inda626 said:
Hello everyone,
Thinking of picking up a flex 3401, but would like help in choosing the correct pads, as there are so many. The cars I will be using it on: 2006 Infiniti g35 coupe diamond graphite grey with very minor swirls if any, a 1999 Chevy Tahoe in Black with swirls galore, and a 2000 Nissan Maxima in Black with swirls and light scratches. Thinking of using Megs 105 & 205 combo, for the defects on the black cars. Would appreciate any recommendations you may have. Thanks for your time..
Welcome to Autopia! I can only comment on the Tahoe...I have one of that vintage and I used my Flex 3401 to correct its marred-to-[crap] paint (bought it in *very* used condition).
Note that you need a *LOT* of pads for the M105 work unless you want to stop and clean/dry them all the time. And you'll still need to stop and clean them to some extent anyhow. You'll need fewer pads with the M205, but don't try to get by with just one or two.
M105- I tried various cutting pads and was happiest with the Meguiar's burgundy foam cutting pads. I used both the newest version and the older 7006. I also used some orange LC light-cut pads, but they didn't correct the way the Meguiar's ones did by a long shot. I generally did the major correction with the Meg's burgundy and then followed up with M105 on the orange LC. On that clear, both pads left a decent finish that I could refine with M205; I didn't need to do M105 on a milder pad first, but you might need to do that depending on your technique. If so, I'd probably use something like a LC white polishing pad or their tangerine HydroTech, or a Griot's orange polishing pad.
M205- I did the first passes with an orange *Griot's* polishing pad (important note- this pad is very different from other "orange pads", more like a LC tangerine). Then switched to a LC white. Note that on othe vehicles I've refined this a bit more with a true "finishing pad", but it looked pretty good on the Tahoe without bothering with that.
Note that getting all the M205 oils off/out of the paint was a *HUGE* hassle!
The M105/M205 didn't work well on the exterior plastic. For that, I used Hi-Temp 357/Heavy Cut and 1z Paint Polish, both of which generally work OK on GM SUV plastics as long as you buff 'em off before they dry. OR you can use KAIO. This exterior plastic responds well to 845 as opposed to dressings.
If you have the shiny black sideview mirrors, they can be a challenge to get really nice. I just bought new ones and IMO it was money very well-spent.
