Well guys, after receiving my new Cyclo almost a month ago I finally got a chance to try it out today. So far, I must say, I am not very impressed with it. I very quickly started to realize that the cyclo is more of a fine polishing/finishing tool than a compounding tool. I was under the impression that the cyclo could handle all the same paint defects as the PC, but be able to do the job in less time so I tried it out on my beater car. A 97' Ford Explorer with extreme clear coat failure on the hood. Obviously, clear coat failure is permanent and there is no fixing it but I wanted to try to make it not so obvious and I figured this is probably the toughest test I could possibly put the machine through. At first, the cyclo seemed very nice, very smooth and kind of does the work for you. All you have to do is hang on to it and guide it along. Even though it's smooth, it almost felt like I was holding a box with two cats fighting in it!
and since the cyclo has two heads on it, it doesn't vibrate but kind of *shakes* instead. Even though it has two heads and is a very large and cumbersome machine, it is very easy to manage and handle. I was using two Cyclo yellow cutting pads with 1Z UPP on the hood, which is the worst part of the vehicle (as you can see in the pics). After about 5 minutes of using it, I started to get the feel for it and was just flowing along doing smaller 2ft by 2ft areas......then the problem struck. The tiny 4" pads clogged extremely fast, and was leaving a residue that just did NOT want to come off. I tried to clean them off with my pad cleaning brush from Autogeek, but all that did was tear the middle of the pads up so that was a mistake. I had enough pad to do the hood and then the cyclo was done. All I have are the pads it came with and that's only one pair of each grade. (cutting, polishing, and finishing). Since I didn't have any pads to put on the cyclo, I got out the PC and continued on with the detail. I've got to tell you, after using that big brute of a machine, the PC is SO NICE, and it left a much smoother surface than the cyclo did.
All in all, I didn't give the cyclo enough of a chance to prove itself yet and I still have some learning to do with it, but I can already see that it is going to probably be my go-to machine for very basic polishing and most paint cleaning products, maybe even LSP application but when it comes to aggressive polishing, there is no substitute for the PC, IMO. For smaller cars/projects I will always go or the PC, hands down.
Two things that didn't give the cyclo a fair comparison today. 1) I am using it on a surface that is unrepairable and in bad shape, which even a rotary couldn't make look good and 2) The Cyclo brand pads that it came with absolutely suck and thus makes the enitre machine seem worst than it actually is. This thing eats up pads like there's no tomorrow. I am thinking that I would have probably needed 8-10 cutting pads to do the compounding job I did with 1 PC pad today.
Here's some pics of the Explorer after it was washed and dried. For the newbies reading this, this is what you call clear coat failure at it's best. I almost forgot. After using 1Z UPP for a while, I switched to 3M PI II RC because it seems to be a little more aggressive than UPP and I ended up needing the most aggressive products I had in my arsenal. CC failure aside, I also had lots of scratches and scuffs to get out too, so I had my work cut out for me. I ended up spending about three hours compounding it today, and ran out of time before I could get any further, so I will try to finish it tomorrow. In the meantime, here's what it looked like this afternoon before I started:
Here's a closeup of the hood. I wonder if this was a paint defect or the result of something the previous owner did or didn't do.
Passenger side front door with some pretty deep scratches. I spent about 30 minutes on this door alone with the 3M RC
Pretty much all four fender lips looked like this
Keep us posted as I am one of the many "on the fence" about getting a cyclo. It sounds like a great machine...I just want some more real world input on it before making the plunge.
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