flex issue

[gtpaul]

I dont know if its me or not but;

i don't like the Flex. I find it vibrates a ton more then my old PC it like to jump around and so on. Is the vibration due to something? i figure it'd be smoother the the pc atleast.

[TortoiseAWD]

Have you found that to be the case with all of your pads? When I first tried my Flex, I was using an Sonus SFX-1 cutting pad, and found the combination pretty hard to control. That pad's pretty stiff, and any crease or curve I hit would pull the buffer one way or another. I switched to the orange SwirlBuster pad (conforms to curves just a bit better), and found operation to be much smoother. Another thing I noticed is that you really, really need to make sure the pad is as centered as possible on the Flex. Because of the forced rotation, being off just a little can cause the buffer to want to "walk around". You can get away with being slightly off-center on a PC; the Flex is less forgiving of that.

And one final thing . . . I recall mention in earlier posts that a few Flexes came from the factory with a slightly loose backing plate. You might double-check that center bolt to make sure that's not causing any problems.

Good luck with it. I wasn't sure about the Flex on my first try, either, but the more I use it, the more I like it.

Tort

[gtpaul]

I drove to my mother's house to pick up some other pads. I've been using the orange ccs pad - noting that it's firmer, I have no issues with the blue ccs pad. I'll give the other ones a shot before I toss it. hehe

[jetset4me]

It's all a matter of technique. I've used it a few times and no problem but when I had someone try it at a Meguiar's clinic it gave him problems. I showed him how I use it but he didn't want to try it again. The other two people that tried it loved it and wanted to find out where to buy one. The more you use it the more you'll like it.

[DJ_JonnyV]

gtpaul - I had the same experience the first time I used an orange CCS pad with my Flex. It was like a buckin' bronco ride. I actually put the few CCS pads I had in the back of my pad drawer for a while. When you first get them, the are very stiff with little play in them.

Things changed for me last weekend. I was doing a Caddy CTS that was all screwed up from a brush carwash, and ran out of orange pads, well, except for the 2 orange CCS pads. I put the one that I had used before and had since washed (obviously), and I was taken back by it. Wow, what a difference from the last time I used it. I think the wash softened it up just enough from when I used it being new along with more hours clocked in on the Flex.

Just a thought, but try using that orange CCS pad again after washing it adn clocking in a few more hours on the Flex. Also, I started out with strictly Erasure pads from Excel Detail and Detailer's Paradise pads. They are both flat pads and are a little more flexible upon initial use. Trust me, just stick with it and you'll get there.

[twitch]

Originally Posted by TortoiseAWD

I wasn't sure about the Flex on my first try, either, but the more I use it, the more I like it.

I felt the exact same way too. The machine pulled me all over the first time and a little bit during the second time of use. My last polishing session was a full 8 hours and I don't recall having one issue as such.

[copland007]

I just fired up my flex for the first time yesterday/today so I'm no expert by any stretch of the mind But the one thing I found was the flex was extremely sensitive to not being flat on the surface, once I figured out how to keep it flat it was a blessing to use. Took me about 10 mins to get use to it and to get over the same feelings you saw.

I was using LC CCS green/white/blue/red pads in my 2 day marathon and they all worked really well. Not sure I'm sold on the red pad though, was harder to keep under control.