6 inch backing plate easy to break??

Y

yonglvnv

New member
Ordered and received PC7424 SFX kit, very fast shipping. Very excited to get started. Have an RX-8, a minivan and two vettes ready to polish. Anyway, got the first car, RX-8, all taped and ready to start. 15 minutes into polishing, backing plate separated/broke off from its metal part and the plate and foam pad flew halfway across the garage floor. Could it have been beginner's luck or defective backing plate? Would another brand backing plate have been more sturdy? I've been reading just about all instructions in this forum and thought I was doing ok, slight pressure, but letting the PC weight do most of the work.



I was about done with the hood on black RX-8 with SFX-2, but couldn't get all the scratches out, so was thinking about going to SFX-1 for better results when the backing plate separated/broke off. Would SFX-1 make the clearcoat thinner or still would be safe to use? Thanks for any suggestions.
 
wow... that's a first on me. I've heard of the backing on the pad separating, but the backing plate itself? I think you may of just gotten a bad plate.



When your using an abrasive polish on a PC your going to have to move the machine VERY slowly, as in like 1 inch per second for a few passes. Unless your removing some serious defects I doubt that your going to need SFX-1. You might want to try bumping up to a heavier cut pad but know that you might have to follow up with sfx-3 because you might get some hazing.
 
Not being familiar with the Sonus kit, I dunno what happened to the plate. But I've never had problems like that from any of my various PC plates. I'd order a flex plate (my fave) but for now you could just find a local PC dealer and get one of theirs (IIRC the PN is 18001). Nothing fancy, but they last a long time.



IMO you'll be fine using whatever polish you need to use on the RX-8, assuming the marring isn't too deep. I use PI-III RC on our MPV whenever I need to, and its clear is just fine.



And FWIW, I think you'll find the clear on the 'vettes to be harder than that on the Mazda.
 
Unbelivable!!! Received email from Autopia, they've already sent out replacement today. I was so sure they will ask to send them a picture of the broken backplate or send the broken part back, and had a picture all ready to send. I guess they've got one more loyal customer now. Thanks Autopia!
 
The only things I can think of to cause the actual backing plate to break is a serious defect or the backing plate wasn't fully tightened and the vibration broke it. The first option is more likely, IMO though.
 
Scottwax said:
The only things I can think of to cause the actual backing plate to break is a serious defect or the backing plate wasn't fully tightened and the vibration broke it. The first option is more likely, IMO though.
Click to expand...



That's what I was thinking, too. I say chalk it up to mass production on an assembly line. Probably won't happen again.
 
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