Cheap Dual Action

vectra

colm_mcm wrote: »

If I were to buy one of those, can anyone advise on what I'd need to buy in the line of pads and product. It's for my civic, non metallic black. Paint isn't shocking, but has some fine scratching in places, and just general wear and tear from 9 years. I've done my best but really need a machine.

As far as I am aware the Honda paint is on the soft side.
So I would suggest green hex pad to cut and black hex pad to finish
As for Polish
Possibly Chemical guys V36 to cut and V38 to finish but as i have had no experience wit honda paint someone else may be able to suggest more suitalbe products.

Curran

Vectra is spot on there!

You should see great results in terms of correction on the soft Honda paint.

cena

What kind of paint would be on a 07 astra. Soft/hard

Curran

Medium to hard, and likely to be closer to the harder side

cena

Curran wrote: »

Medium to hard, and likely to be closer to the harder side

What pads and compound would I need??

Curran

As with any paintwork its best to have a few combo's so a heavy, medium and fine in each of the pad and polish, is a good starting point.

cena

Curran wrote: »

As with any paintwork its best to have a few combo's so a heavy, medium and fine in each of the pad and polish, is a good starting point.

Any offers on combo pads and polish

ianobrien

cena wrote: »

Any offers on combo pads and polish

Ya just wondering about the same thing as I must get some.

Curran

Right now, just a bit shy on pads, but will be doing a Chemical Guys order in the coming week - if there was a bit of interest, say perhaps 5 minimum, I could do a pads and polish combo with a bit of a discount!

ianobrien

Curran wrote: »

Right now, just a bit shy on pads, but will be doing a Chemical Guys order in the coming week - if there was a bit of interest, say perhaps 5 minimum, I could do a pads and polish combo with a bit of a discount!

Curran, can you let me know when you get the pads in as I want to order some. I'll be ordering other goodies also. From looking, as I just want minor correction/enhancement and mainly using it on VAG paint (I don't trust myself yet on vintage paint and motorhome bodies, yet), I was thinking of Chemical Guys V38 & V40 and a 6.5" Hex Logic Green and Black pads. The query would be would I get a white pad instead of a green one? Would the same apply to the black and I get the red pad?

Also, I managed to find a spare Citroen AX GTi door in the back of the garage (don't ask!) so I'll be able to practice before I attack the cars at home.

Curran

Black and Green would be ideal.
V38 is the finishing polish, but V40, no such thing....P40? No, thats more suited to hand polish. Even with V38 on a Green Pad, isnt a whole lot of cut, so I would be inclinded to go with the V36 and V38, along with a Green and Black pad. Choice of a few combos to get you strated on the feel of doing correction work.

Just a side note, 6.5" pads are quite large; rarely use them myself, only on large flat panels; so perhaps suited to the motorhome, but for the modern car, much less so. The idea is to keep the pad as flat to the surface as possible; not easy with larger pads on the body panels of modern cars - 5.5" would have been the size I used most.

Perfect panel to start you off on the first few attempts; you'll get a very good feel for it with about an hours practice!

ianobrien

Ya meant the P40. Sorry about that. I was thinking of the 6.5" as the head is slightly bigger than 5.5". I don't know the tread type of the head to get a replacement if needed.

I reckon I'll go first for the green & black, with the V36 & V38. I can always get an orange pad later if I think I need it.

As for the motorhomes, it's the graphics mainly that I'd be afraid of as most are transfers (and it would be a disaster to mask). Some of the bodies are not regular painted panels (some are gel coats). I wouldn't be attacking one without some serious homework. My own is a regular Fiat bodied hightop (so could be done) but would still be a disaster to mask the graphics.

vectra

ianobrien wrote: »

Ya meant the P40. Sorry about that. I was thinking of the 6.5" as the head is slightly bigger than 5.5". .

Personally I would probably stick with the smaller pads as the bigger ones may bog down the machine being only 600watt.

cena

ianobrien wrote: »

Ya meant the P40. Sorry about that. I was thinking of the 6.5" as the head is slightly bigger than 5.5". I don't know the tread type of the head to get a replacement if needed.

I reckon I'll go first for the green & black, with the V36 & V38. I can always get an orange pad later if I think I need it.

As for the motorhomes, it's the graphics mainly that I'd be afraid of as most are transfers (and it would be a disaster to mask). Some of the bodies are not regular painted panels (some are gel coats). I wouldn't be attacking one without some serious homework. My own is a regular Fiat bodied hightop (so could be done) but would still be a disaster to mask the graphics.

Well you be changing the backing plate

Curran

The backing plate that comes with the machine is very large and 5.5" pads are not suitable...they'll go on...but you will have backing plate overhang while you want the pad to be large than the backing plate, just slightly. Backing plate overhang risks coming in contact with the surface, mirrors, door handles, etc, but if you have pad overlap then you have a buffer for error.

As said, 6.5" will be quite large for a car, and Vectra's point is one I forgot to raise...definitely with the lesser power a larger pad will cause the machine to bog down, a problem the entry DA's suffer with anyways.

vectra

Curran wrote: »

The backing plate that comes with the machine is very large and 5.5" pads are not suitable...they'll go on...but you will have backing plate overhang while you want the pad to be large than the backing plate, just slightly. Backing plate overhang risks coming in contact with the surface, mirrors, door handles, etc, but if you have pad overlap then you have a buffer for error.

As said, 6.5" will be quite large for a car, and Vectra's point is one I forgot to raise...definitely with the lesser power a larger pad will cause the machine to bog down, a problem the entry DA's suffer with anyways.

Ddin't realsie the backing plate was bigger

ianobrien

Backing plate to add to the shopping list so. I'm going to guess that the 5" plate will fit (and cross my fingers that it does). I reckon the 3" one (and 4" pad) would take too long to do the car!

Do people regularly swap between the 5.5" and the 4" pads (and plates)? I'm thinking of door pillars and where it's not really that flat.

Also, from my reading, I learned the pad HAS to be bigger than the plate, hence my asking for the 6.5". Yes I have been trying to study this before I pulled the trigger.

cena

ianobrien wrote: »

Backing plate to add to the shopping list so. I'm going to guess that the 5" plate will fit (and cross my fingers that it does). I reckon the 3" one (and 4" pad) would take too long to do the car!

Do people regularly swap between the 5.5" and the 4" pads (and plates)? I'm thinking of door pillars and where it's not really that flat.

Also, from my reading, I learned the pad HAS to be bigger than the plate, hence my asking for the 6.5". Yes I have been trying to study this before I pulled the trigger.

I going for a 5'' backing plate and using 5.5'' pad. Not sure why the pad that came with it is so big

*Kol*

ianobrien wrote: »

Backing plate to add to the shopping list so. I'm going to guess that the 5" plate will fit (and cross my fingers that it does). I reckon the 3" one (and 4" pad) would take too long to do the car!

Do people regularly swap between the 5.5" and the 4" pads (and plates)? I'm thinking of door pillars and where it's not really that flat.

Also, from my reading, I learned the pad HAS to be bigger than the plate, hence my asking for the 6.5". Yes I have been trying to study this before I pulled the trigger.

Did you remove the existing backing plate to see what size the thread is?

Would it be possible to machine half an inch off the existing plate?

cena

*Kol* wrote: »

Did you remove the existing backing plate to see what size the thread is?

Would it be possible to machine half an inch off the existing plate?

It doesn't say what size the thread is

*Kol*

cena wrote: »

It doesn't say what size the thread is

You can measure it or check it with a bolt to see what matches.

Noccy_Mondy

These things are retard proof, aren't they? Tempted to snap one up.....

*Kol*

Noccy_Mondy wrote: »

These things are retard proof, aren't they? Tempted to snap one up.....

If you put a sandpaper disk on it you get a really shiny finish. So I'm told anyway....

ianobrien

*Kol* wrote: »

If you put a sandpaper disk on it you get a really shiny finish. So I'm told anyway....

I heard brake fluid works best as a lubricant for the sandpaper.....






Before anybody thinks of running down to the motor factors for gallons of brake fluid, check their sarcasm detector is working.

Curran

The thread size on most DA's is 5/16.

I suppose you could machine the large backing plate down to size.

Yes, a DA is pretty much fool proof, in terms of operation and risk involved. Something to consider before starting out would be; has the paintwork being polished before? If someone has done a lot of machine polishing before, the clear coat may already have a larger percentage removed already Microfiber pads offer more cut, but still relatively safe, but there are also pads available that would offer similar ability to 2000 and 3000 grit sandpaper....but if you are going this route, you are likely to have read up on how they perform, etc, and be aware of the risks involved.
But unless you were to drop the DA onto the car, it has little potential to do damage to the paintwork.

colm_mcm

picked up one of these today. got a €5 voucher too.

the backing plate is massive. 180mm

gonna mess around with it anyway and see what happens.

Noccy_Mondy

colm_mcm wrote:

gonna mess around with it anyway and see what happens.

Mine has dust gathered in the shed, must take it out and running in the next few weeks.

colm_mcm

that didn't go amazingly.
I had meguiars ultimate compound and it made some difference, but the pad only seemed to do anything in the middle.
I really need to do more reading up on speeds. a smaller pad and different product would help too id say.
Where would I get such a thing in clare/limerick?

Noccy_Mondy

Thought you had marks you wanted to take out?

In that case wouldn't you need the likes of hex logic pads off detailing shed or the likes.

colm_mcm

yeah. I need them. just figured id see what the supplied pad was like. I wasn't expecting anything great.