Buffer Week from 8/8 - 8/13
For the next 6 day's, we'll be running the Porter Cable 7424, the Flex XC 3401 VRG and Metabo PE 12-175 on sale at our LOWEST PRICES!

The schedule for the Daily Specials is as follows:
8/8/08 - Porter Cable 7424
8/9/08 - Flex XC 3401 VRG
8/10/08 - Metabo PE 12-175
8/11/08 - Porter Cable 7424
8/12/08 - Flex XC 3401 VRG
8/13/08 - Metabo PE 12-175

We all know that a majority (90% or more) of results from detailing stem from properly prepping your paint, which includes washing & drying, using a clay bar, and most importantly, polishing your paint to remove as many imperfections as possible. Imperfections are essentially dips and valleys in your clear coat that does not allow light to pass through to the paint. Common imperfections in the paint are swirls, scratches, holograms, hazing, water spots, sap and bird dropping etchings. All of these can be treated by using a quality buffer along with the proper polish and pad combination. By polishing your paints surface, you'll be smoothing out your clear coat, allowing light to pass through to your paint offering the deepest and wettest reflection. In an idealistic world, the perfect detail would be one with 0 paint defects. Using a quality buffer correctly allows you to remove paint defects, making your clear coat as smooth and as even as it can be. Here's an example of what the Flex XC 3401 VRG can do on some neglected paint and the right polish / pad combos.



Comparing the 3 Buffers:
Porter Cable 7424

The Porter Cable 7424 quickly emerged as the goto buffer for auto detailing enthusiasts. It's biggest draw is how safe it is to use. By utilizing a random orbital motion, it is nearly impossible to damage your paint with some common sense. The downside of the PC7424 is that it can take a long time, lots of coats and passes, to correct severely neglected paint. The Porter Cable 7424 is lightweight and easy to use. It has a maximum speed of 6,000 oscillations per minute (OPM), which compared to a hand application, you can only imagine how much faster the PC is operating. Your results will escalate if you currently polishing by hand. This buffer is perfect for people just getting into polishing their vehicles.

Flex XC 3401 VRG

The Flex XC 3401 VRG changed the way serious enthusiasts tackled polishing their vehicles when it was introduced in the states roughly 1 year ago. This machine is a dual action machine, which means it oscillates as well as utilizes what's called forced rotation. This offers more correction abilities in less time when compared to traditional random orbital that just oscillates. This German built machine is a tank. With a motor twice the size of the Porter Cable (7.5A vs. 3.7A) and 60% more oscillations (9,600 OPM vs 6,000 OPM) this buffer can correct twice as many imperfections in half the time. Some other key features of this machine is the variable speed trigger, the ergonomic handle and hand positioning and the lightweight design. The Flex is the perfect upgrade for the Porter Cable 7424 and is perfect for the serious auto detailing enthusiast.

Metabo PE 12-175

The Metabo PE 12-175 rotary buffer has quickly emerged as a favorite amongst professionals and serious enthusiasts. The Metabo rotary offers a low starting speed of 700 RPM, which gives the first time rotary users a safe starting speed. Rotary buffers have the highest potential for results, but also the largest risk of damaging the paint. When your shooting for perfection, this is the tool of choice!

Don't Forget Pads and Polishes
I always recommend matching the aggressiveness of the polish with the aggressiveness of the pad. Reason being, if you use too aggressive of a pad with a lighter polish (ie. PO106FF with an orange light cutting pad), you may be filling in light holograms or hazing and not realizing it. If you're seeing improvement with the current polish / pad combo, then you can jump to a more aggressive pad for faster results. If the results are minimal with a current polish / pad combo, I'll jump to the next level of polish / pad combo.

We recommend following these rules:

• Compounds use purple foamed wool, yellow cutting pad, orange light cutting pad
• Medium cutting polishes stick to purple foamed wool (on rotary) or orange light cutting pads or white polishing pads (on DA / random orbitals)
• Finishing polishes stick to white polishing pads, black finishing pads or blue fine finishing pads.

Also important to note, change your pad out for a new one after every few panels or at least clean it out. The more caked up the pad becomes, the harder it is to finish down as clean as the first panel when the pad is fresh. Excess product can lead to difficult product removal, not being able to break down the polish completely, and excessive dusting. I usually use about 4 pads per coat of polish, swapping them out roughly every 3 panels or so. On some paint I use even more.

Here are our Lake Country Pads in order of Most Aggressive to Least Aggressive:


Here's a list of Menzerna's best polishes in order of Compound to Finishing Polish:

• Power Gloss
• Super Intensive Polish
• PO106FF/FA
• PO85RD

Thanks for reading! If anyone has any questions on anything, or needs a hand putting together a package to best fit your needs, please do not hesitate to ask.

George

 

Today's Daily special (August 9, 2008) is Flex XC 3401 VRG.



Regular Price is $279.99. Today's price is $251.80!

 

Today's Daily special (August 10, 2008) is Metabo PE 12-175 Rotary Buffer.



Regular Price is $269.99. Today's price is $245.40!

 

Today's Daily special (August 11, 2008) is Porter Cable 7424 Random Orbital Buffer.



Regular Price is $114.99. Today's price is $107.80!

 

i'm looking to buy a Porter Cable 7424.. for $107.. can you hook me up?

 

me too! nice timing!

 

Id like some help knowing what the right combination for me would be.

I have serious swirls and hazing from using a friends machine buffer and a "unknowningly" harsh auto zone wool pad. ALso hard water....

Gotta do it right this time. Please help!!!

 

I see buffer weeks over, how about an extension

Dang I missed out on the deals. I'm interested in the Flex 3401. This is supped to be the cats meow of buffers right. This is going to be my first so I need a friendly unit that won't kill me or the paint. I'd rather spend a few bucks more and get something good then upgrade later on. But I have a ton of questions. I've read a lot of articles and am more confused then ever, there are so many options.

What would really help is if you had pictures of conditions of paint and what pad and polish to use. please let me know if I'm thinking straight.

• Yellow pad is for major scratches that are completely through the clear, like ones you can feel with your fingernail.
• Orange pad is for scratches that do not break the clear but are easily visible in all conditions.
• White pad is for removing very fine scratches that are only visible in direct sunlight/ florescent light.
• Black pad is similar to white but less aggressive
• Blue pad is for applying wax/sealant only no cutting.

polishes I dont even know where to start so many choices.

For the pad how long do they generally last? how many cars before you toss em.

In a nut shell I need a complete package setup for a beginer.

 

yeah yeah me too!!

 

Thanks for the posts everyone. Unfortunately I cannot extend the individual buffer prices beyond the sale dates. However, if you're looking for a complete setup, with the buffer, pads and other common accessories, our package deals are priced just about the same as our sale prices were.

For the Porter Cable 7424:
- PC 7424 Starter Kit (includes 7424, 6" backing plate, 6" counter weight, 9 pads of your choice, 3 snappy clean packets)
- PC 7424 Advanced Kit (includes 7424, 6" backing plate, 6" counter weight, 15 pads of your choice, 6 snappy clean packets)

For the Flex XC 3401 VRG:
Flex 3401 Starter Kit (includes Flex 3401, 10 pads, 3 snappy clean packets)
Flex 3401 Advanced Kit (Includes Flex 3401, 20 pads, 6 snappy clean packets)

You did an excellent job with the pads usages, I'll comment on a few things. Purple Foamed Wool is a great alternative to a yellow cutting pad for the Flex or a rotary buffer. It cuts at least the same if not more than the yellow pad, but the benefit is it doesn't generate as much heat because of the open strands of foamed wool. This means there's less risk of damaging the paint when using a heavier cutting option. Blue pads can be used to apply a sealant or wax, but they also serve a purpose when polishing. If going for maximum depth and gloss, you can take a fine finishing polish, such as Final Polish II, PO106FF/FA or (best option) PO85RD and finish with a blue pad after removing imperfections from the paint. This process is called burnishing the paint or can be referred to as "jeweling" the paint. It does increase depth and gloss and creates more of that wet look.

When polishing with a buffer, I'd highly recommend using the Menzerna line of polishes. They are designed specifically to work with buffers, used by many high end professional detailers, and are known as some of the finest polishes available. Here are a few suggestions.

Best Possible Combination:
Compound - Power Gloss
Medium Cut Polish - Super Intensive Polish
Finishing Polish - PO106FF/FA
Burnishing Polish - PO85RD

Great Bang for the Buck Combo:
Compound - Power Gloss
Medium Cut Polish - Intensive Polish
Finishing Polish - Final Polish II

Lake Country pad recommendations for each polish in order of most aggressive to least aggressive:

Power Gloss - Purple Foamed Wool, Yellow Cutting Pad, Orange Light Cutting Pad
Super Intensive Polish - Purple Foamed Wool, Orange Light Cutting Pad, White Polish Pad
Intensive Polish - Purple Foamed Wool, Orange Light Cutting Pad, White Polishing Pad
PO106FF/FA - White Polishing Pad, Black Finishing Pad, Blue Fine Finishing Pad
Final Polish II - White Polishing Pad, Black Finishing Pad, Blue Fine Finishing Pad
PO85RD - Black Finishing Pad, Blue Fine Finishing Pad

I've bolded the most common pads I use with each product.

We also just received in our order of 4" pads to use with the Porter Cable 7424 and rotary buffers. We're waiting on our shipment of backing plates for the 4" pads for the PC, but they should be on our site by the end of the week. This allows for more cut on a PC, and also the ability to get in harder to reach areas. Unfortunately, there is no smaller backing plate for the Flex 3401 yet.

If you have any other questions or would like me to explain anything in more detail, just say the word.

George