Frustrated...

[skitelluride531@cubs]

After doing a little work with my Porter 7424 polisher, I am now wondering if my polisher is defective. I did maybe two-three passes with #80 and a 8006 pad, and noticed little to no results. I have always noticed, that on a speed setting of 5 (as recommended on the site), the pad will only actually spin if I apply little to no pressure (hardly any more than the weight of the polisher). In my frustration, I decided to turn it up to speed 6, and voila, it worked perfectly. I could apply the 15-20 pounds of pressure recommended, and it would still spin like in the Showcargarage video. Yet, Meguiars says I will ruin the pads if I use speed 6. Do you guys think that my polisher is defective? This is driving me crazy!

[SiriusRIMZ]

Meg's doesn't reccomend it, and I'd reccomend insted of decreasing the life of your pads, stepping up to #83. I find that when 80 doesn't cut it, 83 will 95% of the time pick up what 80 cannot. Yes I'm guilty of turning up the speed a couple times when I didnt want to switch pads, but I try to keep it at 5 most of the time.

[skitelluride531@cubs]

Originally posted by SiriusRIMZ
Meg's doesn't reccomend it, and I'd reccomend insted of decreasing the life of your pads, stepping up to #83. I find that when 80 doesn't cut it, 83 will 95% of the time pick up what 80 cannot. Yes I'm guilty of turning up the speed a couple times when I didnt want to switch pads, but I try to keep it at 5 most of the time.

I appreciate the response.

However, I guess I should have mentioned. I also tried #83 on speed 5 with 2-3 passes with the same results as 80. Yet, when I turned it up to 6, the results came almost instantly.

[TH0001]

I have had this problem when my pads become to saturated with product. Have your cleaned your pads at all? (or do they even have enough mileage on them to do so). I find that with 83, it will bog down more because the product seems less slippery.

I don't go by 15-20 lbs, I adjust my pressure to maintain a quick, constant rotation of the pad on the PC.

Also are if you use to much product to load the pad that can bog down the weak motor on the PC, the same as if you don't use enough product. (then you don't have the lube to allow the pad to spin).

So checklist one, make sure your pad is clean and not loaded with product. (If it is, lay a terry cloth on the top of it then roll the pad into a tight roll, squeezed hard, to force the product out of the pad and into the towel). Then brush surface of the pad to remove any dry product.

Checklist two, if the pad feels dry, start your first application by appling an X of product on the surface. Use a fairly liberal amount.

Adjust product to the amout of polishing you do afterwords. I find a thin line, the length of the pad works well as a guide. If I find its grabby, then I might add alittle more as I work the next section to find if it helps. As work around the vehicle, I find that the pad because more saturated and wetter, and needs less and less product applied before starting new sections.

Checklist three, if make sure you are applying even pressure on teh surface of the pad. If you are pushing to one side, that can stall the motor ans it focuses the pressure on a smaller area, but with more pressure. This can stall the motor.

As you get more experienced, it will make more sense. But, IMO your PC is not defective, but the motor in them is weak, so it does take some compermise on your part.

Running the PC at 6 will not harm the PC, but could seperate the velcro from the backing plate or from the pad because of the extra heat build up. For that reason, Meg's doesn't recommend it, but if you know that going in, don't blame Meg's if you start going through pads and plates quickly.

[Five Star]

Originally posted by skitelluride531@cubs
I appreciate the response.

However, I guess I should have mentioned. I also tried #83 on speed 5 with 2-3 passes with the same results as 80. Yet, when I turned it up to 6, the results came almost instantly.

Meguiars will never recommend setting your pc to 6, and you do so at your own risk.

but you figured it out

[Mike Phillips]

In the last year I've seen 2-3 brand new polishers that when turned on at the 5.0 setting, they didn't have any power.

At first I thought it was me so I grabbed an older one out of the cabinet and tried it under the same conditions and the power was there and it operated normally.

TH0001 pegged it when he wrote,

Originally posted by TH0001

Running the PC at 6 will not harm the PC, but could seperate the velcro from the backing plate or from the pad because of the extra heat build up. For that reason, Meg's doesn't recommend it, but if you know that going in, don't blame Meg's if you start going through pads and plates quickly.

(Sounds exactly like what I write here on MOL and say at all of our classes).

Running the G100/PC at the 5.5 and 6.0 setting won't hurt the polisher, but over time it will generate enough heat that when combined with the violent oscillating action at these higher speeds, plus factor in some liquid chemicals that will eventually penetrate into the pad and through to the Velcro on both the back of the pad and the face of the Backing Plate and you have a recipe for causing the adhesive that holds the Velcro to the foam and the Velcro to the backing plate to fail or delaminate.

This is one reason why Meguiar's doesn't recommend using the G100/PC polisher past the 5.0 setting.

Truth be told, I use the G100 on the 6.0 setting when I'm working on some cars, not all but some, as I need the extra power to rotate the pad to provide more/better cleaning ability.

That said, when the pad fails, or the backing plate fails, I don't try to get a free replacement.

Also, just so you know, the reason I personally don't use the G100/PC at these higher settings on all cars is because on some paints it seems to increase micro-marring and/or I'll switch to the rotary buffer to remove the defects as it is a lot faster and more effective than the dual action polisher when used correctly.


Besides all of the above, read what I wrote here as it's fairly indepth on the nature of the tool itself... the point of the reply itself is that the G100/PC is not a perfedt tool for the goal most of us are trying to achieve but to date it's better than most/all other easily available and affordable options, it's safer than using a rotary buffer and it's a darn site better than working by hand.

http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12056&perpage=10&pagenumber=3

[skitelluride531@cubs]

Thanks guys!

[kellyinkc]

I have sometimes turned mine up to 6 for a specific problem areas, then back down.

[miked2]

I had a pad be removed from its fabric backing. Kinda funny, actually. I was using the PC on its highest setting with GC Metal Restorer on a copper fire pit (which turned out really really nice). No harm done, I was going to throw away the pad anyway -- apparently copper when being polished turns black, and the pad was completely black -- not something I wanted to then subject to paint!

[skitelluride531@cubs]

Re: Frustrated...

Here is an update from me, from this VERY old thread:


I finally convinced myself that my non-meguiars PC 7424 was not working properly, so I ordered a G100 from ADS.



I just did a test spot on my MINI with my new G100, and am amazed at the results. The micro-marring is all gone...I can't wait to do the full detail, hopefully tommorow if I have time, or next weekend. LOTS of pictures to come.


I may send in my old PC 7424 to Porter Cable for a warranty repair since I believe it has a one year warranty...

[gb387]

Re: Frustrated...

Great to see you bought a new G100, best of all you have the lifetime warranty to exchange it should you have another problem!

[rascal]

Re: Frustrated...

Great to see you bought a new G100, best of all you have the lifetime warranty to exchange it should you have another problem!

That why I bought the Meguiar's version. Plus, ADS has promos on the G100 with extra goodies at a heck of a price.