paint surface.

It could have been the pad, too. The pad I was using had not been cleaned thoroughly enough after previous use. There was product dust in it, and I think this effected the pad's ability to hold or absorb the polish correctly.

I grabbed a new pad and used less product. The problem didn't come back.

**Al-53** · 04-09-2008, 06:40 AM

Most people think that speed 6 is the way to polish..well machines are different....I found that speed 4 or 5 with the flex worked perfect with the polishes I use..speed 6 generates heat so fast it will flash a polish fast...I use 6 on the final pass is all...most times I work at 4 or 5 ..so fast is not always better...

so what I think happened is you flashed it to fast and the abrasive material just balled up ...I had this happen once with menz..till i figured why..and now the problem was solved with using a lower speed....

AL

**Dwayne** · 04-09-2008, 07:10 AM

Originally Posted by Al-53

Most people think that speed 6 is the way to polish..well machines are different....I found that speed 4 or 5 with the flex worked perfect with the polishes I use..speed 6 generates heat so fast it will flash a polish fast...I use 6 on the final pass is all...most times I work at 4 or 5 ..so fast is not always better...

so what I think happened is you flashed it to fast and the abrasive material just balled up ...I had this happen once with menz..till i figured why..and now the problem was solved with using a lower speed....

AL

**blkyukon** · 04-09-2008, 10:50 AM

How do you clean your pads?

I've had times where I didn't thoroughly rinse the pad clean and some of the pad cleaner that I used reacted with the polish. This caused the polish to gum up and also caused excessive dusting.

Originally Posted by Al-53

Most people think that speed 6 is the way to polish..well machines are different....I found that speed 4 or 5 with the flex worked perfect with the polishes I use..speed 6 generates heat so fast it will flash a polish fast...I use 6 on the final pass is all...most times I work at 4 or 5 ..so fast is not always better...

so what I think happened is you flashed it to fast and the abrasive material just balled up ...I had this happen once with menz..till i figured why..and now the problem was solved with using a lower speed....

AL

x2 plus, temp., humidity, the car and the condition of the paint are all variables that will change how a polish will work.

I've actually have a car that polishes would react differently from panel to panel (don't know why -it drove me nuts). It would work perfectly on one panel then the next panel would gum up and stick on the next.

**TObleRONE** · 04-09-2008, 01:37 PM

blkyukon, I'm glad you've joined the discussion. I noticed in your FLEX video (which is great btw

) you work the polish in at speed 6. But I conclude what you are saying is because of temperature/humidity, we may need to work the polish in at speed 4 for ~ 1 minute before ramping up to speed 6 (considering it took 1 min. 58 sec. to break the polish down completely in your video). Hope this makes sense.

**blkyukon** · 04-09-2008, 02:47 PM

Originally Posted by TObleRONE

blkyukon, I'm glad you've joined the discussion. I noticed in your FLEX video (which is great btw

) you work the polish in at speed 6. But I conclude what you are saying is because of temperature/humidity, we may need to work the polish in at speed 4 for ~ 1 minute before ramping up to speed 6 (considering it took 1 min. 58 sec. to break the polish down completely in your video). Hope this makes sense.

Thanks!!

I used speed 6 on both machines in the video to compare the cutting abilities at their top speed.

You can definitely work it in at speed 4 and finish working it in at speed 6. Speeds 4 and 5 do cut very well with the Flex....If you do use a lower speed, just make sure to slow down the passes and allow time for the polish to work and break down.

**tonym** · 04-09-2008, 06:12 PM

I'm thinking my pad wasn't as clean as it could have been. I used a hose to clean it. Maybe I need to order the pad cleaner and soak them first.

Thanks for all the help.

Tony

**Junebug** · 04-11-2008, 09:09 PM

I got a tip from somebdy, forgot who, but I' ll pass it on. Get some Dawn Power Desolver - like at Lowes or Wallymart, it's cheap, works great on pads - just spray, scrub with an old tooth brush under hot running water, dry and you're back in business. Best part is the smell won't collaspe a lung like those pad cleaner sprays will.