Pad for DA Polisher

[mohamedmaark]

Im working on a Mitsubishi evo which has extremely hard paint and using a yellow lake country cutting pad with fg 400 and its not cutting hard enough.... I wanted to ask really quickly what is the best pad for MOST cutting for da polisher (7424xp to be exact) Im guessing its either a meguairs microfiber pad or surbuf?

[Wors]

In terms of aggressiveness the next step would be a Megiuars MF cutting pad with m105. Surbuf with m105 is more aggressive. I have not used FG400 on the MF or Surbuf before. Always work least aggressive.

[Merlin]

First: I like using a 5" BP and 5" pads on the PC. The workability is much better.

Second: I have never been a fan of the LC yellow pads for cutting or durability.

Surbuf is the most aggressive. It will leave micro marring that requires finer polishing.
My all around workhorse for eliminating swirls are the Megs 5" microfiber cutting discs.

Todd is currently working on a microfiber disc "shoot out". I`m interested in his findings.

Menz FG 400 is a good cutting polish that I purchased from Todd`s recommendation.
IMHO Meguiars M101 with a 5" backing plate and LC 5" orange flat pads cuts better.
Megs M101 is much better to work with than M105 and M101 finishes down very nice.
Yes, M101 costs a bit more than M105 but it`s cleaner, faster & leaves a better finish.

I suggest following up M101 with M205 on a 5.5" LC white flat pad for clarity and gloss.
What used to take me 3-4 hours with M105 now takes me under an hour using M101.
Did I mention the time, cleanup, flashing, splatter, dusting etc. is much less with M101?

So IMHO when working with a PC a 5" DA backing plate and 5-5.5" pads/discs work best.

Pads
Most to least aggressive
1) 5" Surbuf
2) 5" Megs MF cutting disc
3) LC 5.5" orange flat
4) Lc 5.5" white flat

Compounds and Polishes
Most to least aggressive
1) Meguiars M105
2) Meguiars M101
(Note: both M105 and M101 are rated 12)
3) Megs D300
4) Menz FG 400
5) Megs M205

This is not the "entire" compound/polish list by far but hopefully this will help when purchasing products.

[Todd@RUPES]

What technique are you using and what are you trying to accomplish? FG400 and a yellow pad is going to be a pretty stout combination, although there are more powerful pads out there. I would focus on technique first and then we can amp of the aggressiveness. :bigups

[Wheelzntoys]

I wonder how the DA purple foamed wool fit into the aggressiveness equation.

[mohamedmaark]

What technique are you using and what are you trying to accomplish? FG400 and a yellow pad is going to be a pretty stout combination, although there are more powerful pads out there. I would focus on technique first and then we can amp of the aggressiveness. :bigups


If i take my time and do overlapping passes i dont know how many, i could take out the swirls eventually but takes forever, so i wanted something that would speed up the time.

[Stokdgs]

If i take my time and do overlapping passes i dont know how many, i could take out the swirls eventually but takes forever, so i wanted something that would speed up the time.

So, how much pressure are you putting on the machine and at what speed/s?

You absolutely can make the combo you have work better with the smaller backing plate and pad combination suggested by Merlin, above.
Rotation and downward pressure is very important to help the compound work as it was intended, in my experience.

I have never seen Mitsubishi paint so hard that it could not be corrected easily, but then again, I use Rotary Power for everything..

Good luck with this -
Dan F

[mohamedmaark]

So, how much pressure are you putting on the machine and at what speed/s?

I have never seen Mitsubishi paint so hard that it could not be corrected easily, but then again, I use Rotary Power for everything..

Good luck with this -
Dan F

I use sometimes no pressure and sometimes medium pressure and almost no difference the only difference is when i stay buffing for a long time... Dont you get more cut if u use no pressure and let it spin as fast as it could?

[spiralout462]

I use sometimes no pressure and sometimes medium pressure and almost no difference the only difference is when i stay buffing for a long time... Dont you get more cut if u use no pressure and let it spin as fast as it could?

No. You need the right combination of downward pressure, arm speed and polisher speed, not to mention number of section passes. I have found that sometimes you have to work "slower" in order to acheive results faster.

[ec90]

Try cutting your working area down depending on what you`re doing now.

[Paul Mitchell]

I use sometimes no pressure and sometimes medium pressure and almost no difference the only difference is when i stay buffing for a long time... Dont you get more cut if u use no pressure and let it spin as fast as it could?

I suggest you look into some videos that can be purchased through Autopia that will show you how to properly polish a vehicle. Like others have said it takes a combination of arm speed, pressure, experience and the right products to properly polish a vehicle. You should get some parts from a junk yard and practice on them and when you have that down you`ll be able to polish a customer`s vehicle with confidence. Good luck!

[Stokdgs]

I use sometimes no pressure and sometimes medium pressure and almost no difference the only difference is when i stay buffing for a long time... Dont you get more cut if u use no pressure and let it spin as fast as it could?

I use a Rotary for everything and even with the ultimate power correcting tool, if I decide to use a less aggressive compound/pad combination, to eliminate a 2nd step for example, I will have to press down pretty hard (depending on the amount of correction, and the hardness of the paint) to get the compound to work faster and better and break down (if it does break down), and start polishing the paint.

So, yes, you do need a certain amount of pressure on the machine to get it to rub the paint harder and get a more complete level of correction and finishing.

This all comes from experience and no amount of videos are going to give this to you as much as practicing on something (as has been mentioned above), or getting to work with someone who is very experienced and does excellent work consistently.. Or, getting to practice on a lot of vehicles that are safe to use for practice... :)

You need to see a variety of situations and conditions and either experiment or best case, have someone there to show you and then you do it until you get it.

And as has been said ad nauseum - you must be constantly innovative if you want to be good at this to improve your skillset.

It will never be a mindless operation of a machine, not thinking of or watching what is happening and just depending on the machine to do it all for you..

Where do you live? Perhaps there is someone here that is really good and will be happy to have you come by and learn???

Good luck with this !
Dan F

[Todd@RUPES]

"Don`t I get more correction if I let the pad spin faster"

Short answer: No.

Increasing pressure until the pad nearly stops rotating (perhaps 1 time per second) is going to increase the cutting power significantly. A good rule of thumb to start with is about 15 lbs of down pressure. This will get you started and you can adjust from there.

Move your arm slow, about 1 to 2 inches per second. You have to let a random orbital machine work against any area. To this day I count in my head to make sure I am not moving too fast.

Random Orbital DA Polishers take longer to correct (in some ways) than other styles. It should take you over a minute per section, moving your arm slow, using firm pressure, and overlapping each pass to cover the working area 5-7 times.

I am going to try to have my DA cutting pad comparison done today or tomorrow and will link it to this thread. Until then, focus on technique.

[mohamedmaark]

"Don`t I get more correction if I let the pad spin faster"

Short answer: No.

Increasing pressure until the pad nearly stops rotating (perhaps 1 time per second) is going to increase the cutting power significantly. A good rule of thumb to start with is about 15 lbs of down pressure. This will get you started and you can adjust from there.

Move your arm slow, about 1 to 2 inches per second. You have to let a random orbital machine work against any area. To this day I count in my head to make sure I am not moving too fast.

Random Orbital DA Polishers take longer to correct (in some ways) than other styles. It should take you over a minute per section, moving your arm slow, using firm pressure, and overlapping each pass to cover the working area 5-7 times.

I am going to try to have my DA cutting pad comparison done today or tomorrow and will link it to this thread. Until then, focus on technique.


Appreciate the adivce

[mohamedmaark]

I use a Rotary for everything and even with the ultimate power correcting tool, if I decide to use a less aggressive compound/pad combination, to eliminate a 2nd step for example, I will have to press down pretty hard (depending on the amount of correction, and the hardness of the paint) to get the compound to work faster and better and break down (if it does break down), and start polishing the paint.

So, yes, you do need a certain amount of pressure on the machine to get it to rub the paint harder and get a more complete level of correction and finishing.

This all comes from experience and no amount of videos are going to give this to you as much as practicing on something (as has been mentioned above), or getting to work with someone who is very experienced and does excellent work consistently.. Or, getting to practice on a lot of vehicles that are safe to use for practice... :)

You need to see a variety of situations and conditions and either experiment or best case, have someone there to show you and then you do it until you get it.

And as has been said ad nauseum - you must be constantly innovative if you want to be good at this to improve your skillset.

It will never be a mindless operation of a machine, not thinking of or watching what is happening and just depending on the machine to do it all for you..

Where do you live? Perhaps there is someone here that is really good and will be happy to have you come by and learn???

Good luck with this !
Dan F



Thanks for all the advice, i live in clifton new jersey