I recently purchased the Flex XC 3401 VRG polisher (random orbital + forced rotation).
FLEX Power Tools - Elektrowerkzeuge seit 1922
Below is my review for those who may be interested in this polisher. I’ve tried to be as thorough as possible, but will certainly try my best to answer any question that may arise. I should also note, I’ve just purchased this machine and am writing this review based off my findings after polishing my car this past weekend. Certainly more time/experience with the machine will yield more conclusive findings. Also, while I’ve used a PC for many years and consider myself a skilled user with the PC, I have very limited time/experience with rotary polishers and would hardly call myself “skilled” with a rotary…so my comparisons will be based against the PC.
Now on with the review…
The base polisher package comes with the polisher, a handle “knob grip” and a Velcro backing plate. So it’s pretty much everything you need to get started except for pads and polish. The supplied BP is 150mm (5.91 inches) and is specifically designed for the Flex polisher. To my knowledge there are no different sized BP’s offered by Flex at this time. Flex does make there own pads for use with the polisher…however, I used std Lake County 6.5 inch pads and they seemed to work/fit just fine.
Weight:
While both polishers, the Flex and PC, have spec weights of ~5.75 lbs, I have to say the Flex feels a bit heavier than a PC. Unfortunately I only have a cheap bathroom scale, which shows the Flex weighing slightly more, but this is far from an accurate scale. I can only think the PC weight shown as its spec weight is a gross weight (including the backing plate)…while the Flex spec weight is for just the polisher (no backing plate). Regardless I think it’s safe to say the Flex weighs about a pound or so more than a PC and by the end of the job this small increase in weight was becoming somewhat noticeable or maybe I’m just getting old. The Flex is also a more substantial sized polisher…more along the size of a rotary.
Vibrations & Feel:
The first thing I did when I brought the Flex home was to put a pad on it to feel what the vibrations were like. I put on a LC 6.5 inch pad and cranked it up. I was pleasantly surprise by the feel of the machine. Vibrations were minimal, certainly seemed less than a PC. Although this was based on running the polisher in the air, my thoughts soon changed once the polisher was on the paint. While actually using the polisher on my car I wouldn’t necessarily say the polisher vibrated more, but it certainly took a strong grip to control and that, in turn, did lead to some hand fatigue and a little bit of “tingly hands”. Holding onto the polisher so tightly made the vibrations feel sharper. As I worked with the polisher more and started getting a better feel for the machine I was able to stop trying to “man-handled” the polisher so much and better figured out how to work with it as opposed to trying to control/hold onto it. On flat panels it’s pretty easy to work with the polisher and guide it where you’d like it to go, but there will always be tight spots or curved panels where you’ll need to hold on tightly and use some muscle to place the polisher where you want it...these were the areas I noticed the most hand fatigue.
Ergonomics:
The ergonomics of the polisher felt really good for my hand size. The trigger, which has a lock that is an absolute blessing, was easy to reach and lock into place with one hand. Locking the trigger down allows you to loosen your grip and use your trigger hand to steer & guide the machine. In the beginning I was not using the trigger lock and I think this is what was leading to much of the hand fatigue I described above. It’s hard to keep the trigger compressed, hold on to the rear of the polisher and guide it all at once. Using the trigger lock allowed me to adjust the trigger hand for the most comfortable position, as opposed to keeping my trigger hand in the same trigger position (squeezing) for a long period of time.
For all intents and purposes you need to keep 2 hands on the polisher, this can become cumbersome when working on lower areas of the car. With the PC I could palm it, which made working on lower panels pretty easy…not so with the Flex.
The overall balance of the Flex is also good. The weight is pretty evenly distributed throughout the polisher with only a small majority of the weight at the polisher’s head.
Power:
This thing has a ridiculous amount of power & torque. I could not find anything in the manual regarding how many amps the motor is, but as I inspected the housing of the polisher I believe I found the amp spec…10.0A (I’m presuming A=amps) if someone could confirm this I’d much appreciate it. Regardless, more than once I put a significant amount of force down on the machine and couldn’t even get the motor to make the slightest bogging sound. I had a pretty serious
scratch on my hood and during the correction I pushed down quite hard on the polisher and couldn’t even phase it. I really can’t imagine doing anything to bog this thing down.
Polishing Speed:
For me this was one of the main reasons for purchasing this polisher. I just couldn’t handle the amount of time needed to polish a vehicle with the PC. Yet I didn’t want to move to the rotary level either…I really like the “safeness”, quality of finish and overall ease of RO’s. The Flex does allow you to move around the car at a higher rate. Most of my polishing was done at speed 5 (of 6). I’d roughly equate this to 8000 OPM’s with a rotation of 400 RPM’s. This was working at a pace plenty fast enough for me. I could do a panel in just about half the time I could with a PC. Actually, at times I wasn’t sure I was breaking down the polish enough, so I’d pull the car out into the sun. Sure enough the finish looked great…no buffer marks or swirls of any type, just a great looking finish.
Correcting Ability:
Correcting ability was the other reason I bought this polisher. Hours prior to my purchasing the Flex, I had my car in the shop. When I brought my car home I noticed a large (palm sized) grease mark on my hood. I initially thought, no biggy…well, when I cleaned the grease mark this is what I discovered was under the smudge…
I can only imagine how they did this, it almost looks as though they placed something heavy on my hood (possibly a power tool) and drug it off my hood. I was pretty mad, but after I cooled down I thought…what a better test for the Flex’s correcting ability.
I’m happy to say the Flex, with an orange pad and some
Menzerna IP, handled these scratches with ease. A few passes at speed 6 and a bit of pressure took out 95% of the scratches. I’m pretty sure I could have removed 100% of the scratches with a little more polishing, but at this point they were barely visible and I just wasn’t sure how hard I wanted to go at it. When I first ran my fingernail over the scratches I could just barely feel my nail catching on the scratches…so they were somewhat deep.
Regardless, I was more than satisfied with the Flex’s correcting ability.
Noise Level:
From what my ears could tell (mind you, there was no scientific db measurement tool used what-so-ever)…the Flex is just about as loud as the PC. Although it is a different kind of noise, the PC always sounded to me like it was whining & screaming a bit. The Flex makes a throatier growl type noise. While the Flex didn’t sound any quieter than the PC, the type of noise just didn’t sound as offensive to me. It should be noted, the Flex was creating a noise level equivalent to a PC at a much higher OPM rate.
Conclusion:
While the Flex is far from the proverbial silver bullet of car care and does have some downsides…price (about $300.00), weight, limited pad/tool options, etc. It does however greatly succeed with respect to correcting ability and polishing speed. Again, these were the two things I was most looking for. Oh yeah, something I’ve yet to mention…it creates an absolutely brilliant finish. I hope to have some pics of my finished car soon…
Linear Mode
