Griot's Garage G9 - 9mm Orbit Stroke Random Orbital Polisher - What's in the Box?

Mike, I run mostly 3” & 4” pads, with the appropriately sized backing plates, on my GG6. Did you experiment with running these smaller sized pads during your testing of the G9? If so, what was your experience? If not, would you have any reservations about doing so (i.e. running 3” and 4”-sized pads)?

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Originally Posted by MattyL

Mike, I run mostly 3” & 4” pads, with the appropriately sized backing plates, on my GG6. Did you experiment with running these smaller sized pads during your testing of the G9? If so, what was your experience? If not, would you have any reservations about doing so (i.e. running 3” and 4”-sized pads)?

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I think in one of these very recent threads about the G9 Polisher, I thought Mike Phillips had stated that Griots Garage did not recommend using Backing Plates smaller than 5". (I could be wrong about this)

The G9 as we all now know does use the same Spindle Size and Thread as other D/A's.

Now here's something to look at. Griots makes a smaller Plate for their GG6, and assume they engineered this Plate to work well with that machine being that it's probably thicker and heavier than a regular Plate of that size. Thus such was done to no doubt lessen imbalance vibration and additional wear and tear on the machine.

I would think with such smaller plate sizes, one would not need the very top speed of 6 for correction then either.

Griots Garage 3 inch HD Backing Plate

Griot’s specifies on their site that that HD 3” isn’t for use on the G9 (going as far in the Q&A section to mention that it’ll void the warranty). During the YouTube live video, they mention with the 3” backing plate you actually leave part of the counterweight exposed, in addition to having the shroud blocking your field of view. That 3” plate was specifically weighted to work in harmony with the counterweight in the GG6, and I’m sure the weighting is different in the G9 with that ever so slightly longer throw.

I’m sure folks will try it though, so we’ll find out soon enough. Not sure how a 4” plate would work out regarding those factors. I can’t imagine running a 3” (or I guess 4”) pad at speed 6 on this thing!

Got a chance to run my G9 yesterday for some quick testing on a trunk lid - initial impressions are great! Feels really well balanced in action.

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Originally Posted by oneheadlite

Griot’s specifies on their site that that HD 3” isn’t for use on the G9 (going as far in the Q&A section to mention that it’ll void the warranty). During the YouTube live video, they mention with the 3” backing plate you actually leave part of the counterweight exposed, in addition to having the shroud blocking your field of view. That 3” plate was specifically weighted to work in harmony with the counterweight in the GG6, and I’m sure the weighting is different in the G9 with that ever so slightly longer throw.

I’m sure folks will try it though, so we’ll find out soon enough. Not sure how a 4” plate would work out regarding those factors. I can’t imagine running a 3” (or I guess 4”) pad at speed 6 on this thing!

Got a chance to run my G9 yesterday for some quick testing on a trunk lid - initial impressions are great! Feels really well balanced in action.

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What you've said sounds logical, thank you! Also a thanks for mentioning how you like your G9 too!

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Originally Posted by MarkD51

What you've said sounds logical, thank you! Also a thanks for mentioning how you like your G9 too!

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Thanks for the kind words. Since I'm at work, I'm going to cheat and copy-paste from a post I made at Autopia (during lunch :) ) just to share some more thoughts:

"I’ll let Mike (Lambert) speak from a Pro’s perspective, but wanted to throw out my thoughts as a hobbyist who’s had some time behind a GG6. I received my G9 yesterday, and took some time at the end of the work day to polish the trunk lid of our shop (race) car.

Quick testing was done with Fast Correcting Cream, the new Gen 2 5” ventilated backing plate, and a standard thick 5.5” Griot’s Orange Correcting Pad (Non-BOSS).

Regarding the size, while it is longer than the GG6, it didn’t feel unwieldy. In fact, the first thing that stood out was how well balanced it felt. I kept trying different hand positioning, not because I needed to in order to find a comfortable way to run it, but just because it was so easy to run you could change it up to find out what was best for that panel.

Stand out feature was the pad rotation. I don’t know how much of it is the digital speed controller (if you watch the video, the motor’s got a speed sensor and gets regulated by a digital speed controller. So your speed setting is not X amount of power to turn the motor, it’s X demanded speed) versus just the higher HP motor in it, but pad rotation was constant unless you really tipped the machine over. If you wanted to lean on it, even with the thicker pad it just motor’d on. I didn’t have any 6” stuff with me, but it strikes me like it’ll have no problem moving the bigger pad around.

I haven’t made it through the whole YouTube live video Mike (Lambert) mentioned yet, but the 9mm orbit strikes me as a compromise between satisfying the professionals who will buy their tools for production use (who gain 12% in throw) and the novices who will buy their tools without seeking education from a forum like this (who will correct a whole car with one pad and wonder why it came apart). I’m sure it also contributes to helping reduce vibration.
It does lose some versatility for folks who just want one machine since it’s not recommended to run 3” pads (I believe they said in the video that part of the counterweight is left exposed, plus the plate not being optimized for the machine weight wise). That’s one strength of the GG6, which I’m sure will still be available from other retailers as the G9 replaces the GG6 on the Griot’s site.

For myself, I sold my GG6 to a coworker to fund the G9 purchase. If the G9 is any more comfortable or efficient, it’ll pay for the upgrade during the 2 cars I have at home needing full corrections. I’ve got a GG3 for tight spots.

For anyone who has a GG6, and $150 isn’t such a big deal (or you use these as tools that pay for themselves), I could totally see keeping a GG6 set up for 3” work with a G9 for the bulk of your correction. Disclaimer - This from a hobbyist perspective. I don’t have experience with 15+ mm machines, so I can’t speak for how any of this compares with having a long throw on hand.


Sorry for the novela - just wanted to share my thoughts, but didn’t feel like it justified starting a whole thread based on my experience on a trunk lid. I’m figure I’m probably not the only one reading on here at my skill/experience level, and hope it can be helpful to someone weighing their options (or just looking to hear about the new machine)."

Once I get a chance to put some real miles on the G9, I'll create my own thread on the experience; for now it just doesn't seem right since I'm coming from such a recreational background. There's also so many threads on the G9 right now it's hard to keep them all straight. :laughing: