First glance at the Cyclo

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imported_Aurora40

New member
It's a very industrial looking tool, seems indestructible. The pads don't seem to actually overlap in polishing as they both spin towards the center at the same time. Anyway, I flipped it on in the garage, it sure seems faster than 3000 opms. Maybe it's 3000 rpm on the motor, not the actual pads? It also whips the pads out more than the PC, I think the offset is greater. I put my finger up against the edge of it to see how it felt, if it would push away a bit. It was pretty rough and my finger got fairly hot! I can see it being more aggressive than the PC, no doubt. It should be fun to use.



The pads are nice, but I kinda like my Meg's pads better from a feel perspective... Man, they were covered with a ton of "slubs". I spent the evening picking them out with a pair of tweezers. Many are way down in the pad and quite difficult to remove without damaging the pad... The yellow pads are very firm, and I can't imagine using them.



I am itching to try it out, but it's for sure going on the Nissan paint first. It seems a bit less foolproof than the PC, but who knows, maybe it's just the unknown factor freaking me out.



I'm slightly wondering if it was a smart buy, but that's probably just because it was fairly costly and I haven't used it yet. It certainly appears to be a quality tool. I'm sure as I find more uses for it I'll be more and more glad I got it. :)
 
Interesting observations, Bob. I've also thought about a Cyclo as an intermediate step between a PC and rotary so I'm interested in hearing how it works out for you.
 
BTW, Bob in action! No cyclo though..... ;)



1099Aurora40_waxing.jpg
 
If you want to see a pix of me in action you will have to go to a different forum .. :shocked hahahaha
 
I use it for waxing and very happy with it. It´s quick and reliable.



I will make some test using a Sonax one step product (polish+wax) with more aggressive pads and see what happens.



I will also test those accessories with stiff brushes to rub mats.
 
I use a PC & Cyclo. I use them depending on the severity of defects. The Cyclo as mentioned many times before is great for minor swirls ( cars in good condition.) Although it appears to be heavy @ awkward, the handle on the top really makes it easy to use. It was well worth the money to me. I probably use it for 65% of the Details that I do. I really like the feel of it on the finish....Just my opinion. Terry
 
Gee, guess there's no one left at Autopia who doesn't know how *I* feel about the Cyclo :D Heh heh, but here I go again...



I wonder if *anyone* has ever been disappointed with one :confused:



Aurora40- There's a slight overlap when both pads hit that centerline. They sorta push together/against each other unless you're bearing down on it a little. Sometimes you can see the overlap in your polish. Sure does seem fast for the 3K speed, huh?



You might've seen the thread where we talked the "slubs issue" to death. There are vendors who have sorta solved the problem and you can always just cut up bigger pads.



Tip, sometimes spinning the pads on the Cyclo will bring up some of the deeper slubs. Don't worry, the pads don't fly off or ruin their velcro like they can on a PC when you do this. Keep an eye out for additional slubs while you're polishing, they *do* show up. But from what I hear, they don't *necessarily* mar everyone's paint the way they did my Jag's lacquer.



The yellow cutting pads are really only for when you're trying to do "rotary work" with it. You'll have to follow up with the green pads, but the yellow ones are a lot milder than you might expect once they're lubed with your product. Oh, and they work great under TOL's suede-style MF bonnets for LSP removal.



Just as an experiment, before doing things "properly" with the rotary, I tried removing some marring from the S8 using only the Cyclo. This was stuff that, IMO, a PC would *not* get out of the hard Audi clear- at least not within a reasonable amount of time. The Cyclo got it, though it took a while, and I was only using PI-III RC (05933) for the aggressive step. I *almost* went to 1Z UP, would've saved some time.



Scottwax- :eek: If you're considering a Cyclo, I'm uh... at a loss for words ;) Just kidding, but as I've said about the PC, time is money for what you're doing. There's a reason why so many pros use the Cyclo...



Aqua- Those carpet brushes work *great*. Follow up with an extractor or wet/dry vac, though. And give those green pads a try, you're gonna be impressed. They're a little much for some *very* soft paints, though.
 
Thanks for the info everyone. I'm scheduled to receive my Cyclo today.



One thing's for sure.... I'll be scrutinizing the pads for any of these mysterious slubs before this machine is used on my wife's brand new Audi A4 Cabrio (Brilliant Red) we picked up on Sunday. These slubs are really starting to concern me.. I'll probably just stick with my PC on the new car for now and break in the cyclo on a few of my friends' cars first.
 
Intermezzo said:
I'll probably just stick with my PC on the new car for now and break in the cyclo on a few of my friends' cars first.
Click to expand...



Hahaha .. Just got to love sensible people .. he is a lot like me .. :xyxthumbs
 
I just got my cyclo also and my initial impressions are in line with yours Aurora40. This seems to be a no-nonsense machine geared towards serious polishing. It definitely has a lot more of an 'industrial' feel to it than my PC, but at the same time, the two handles make it more comfortable to hold than the PC and I can easily imagine myself using it with just one hand (can't do that with the PC).



I'm a bit lukewarm about the pads though. They seem to be cheaply put together and not constructed as 'cleanly' as the Meguiar's & LC pads (Aurora, you're right about the yellow pad...can't imagine using it on anything but the worst finish!). I can understand why a pair of them are cheaper than the Meg/LC pads which IMO, are put together far better than the 4" cyclo pads. I'm also not crazy about the way the pads are attached to the machine via the rubber velcro adaptors. I really like the velcro backing on my PC and the way it has to be screwed onto the machine. I would have preferred the cyclo to have two small velcro backing pads but I'm sure this is just a minor point and will not even be noticed when polishing.



I got the tiny slubs on my pads as well, however I was able to remove all but a few by blotting them with clear box tape. Hearing Aurora40's and Accumulator's problems with them, I wasn't expecting the tape to work, but surprisingly, they came off pretty easily and painlessly. Maybe I just didn't have it as bad as you guys.



BTW, I LOVE the way the unit looks. Now that I've got the machine in my hands, I can't wait to try it out and I'm looking forward to Aurora's initial reviews as well!!



Tony
 
Another good thing about using the Cyclo on someone else's car is that the velcro slubs work their way out of the pads on *their* finish, not yours ;)



Those pads do look pretty crappy but the seem to last quite a while. And, heh heh, if you think the slip-on velcro pad holders are lousy, you should've seen the *old* set-up. The pads had rubber slip-on stuff permanently attached (like the velcro pad holders now do) and you had to wrestle them onto the thing each time. Now *that* was a hassle!
 
I used it tonight on the 200SX. It was pretty neat. You really can heat the paint up with it! At first, it felt sort of awkward, but I quickly got the hang of it and it became quite stable. It's a little weird that it polishes a wide path one way and a real narrow one the other way, but it was easy to use and work the paint. I used DACP with the green pad, and it did help on swirls and scratches and such. The paint actually looked brighter and glossier, which is impressive as this paint is shot. There are many areas where the clear is bubbled off in spots (no large areas, just lots of little spots) or cracked in spots, there are severe water spots and some pretty serious scratches going on. That thing has never been garaged, probably never cared for much, and likely buffed like mad when it was on the used car lot... My wife bought it when we were dating. It's about 10 years old.



Anyway, the Cyclo was neat, but I'll have to try it on the Regal or Aurora to see if it can tackle paint that stands a chance of being restored. Though, I will try my newly learned PC technique on the Aurora first (tips I picked up from the Detail Day). Previously I'd never been comfortable leaning on the PC like that.



I think I need to get some more green pads as they really crud up. Maybe because they are so small? They definitely aren't the best pads ever, but they certainly did the trick. I think I'll use the PC for wax application, though. I think it would be more of a pain to do that with the Cyclo.



Does the velcro pull away from the edges on all of your backing plates? It seems to be sort of half-assed glued on the edges, but glued in the center pretty well. When I pulled the pads off, I thought I was gonna ruin the backing plate.



I got my Cyclo and pads from Winners Circle Detailing.
 
The pads are designed in a way that if you pull on the foam it does feel that you are taking the backing pads off. There's a little lip. Get your finger tips in there and break the seal. They are on there pretty tight.

If the green pads are crudding up, you might be putting too much product on the pad. A quarter size, or less should do the trick. I rinse mine after each use and they are still clean and free of left over product.



I'm going to call Cody and ask about the slubs. I got in a case of each pad today. This time they were packed in their own box. I was hoping that the pads would be clear of the slubs. Yellow-no slubs, green-no slubs, wool pads-no slubs, white-many slubs! I'll get back to you guys about the "slubbing".



The free shipping will continue for about another two weeks.



R Regan
 
Great to see many of you have had good results so far with your new toy:)



Irene and I talked a bit today, I am being sent alot of new stuff to test out....almost like Christmas:bounce



Anyway I told her that I just got my TOL order of new white Cyclo pads and sure enough they had those velcro shavings all over them. I also ordered some yellow applicator pads and found that they remove the velcro shavings!



Here is a picture of a white velcro pad before being cleaned.
 

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Is it just me or does that picture somehow remind you guys of puberty?;)



I used a yelow pad like this one and just dragged it across the Cyclo pad. After a few swipes it removed all the slubs. They transferred to the yellow pad but easily came off of it. There may be deeper slubs but they appear to be all gone.



Yellow pad
 

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