Most regreted detailing product purchase?

I'm curious about you guys having trouble with the Flex 3401's. I know that anything man made will break eventually. I have a Flex 3403 that has a dynabrade attachment on it most of the time. I have used the Flex 3401 of another detailer and have recently been looking at pulling the trigger on this machine.My use is not going to be a zillion cars a month but more like a couple a week tops, Anyone else having problems with their 3401's ? Also in my arsenal are a couple of 6" GG's, Meguiars v2 and my old trusty PC.These have all been trouble free for me so far.
 
hotrod66paul said:
IAnyone else having problems with their 3401's ? Also in my arsenal are a couple of 6" GG's, Meguiars v2 and my old trusty PC.These have all been trouble free for me so far.
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Not me, and I've used mine kinda hard for a non-Pro. I've killed PCs before, and I've sure put my Flex 3401 through more abuse with no problems (at least so far).



IMO a big thing with the Flex 3401 is not overdoing the applied pressure. NO, I'm absolutely *NOT* saying that people are at fault when theirs die, but I do think the machine lends itself to "just a little more pressure...yeah..that's it!" type of use that can take its toll.
 
This was roughly 15 years ago: Mothers Back to Black. Too oily looking and it would run onto the paint and stain after rain.
 
Bill D said:
This was roughly 15 years ago...
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Heh heh, if you've gone 15 years with no more buyer's remorse you're doing pretty well in my book!



A recently resurrected thread reminded me that I regretted buying both Sonus MotorCoat and Griot's Underhood Coating stuff (whatever it's called). Never used them after giving the whole idea some shoulda-thunk-pre-purchase consideration. When the can of Griot's stuff sprang a leak and I saw the goopy mess, I was sure glad I didn't spray that [stuff] on anything.
 
Adam's Polishes pads and polish combo. I was always told by their reps and fanbois that my technique was bad which caused their most aggressive polish and pad to require 8 sets in one spot to remove defects, but switching to black wool pads and M105 fixed all of my problems.
 
I regret dropping a couple bills on my steamer. :( Can't even remember the last time I used it on a car.



But my mom loves using it to clean 😁





Chad @ divine details
 
hotrod66paul said:
I'm curious about you guys having trouble with the Flex 3401's. I know that anything man made will break eventually. I have a Flex 3403 that has a dynabrade attachment on it most of the time. I have used the Flex 3401 of another detailer and have recently been looking at pulling the trigger on this machine.My use is not going to be a zillion cars a month but more like a couple a week tops, Anyone else having problems with their 3401's ? Also in my arsenal are a couple of 6" GG's, Meguiars v2 and my old trusty PC.These have all been trouble free for me so far.
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Never tried the 3401 but I use a Makita BO6040 professionally and it's going strong after 2 years of use. it feels unbreakable. BTW, some who've used both report that the Mak cuts better/faster than the Flex.
 
Accumulator said:
Cut it into thin pads and use them to clean bugs/etc. off the windshield, works great for that.
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I've been using Griot's "white wax sponges" and Prepwash straight for bugs... seems to work pretty well. My wife drives 100 miles every day, so the battle never ends. Anyway, the white sponges seem to wash out well since the closed-cell type material won't trap the bug bodies.
 
Concourswanna b said:
I've been using Griot's "white wax sponges" and Prepwash straight for bugs....
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Which GG "white wax sponges" are those? They used to sell a "wax *removal* sponge" that I sometimes find handy.



Isn't the PrepWash kinda tough on your LSP? I'd just die if I had to re-LSP on a regular basis.
 
Accumulator said:
Which GG "white wax sponges" are those? They used to sell a "wax *removal* sponge" that I sometimes find handy.



Isn't the PrepWash kinda tough on your LSP? I'd just die if I had to re-LSP on a regular basis.
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Actually, these:

White Wax Applicator Pads, Set of 2 - Griot's Garage



Just great quality... these things seem to be what I keep going back to for wheel washing, bug removal, Optimum OS on door jambs, etc.

Yup, the PrepWash does strip down my sealant pretty effectively- I'm usually hitting the front with OS or OID afterwards. But the front end of a car takes serious abuse when you're looking at 100k miles over two years. I knew we should have bitten the bullet for a Clearbra.
 
Concourswanna-B- Yikes, that's some *MILES* you're putting on it!! :eek:



Ya know..those sponges look *exactly* like the ones they sold for wax *buffing*. Hmmm, wonder if they just changed the description. When I had some weird residue from ZAIO not playing nice with residual oils from M205 I used that sponge to clear up the problem, saved me from having to strip/redo the whole Tahoe. So I can sure understand your liking them for all sorts of stuff. Good product, different/better than the usual "wax applicator" pads, huh?
 
Buffpro polisher - can't get that thing to do a job better or at least as good as a DA or rotary. Also lots of polishes that are not that effective and are a pain to remove but not going to mention these for now..
 
VroooomCrash said:
Klasse AIO and SG. No better than any of the products I used at the time, but super hyped.
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Huh, I was probably one of the people hyping the Klasse twins :think: Six or so coats of KSG left a thick protective build-film that really worked for me on certain vehicles. But then OTOH, I hated the signature look so much on an Audi that I stripped it off, and I hardly ever do that.
 
Other than Turtle Wax glass cleaner, I haven't really purchased any real turds of a product. I had some really mixed results with Poorboy's polishes but he sent me those to try for free.
 
I got some diamondite glass cleaner for free with some other products I ordered, and it streaked horrible. Other than that I haven't had any total duds.
 
from off the top of my head at the moment.. edge foam detailing sticks and woobie microfiber towels from AG (over-priced like most all the microfibers they sell)...
 
Accumulator said:
Huh, I was probably one of the people hyping the Klasse twins :think: Six or so coats of KSG left a thick protective build-film that really worked for me on certain vehicles. But then OTOH, I hated the signature look so much on an Audi that I stripped it off, and I hardly ever do that.
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It wasn't bad, it just didn't live up to the hype and on certain cars it just looked off.
 
Accumulator said:
Huh, I was probably one of the people hyping the Klasse twins :think: Six or so coats of KSG left a thick protective build-film that really worked for me on certain vehicles. But then OTOH, I hated the signature look so much on an Audi that I stripped it off, and I hardly ever do that.
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What is the KSG signature look? Dull and boring??? :D IMO, it looks just like more clear, no life to it whatsoever.
 
Dan said:
What is the KSG signature look? Dull and boring??? :D
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Actually, *YEAH*, that kinda sums it up :chuckle:



IMO, it looks just like more clear, no life to it whatsoever.
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Yeah, but it was an OK look on the silver Mazda minivan, worked surprisngly well on that particular silver (unlike Audi silver, for instance) and the "kinda-blah" effect sorta went with the whole "sanitary-clean minivan" thing.



On colors that're kinda blah to begin with, and likely to stay that way no matter what, I think it's a good way to go. Note that I don't currently have it on any of my vehicles, just on bits and pieces of vehicles that're (overall) LSPed with other stuff.
 
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