Advice on PC beginner kit

[Fleetwood*]

A little about my background, I detailed cars in high school and college, and I can definitely be considered a car nut. I take exceptional care of my vehicles, always do my own maintenance, detail all weekend etc. I'm no beginner but I'm definitely no pro. I haven't used an rotary in years, and decided to pick up a PC 7336SP at Lowe's when I saw they were selling for $69. Now that I have that (and used it to sand a bathroom I'm refinishing), I'm looking into what else I need to complete my detailing kit.

I have a rather full detailing supply as it is now, I've used Zaino since '98, Stoner since '93/94, and have (I think) full product lines from both companies. I also have a large assortement of various products, my point is I have a ton of product, so I'm not looking for too much advice there. I'm a very happy Zaino user, but am definitely looking for a more aggressive swirl/scratch removal process. I haven't tried Z-PC yet, any comments on that specific product is appreciated.

What I really do want to hear more about is backing plate and pad combos. Right now in my "shopping cart" I have:

Backing Plate and Pads
Lake Country Dual-Action Flexible Backing Plate 5 Inch
Lake Country Dual-Action 6.5" Yellow Cutting Pad
Lake Country Dual-Action 6.5" Orange Light-Cutting Pad
(2) Lake Country Dual-Action 6.5" White Polishing Pad
(2) Lake Country Dual-Action 6.5 inch Gray Finishing Pad

Polish/Detailing Supplies
Poorboy's Trim Restorer
Menzerna Intensive Polish

I'm shopping around trying to find Menzerna FPII or PO85RD, and plan on topping that combo off with Zaino Z2PRO. I keep seeing good things about the Menzerna products on dark cars, and seeing as I have two (Envoy is Black, Z28 is Mystic Teal Metallic with a black top) dark cars, I'm going to give it a go. I saw a pic of a GN (I LOVE Turbo Buicks!) with this combo and was blown away in a different thread, can't wait to try it myself.

So, does anyone suggest going with a different/larger backing plate? What about my pad selection? Good/bad/otherwise, I'm looking for some comments on what I've chosen so far.

Thanks guys,
Chris

[tumbler]

looks good so far.. i'd keep the 6.5" backing plate

for any compound work - i go to my rotary

but for the pc..

I had LC's pads and found them short lived. I've had more success with Sonus.

not a fan of z-pc as when I used it , it did not remove even light swirls, and simply dusted up the area pretty badly.

I use my pc for light compound work now - I've used Poorboys SSR series, and the Clearkote line with good success.

[Mikeyc]

The issue with pad size with a PC is that if you get a larger pad like 7" or 8" then the motor doesn't have enough juice to develop any heat what so ever as it is an orbital. So, it makes it much more difficult to correct paint. A smaller pad like 4" however will create more heat and make it easier to correct paint flaws, but because it's smaller it will take you longer to do an entire car. If you're only ordering one plate and one set of pads a 5" plate with 6.5" pads is a good compromise not too small, but not too big.

[Neothin]

You could look into propel pads found at exceldetail. They're cheap enough that you can get both large and small pads for the same amount of money as your current shopping cart! I'd suggest that you pick up your cutting pads (yellow, orange, and white) in 4" sizes, and then have your other pads used for cleaners, sealants, liquid waxes, etc in the larger size (white and grey)