Flex XC 3401 VRG Review w/ Pics

**superchargedg** · 10-19-2007, 06:29 PM

Got my flex today and cant wait to try it this sunday....and a few other goodies.Some menzerna stuff.

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...dg/flex002.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...dg/flex001.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...dg/flex003.jpg

**Mobilejay** · 10-20-2007, 06:08 PM

cool well I might give it a try monday on my moms car lol don`t want to mess anything up on a paying client. I`ll let you know how I like.

**DJ_JonnyV** · 10-21-2007, 12:19 AM

Alright, guys, I`m tired as hell, but drinking a cold Bud Light, watching Sports Center (to catch up on college ball), and about ready to doze off in my chair. I did want to post a few before and afters and a few other thoughts from today`s MDX. Well, it will actually be finished up tomorrow. It`s sitting in my garage right now waiting for it`s FMJ in the morning.

This thing was nasty when it showed up. I think the owner figured he would get his money`s worth and not wash the thing for about 2 months. I washed down the engine using P21s Total Auto Wash. Did the wheel wells, tires, and wheels with Adam`s APC and various brushes. Wasched with Prima Mystique. I know Geoff asked about this stuff. I was turned on again by Mystique again today. I was kind of so-so on it from last time I used it, but was really digging it today. Provides nice suds and good cleaning ability. I then clayed with a combination of Adam`s QD and their purple and gray clay bars.

So, onto the polishing action. As you can see here, this MDX was pretty hammered with swirls in general:

Seriously, who the hell lets get their car this dirty???

Oh, and here`s the latest addition to the detailing family in the garage:

Here`s some before / afters:

Attempting to show a 50/50:

Well, I`m litterally falling asleep in my recliner. I gotta go to bed. I defititely have some more thoughts, but the key takeaway today is I didn`t like the CCS pads all too well. They were a pain to control, skipped like all hell, and almost did as much bad stuff as good stuff for a test area that I was working. Did most of car using IP, Flex, and Erasure orange pads for the most part. I gotta go!!!

Oh, and if there are any spelling or grammatical errors...then pardon me due to lack of sleep!!!

**garbud** · 10-21-2007, 10:13 AM

Cool chair! Where does one find those?

Garbud

**DJ_JonnyV** · 10-21-2007, 02:19 PM

Meant to post that last night, but was falling asleep while typing. I picked it up at Costco for about $90. As you can see, the little cupholders are perfect for bottles of Menzerna polishes!!!

**superchargedg** · 10-21-2007, 03:47 PM

I used mine today and was gonna take a few pic,s and the damn battery,s died on the camera.All i can say is wow what a tool it has way more then enough power to handle what you need.My car wasnt even close to being as nasty as the one you just did jonnie but it did have a lot of swirling.I started on the trunk with ip then pulled it out into the sun and.................wow,went back in and used some 106ff/white ccs pad.Back out into the sun and holy cow and took not even half the time as a pc and only one pass for each polish!!!!!I will say my ccs pads also would hop around quite a bit at first until i learned how to control this beast.Since it is the first time i have used it there is a little learning curve to go thru and i would say the car looks almost good as new and far far less time then with a pc.

**DJ_JonnyV** · 10-21-2007, 04:00 PM

Hey, Superchargedg, that`s good to hear. I`m kicking myself right now as I thought I took some pics of the MDX in the sun after putting on some FMJ. Just went to grab the SD card, and I forgot to put it back in from last night. I`m going to call the owner to see if he can take a few for me.

Sounds like you`re starting to catch on with it. Good to hear you are getting favorable results. From your sig pic, looks like you have a red Infiniti G35? It`d be good to see how the 3401 does on red cars. From your post, sounds like it handles them pretty nicely.

As for the CCS pads, I think I`m going to lay off them for now. I really didn`t like my experience with the orange CCS pad and Power Gloss. The dang things are stiff as a board and I`m not sure if those little dimples actually help or hurt things. The thing just skipped and bounced around way too much for me. I think I`m sticking with the Erasure pads for now primary and the Detailer`s Paradise pads after that. I was able to move much quicker last night than I ever would`ve had with my PC (and I would think UDM for that matter).

Baby`s crying, gotta go!

**DJ_JonnyV** · 10-24-2007, 10:46 PM

Alright, I was able to finally get some good sun pics of the MDX today. These definitely show the goods!!!

And how `bout that nasty hood:

Also, by this time there is some extra dust and other stuff on the hood, but I think you get the idea. As you can see, I wasn`t able to get all the deeper scratches out, but they were greatly reduced. Check back on page 3 to see some before pics.

Well, that`s it for now. I`m picking up a white Honda Accord tomorrow that also has some pretty bad swirling. I`ve been using Menzerna products exclusively so far with the Flex. I tried the CCS pads, and didn`t like them so much. The other thing left to try is some other polishes. I think I`m going to take a run at the Accord with some Optimum polish 4 oz. samples I picked up. This might be hard to do since the Menzerna polishes have been working so well.

**frostydog** · 10-25-2007, 07:54 AM

Looks great Jonny!!! :xyxthumbs

FMJ really made the pearl in that black look AWESOME!!!

**superchargedg** · 10-25-2007, 08:53 AM

Awesome job!!!!

**toml** · 10-26-2007, 06:30 PM

Anyone use a black Erasure pad on the Flex for applying something like VM or RMG?

**frostydog** · 10-27-2007, 07:50 AM

Originally Posted by toml

Anyone use a black Erasure pad on the Flex for applying something like VM or RMG?

I`m sure you can...I haven`t with VM or RMG specifically, but I have used the Flex with a black pad to apply other "like" products and it worked just fine. DJ_Jonny and I discussed this topic briefly before, IIRC we both agreed that we prefer using our old PC`s for glaze/sealant/wax/cleaner applications.

The Flex is far superior to a PC when it comes to polishing/correcting. It`s much quicker, still quite easy to use and produces an incredible finish. But the PC can`t be beat when it comes to "application" type processes. The PC can be used with one hand and though the Flex is far from hard to controll....it can`t be feathered around effortlesly like a PC. For that reason I prefer the PC for glazes and such.

However...if your goal is to burnish the paint that final 2-3% to perfection using a black pad and a very fine polish or glaze, I`d have to believe the Flex would be the way to go. I should note, I`ve done zero testing using the Flex for this type of stuff.

**zzzzdoc** · 10-27-2007, 01:18 PM

Originally Posted by frostydog

I`m sure you can...I haven`t with VM or RMG specifically, but I have used the Flex with a black pad to apply other "like" products and it worked just fine. DJ_Jonny and I discussed this topic briefly before, IIRC we both agreed that we prefer using our old PC`s for glaze/sealant/wax/cleaner applications.

The Flex is far superior to a PC when it comes to polishing/correcting. It`s much quicker, still quite easy to use and produces an incredible finish. But the PC can`t be beat when it comes to "application" type processes. The PC can be used with one hand and though the Flex is far from hard to controll....it can`t be feathered around effortlesly like a PC. For that reason I prefer the PC for glazes and such.

I agree as well. Lighter and easier to use the PC for the easy stuff with black pads.

I`m changing too many things at once to comment too much on the Flex. I`ve used new polishes, glazes, sealants, etc... Getting a ton of experience in a hurry on a new car that the dealer swirled the daylights out of before delivery.

But important bottom line, so far I really love the Flex. Still have the red backing plate and can`t wait to get the black one. Vibrations and noise seem far less bothersome than with PC. And correction is FAR, FAR better.

**superchargedg** · 10-27-2007, 07:57 PM

I still like to apply glazes and lsp,s by hand as i never did use the pc to do this.

**DJ_JonnyV** · 10-27-2007, 10:03 PM

I tackled an `04 (I think that`s the year) Accord today. it was white and as dirty as could be. This is the first white car that I`ve done so it was a little bit of a learning experience as well. First lesson, white cars play hell with the white balance on your camera. I was able to get a few good pics. It had some pretty bad swirling on it as well.

This was an exterior detail only. I started out by doing the engine, wheel wells, tires, and wheels all with Adam`s APC. Washed with a combination of Adam`s car wash and Duragloss 901. I was running a little low on car wash, so I combined the two. Even after washing the hell out of the thing, there was a lot of caked in dirt on it. I proceeded to clay with Adam`s clay and Adam`s QD as lube. I really didn`t realize how dirty this thing was until I did my test section. Holy sh!t was this thing messed up.

Here`s a few before pics after washing, but before claying.

So, I busted out the new 4 oz. bottle of OC and the orange Erasure pad. After doing my usual moves, I pulled up and checked it in the halogens. First thing I noticed is there was a 2 x 2 section of black, built in grime that was just lifted from the surface. It took care of some of the swirling, but not as much as I would`ve liked during my run. So, onto the OHC. Still wasn`t as satisfied as I thought I should`ve been. Well, back to old faithful - Menzerna IP. There were still some stubborn scratches. Son of a gun!!! Out comes the Menzerna Power Gloss compound, yellow pad, and kept it on a speed 6. Worked the hell out of it, but they still weren`t budging. They were getting progressively a little better every time. So, did the fingernail test again, and it caught it ever so slightly. Sometimes, you just have to now when to move on. I retreated to IP + orange pad for the rest of the car.

As I progressed, I realized that there were still some minor swirling and spider webbing left. This after the same combination knocked out the same thing on the black MDX last weekend. I think I figured out why this was happening. There was so much built-in dirt on this car, that it was building up on the pad and re-introducing some of this swirling. Now, I don`t have 10+ orange pads to use one per panel, and this job became more about getting the built-in dirt off than it did removing swirls. I was able to get about 65% of them out, but think I re-introduced some.

Here`s a couple attempted 50/50 shots trying to show the dirt that was coming up:

I know it`s really hard to see on a white car on a computer screen. On the first one look to the right of the Honda logo about where the right side of the center brake light ends. On the second, lood for the line about 1/3 the way down from the top of the pic.

Oh, and here`s my new tape removal helper:

Here`s some other before/afters. Again, hard to pick up sometimes with the white paint.

After:

Before:

After:

This is the front left fender, and actually turned out really well. I had just switched to a new orange pad.

Here`s a few finals after applying FMJ:

Like I said, my WB on my camera was waging war with itself.

Did tires and splash guards with Adam`s VRT. Hit the cowl and some other areas with Adam`s In & Out. Did windows first with Prima Clarity and their short knap MF window cleaning towel, followed by Adam`s QD. Really like the Prima Clarity btw. Hit the wheel wells with Adam`s undercarriage. Did door jambs with Mequiar`s QD. And think that was about it...

Well, I was a little disappointed in myself for not getting all the swirls, but in the end, the car looks much better than it did before as it is back to it`s factory color again...white!!! And, like I said, I was able to get most of them out, but some still remained. I`m pretty sure why. The lady was paying for a polish and a wax, not a polish, polish, wax. Also, I don`t have a pad per panel in my arsenal either (yet!). The Optimum stuff will have to get a better test run. The Menzerna stuff just seems to give me the right correcting ability, with the right breakdown timing with the Flex.

Oh, and did I mention, I have a 5/8" Edge 2K rotary adapter in the mail for the Flex LK 302 VE rotary I picked up. I`m taking next weekend off on a little vaca with the family, so there`ll be no updates next weekend. Let me know if there are any questions.