Mike J

Curious. What do you guys think the fundamental difference will be between the flex and the porter cable, given the same pads and compounds?

Quadcammer

quicker, can take more pressure without loss of oscillation.

Neil Perry

As I mentioned earlier look at the 850 Watt units or better, they have more power/torque.
The earlier orbital polisher are less wattage, which equals less power before stalling.

Looking at a number of these polishers, they look like they come from the same factory in China and just make them from a different colour plastic.
The designs are the same. So to say one works better then another.. MMMMMMMM.
I guess you would call this colour engineering (we have moved from badge engineering)

Plus I find it interesting the cost of a polisher compared to an angle grinder, very similar.

meine911

[QUOTE=badabing;10083552]Go to detailedimage.com and follow instructions for 2 bucket wash method.

Grit guards a must.[/QUOTE

Thanks.

cgfen

my PC seems to be failing.
slight pressure = loss of oscillation and rotational stalling.
I've had it ~ 5 years and it probably has ~ 80 - 90 hours of use.
= time to upgrade to a different RA polisher.

also considered the new Rupes machine, but decided to stick with German engineering instead of Italian design.



Craig

coreseller

Exactly which info is BS? Seriously asking. I followed some of his advice with pretty decent results.

vincer77

According to Autogeek, the "FLEX XC 3401 Orbital Polisher is a dual action polisher on steroids!" :-D

It is made in Germany, not in the aforementioned Chinese factory.

It has a more powerful motor, and has a "forced rotation" i.e. it does not bog down as you apply pressure.

I do not have mine yet, nor do I have experience with the PC, but from what I've read on the forums, the Flex is the one to have.

swesna

I have spent about $1200 in the past year on supplies and $300 for a detailing class at Phil's shop. He is a great guy and has good products.

swesna

I have PC and Griots...

all you need is a Griots...buy it as BJs when it is on sale.

kjr914

2:45-3:05 Classic!

IXLR8

The guy uses scare tactics to the extreme.

Since I have a Flex, just listen to the 1' 35" mark onwards. "This will do damage...". Yeah maybe if you grab it by the cord and swing the thing into the paint. And during the video, he relates the noise the tool makes to how dangerous it is to use I can agree being more careful when using a rotary buffer. He is amusing to watch, to say the least, and certainly more fun than watching reality shows on TV.

These detailers make me laugh. You'd think listening to them that you have to go to university for ten years to figure out how to do what they do. Now, the PDR and paint film guys deserve

coreseller

I agree with your remarks on some detailers taking themselves a bit too seriously, almost as if they were Zen Masters or such, but the Junkman guy's videos I did find very informative, at least for me. His goofy humorous approach is probably a good part of why I liked him.

I spent probably a couple of hours last winter perusing his DIY videos, for a noob like me (I had never heard of the two bucket wash method before lol) it helped quite a bit. For someone already well versed in detailing maybe not. The results I achieved employing his advice were pretty dramatic IMO.

jhg41977

Swesna, how was Phil's class? I would like to go, its a bit of a hike though.

IXLR8

Same here. Maybe Hollywood should give him a chance as a replacement for Eddie Murphy.

Jeff U

The Flex is more powerful and will do the same job a bit quicker. A guess: Maybe 25 - 30% quicker with the flex?

The Flex has some forced rotation of the pad. At it's top speed setting of 6, the pad is rotating at 480 RPM.

The porter cable is a random motion with no forced rotation. In fact, if you press hard enough you can stop any rotation of the pad.

That forced rotation is what gives the Flex machine a bit more cutting power.

FYI - A rotary machine will often have an upper end speed of 2000 - 3000 RPM.