Bought a Dewalt 849X. Seeking pad advice.

[chrisguga]

I`ve always wanted a rotary polisher and after a few years with my trusty Porter Cable, I took the plunge.



I`ll use my current compounds and polishes with it... M101, M105, M205, HD Cut, HD Polish, HD UNO, etc.



I plan on buying 2 wool, 2 foam cutting, and 2 foam polishing/burnishing pads to start out with. The polisher comes with a backing plate designed for 7 inch pads and I don`t currently have any this large.



I hear good things aBout Meg`s solo wool pad, burgundy foam cutting pad, and I love Buff N Shine pads. Thoughts on these?



I have access to a Dodge Ram work truck in torch red to use for a test mule and it has so much damage the owner wouldn`t even know if I burned through the paint. lol

[Legacy]

Except for wool, I prefer the smaller 6.5" pads or even 6" pads on a rotary. Using larger pads on a boat, RV or large panels is great, but on a standard car, truck or SUV, the smaller pads are better for the breaks an curves.

[gocubbies]

I have heard that the LC Kompressor pads are great on rotaries. Never tried them only heard. I have a smaller BP on my 849 and run the same pads i do in my PC. All though i do have the Meg Soft Buff line in the 7" size. That foam burgady pad i have used to remove 800 grit sanding marks with on my 849.



Anyways to get back to your question since you already have pads for you PC just get a BP for the 849 and use same pads

[chrisguga]

Keep_it_clean, that`s actually a really good idea. If those burgundy pads cut that hard, I may not even bother with wool. I have a variety of 5.5 inch buff n shine pads that I`ll use for the finishing and I`ll go for some big and small burgundy pads for cutting various panels.



I need to look into those Kompressor pads too.



Thanks for the advice so far. Learning the rotary is exactly what I needed to keep polishing paint fresh and new for me.

[chrisguga]

Oh, and who makes the best backing plate for a rotary? It seems a very flexible backing plate is desirable.

[chrisguga]

I`m pretty impatient and already ordered 2 of each:



Meg`s solo wool 7" pads

Meg`s burgundy 7" pads

Meg`s polishing 7" pads

Meg`s finishing 7" pads



And a 5" Meg`s rotary backing plate so I can use all of my 5.5" Buff N Shine pads. I also pre-ordered some M100 since it`s designed for rotary wool use and I have half a quart of M101 which is designed for rotary foam use.



I should have it covered.

[gocubbies]

here is the 800grit disc

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa122/detailgod/cars/IMG_0014-2.jpg



sanded down

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa122/detailgod/cars/IMG_0017-2.jpg



after Megs Burgandy cutting pad and Hi-Temps Magnum357

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa122/detailgod/cars/IMG_0028-2.jpg



now the compound says it can remove 800 grit which is only reason i used 800grit disc. so has you can see matched with the right compound the Megs burgandy pad will cut

[chrisguga]

Good grief, I didn`t think a foam pad could cut like that.



How does the cut of Magnum357 compare to M101?



I`m so glad the days of having to compound a hammered panel 3-5 different sets with my Porter Cable to get a defect free finish are over.



I don`t take many detailing jobs nowadays because I`m so busy with my full-time job and life in general, but the jobs I do take usually involved hammered cars for friends or friends of friends and there`s just no money in spending 20 hours on just the polishing to get the paint looking right. I quote them a price where I might make $10 an hour if I`m lucky, but any higher price than that and they don`t think it`s worth it. I could make 4x the money picking up some extra hours at my regular job. Hopefully this rotary will allow me to correct hammered cars in a more reasonable amount of time and actually make reasonable profit to go along with the joy of detailing. I love turning these cars around and the stunned look on the owner`s faces, but life`s too short to detail for peanuts.



Thanks for the help, all!

[gocubbies]

I have never used M101 so i can not compare

[Superior Shine]

I run only Meguiars W5000 on my rotary.

[Autowerx]

I really like the LC Waffle Pro pads on my 849X. They make it so much easier to control compared to when using flat pads.

[Barry Theal]

I run only Meguiars W5000 on my rotary.



Im like this old man here.:becky: I use wool only now on rotory. It cuts cooler then foam and is really nice for cutting. I use a pad similer to the Megs Joe suggested. I love the center mount screw on. Pad is always balanced.

[Concours.John]

Im like this old man here.:becky: I use wool only now on rotory. It cuts cooler then foam and is really nice for cutting. I use a pad similer to the Megs Joe suggested. I love the center mount screw on. Pad is always balanced.



I am the same way. Wool and the like just does not translate the heat like foam does. Especially on composite and other types of body material.

[chrisguga]

I am going to look into the self centering pads. I`m finding that centering the pad is crucial and a pain in the rear. The waffle pads sound good too because the flat pads, particularly the stiff crimson pad, walk all over the place.



I still haven`t tried the wool pad on the rotary. I haven`t had a chance to do any polishing on a hammered car lately. Now I`m really looking forward to trying it out.



On a tangent, I`m really liking UNO. I used to think it was a so so product just off of what others said, but I found it really can level some defects with a polishing pad on the rotary and can finish well when you back the rps down to 1200 and then 800 for a few passes. HD Cut worked well for me too and didn`t have any issues coming off of fairly soft Nissan paint.

[sulla]

I am going to look into the self centering pads. I`m finding that centering the pad is crucial and a pain in the rear. The waffle pads sound good too because the flat pads, particularly the stiff crimson pad, walk all over the place.



I still haven`t tried the wool pad on the rotary. I haven`t had a chance to do any polishing on a hammered car lately. Now I`m really looking forward to trying it out.



On a tangent, I`m really liking UNO. I used to think it was a so so product just off of what others said, but I found it really can level some defects with a polishing pad on the rotary and can finish well when you back the rps down to 1200 and then 800 for a few passes. HD Cut worked well for me too and didn`t have any issues coming off of fairly soft Nissan paint.



I`m going to recommend you the hd black wool pad a.k.a tufbuf wool pad..it cuts really well and doesn`t shed from brand new condition..all wool pads i`ve tried shed like crazy except this one and lake country pfw... all i use for rotary are waffles and hd black...