speed 6!!!

[Bugguy67]

I have the g110v2 and the instruction book warns not to use speed 6... Well I couldn't resist and cranked it up on a car with moderate oxidation and I got to tell you , the darn thing came alive!!!! It cut my time in half !! Polished out a lot nicer on speed 6 with 205 as well ( m105 orange pad, m205 white pad 5.5 inch )my question is , Are there " really " any downsides to operating at speed 6 ? Or is this just a warning to keep newbies from possibly hurting there paint?

[imz4n]

Re: speed 6!!!

The tool is not the issue. I believe if you are reading the manual, speed 6 should be used with caution. Depending on pad and pressure, heat will be the issue.

[CumminsCrazed]

Re: speed 6!!!

every time i correct i use speed 6....never once had a problem, however i have a v1 G110

[smack]

Re: speed 6!!!

Not 100% sure on this but I THINK the problem with speed 6 is when using such a large pad such as the W#207 series. With such a big pad combined with the speed 6 it puts a lot of stress, heat, and friction into the backing plate and pad causing premature wear.

Using the 5.5 size dosent have as much of a problem because of the small size.

[Detailing by M]

Re: speed 6!!!

I use 6 all the time.
You should only use it when the pad is flat and be aware of the heat your generating at the pad and backing plate. I usually use a few pads. when I clean my pads on the job. So every 3-5 square feet I change pads so I'm to worried about heating up the pad.
You'll have the velcro come off the pad and watch the marring, that is increased 10x

[RDVT4ME]

Re: speed 6!!!

I early testing of the current microfiber pad, I ran at speed 6 for an extended period of time....pads melted due to heat build-up. As stated above, monitor the heat on the pad.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: speed 6!!!

Are there " really " any downsides to operating at speed 6 ? Or is this just a warning to keep newbies from possibly hurting there paint?

The issue isn't with the potential for paint damage, but rather damage to the pad and/or backing plate. The heat generated by a DA buffer is not where the pad and paint meet like with a rotary buffer, but at the hook & loop attachment point of pad to backing plate. The movement here is fairly violent (pad size isn't really a huge contributing factor, either) and if you're really leaning on the tool and using an aggressive pad, the heat build up can be extreme. We've actually measured in excess of 230F after just a few minutes of highly aggressive (meaning very high pressure) buffing. This was done intentionally, mind you, during some experimentation - but it proves the point.

We've seen countless cases of pads and backing plates ruined by overly aggressive buffing. And it's not just our pads - my buddy over at Lake Country has all the same stories to tell, and we can almost always identify a pad failure due to excess heat just by looking at the remains of the pad. All of this is compounded when you mismatch the pad and backing plate as the hook & loop material needs to be synchronized in order to work properly and not generate excess heat too quickly. "Synchronization" is actually the technical term used to describe a properly matched pairing of both the hook side and loop side of the attachment system. (See Backing Plates - More Than Just A Way To Stick A Pad To A Buffer for more info on this)

Now, this does not mean that every time you use a buffer at speed 6 you're going to kill a pad and backing plate. It also doesn't mean you should never use speed 6. The big issue is that for years detailing forums have promised that it's impossible to damage your paint with a DA buffer, and of course since that's been written ad nauseum in such authoritative settings, many believe it to be true. But we're here to tell you that anything is possible and that you can damage your paint with a DA buffer. It's just that you try pretty hard to do so. And, believe it or not, some people do try very hard indeed - and sometimes they succeed. But more often what they end up damaging is the pad, not the paint. So if you're using some common sense while buffing at speed 6 you can probably get away with it for a while. If you're changing pads during a detail process, you're not leaning on the tool, you're using the correct backing plate, not using an overly aggressive pad, etc you greatly increase the chance that nothing will go wrong. But for some people common sense is nowhere to be found, and things can go horribly wrong pretty quickly.