Got Makita?

[dennn]

dennn,

I will try to post the results of my detail soon.

Sure, please inform us of your result!

[Legacy99]

Hi,

You shouldn`t have to be afraid to go higher than 1000rpm. At 600rpm, it barely does anything, in my opinion. With the advanced technology medium grade polishes and high quality foam pads, holograms and swirl marks is quite rare.

Most of the paint strike through, I have read, occur with the heavy grade compounds (think M85) and heavy cutting wool pads at really high speeds. Even with a very cutting foam pad, you have to literally apply a lot of pressure on the same spot for 20 seconds in order to go through the paint. But you wouldn`t even do that with a dual action polisher anyway, right. Compounds like #105 are so fine and cut so well that it doesn`t induce a lot of scouring and swirls and you shouldn`t need apply too much pressure for adequate correction. #105 at the right speed, pressure, and pad acts like a medium grade polish.

I do find the LC orange pads hop like crazy with both DA and rotary. The moderator suggested priming the pad with the product itself to reduce it. I am not sure if the hydrotech pads hop as much, but basically most of the "coarse" feeling pads would hop because they grab to the surface instead of smoothly rotating on it. Meguiar`s cutting pad doesn`t hop as much if hopping is a real concern for you.

I would suggest high-gloss pads over hydrotech. The fact that the hydrotech only comes in two variants makes it harder to fine tune the right cutting power for the job, in my opinion.

Hopping is caused by not enough product (lube) not keeping the pad flat to the surface and even too low speeds. Get it up to 1500rpm, keep the pad moving and flat to the surface. Stay away from edges and ridges and you`ll be fine. Like dennn said, it`s not easy to burn thru your clear, just use a little common sense and you`ll be fine. Just got the hydro so can`t comment on them yet.

[Todd@RUPES]

Congrats on choosing a great machine.

Pad hop is often caused by not keeping the pad flat on the surface. This often occurs when your arms away from your body, at the end of the length of your pass. It is similar to painting a car, if you just sweep your back and forth with a paint gun you will find that at the end of your sweeps the gun will be further away from the surface and not angled towards it. Instead when you paint you have to `break your wrist` to keep the gun the same distance and at the same angle to the paint. Think `Karate Kid` when Daniel has to paint the fence.

When you use a stiffer foam you will tend to lift the outside edge of the pad and you move away from your body. This creates a pressure spot where the pad has maximum contact and slows the foam. In essence the rest of the foam (that isn`t touching anything solidly) will try to pass the foam that has friction, creating a spring action. This is what will usually give buffer hop.

As mentioned add a little pressure to engage to the foam on the surface evenly and focus on the keeping the pad in even contact with the paint. It does take practice but you will developed a feel for it overtime. Once you learn it you will wonder how you ever got hop to begin with!