G-100 in Australia

[leo28]

Hi all,

I'm really motivated to start this detailing thing ... have only found out about this site and now after reading a few hundred posts I feel the itch to detail my own car .. a Suzuki Grand Vitara LTD v6 in Black.

Anyway ... I wanted to see if there are any members in Australia that are using the g-100 ? and what converters did you need to get the PC working?

Is there an equivalent tool that's available locally (runs on 240v/AC) ??

Thanks

[Mike Phillips]

Hi leo28,

Welcome to Meguiar's Online!

Here's a thread that addresses power converters for using the G-100 overseas,

Power Converter Thread

Hopefully some of our other members will chime in...

Mike

[MickyD]

I've been looking around in Bunnings etc (that's a huge hardware store over here for those that don't know, I'd imagine the US equivalent would be something like Home Depot maybe??), and searching the web, and I think the closest thing I've found to the PC is one of the DeWalt machines. They're about $350-$400 though.....

[leo28]

Hi MickyD,

I talked to Peter from Meguiars Australia and he said that they use the GMC random orbital machine .. it costs under $50 and Kmart has them for even less than that .. It's mulit speed too.

There is also a write up in the current SPEED magazine, issue 16 (Nov 2004) doing a full detail on a BMW.

covering these six steps:
pre-surface preparation perparation
surface prepartion
clay bar
scratch x
Triple layer color boost (using the GMC)
NXT protectant coating (again using the GMC)

There's heaps of pics of the machine in action ... I went to Bunnings last weekend, but couldn't find the unit .. so I'm off to Kmart this weekend

Cheers
Mark

[MickyD]

I like the sound of that.... if you do find one, can you let us know what the model number is?
I have a GMC random orbital sander, but it only has one speed, which is way too fast.

[MickyD]

there's this one which looks like it might be the right one:

http://www.gmcompany.com/index.cfm?ppage=products&pparentcategory_uuid=C23BC693-0090-4000-80FB8BFB2552B2EB&pproduct_uuid=CB771ED0-E14B-49C5-AA98F9DF636BA9F8

or there's this one:

http://www.gmcompany.com/index.cfm?ppage=products&pparentcategory_uuid=B6628545-8C7B-4638-A8AD2998ECB38567&pcategory_uuid=B6628545-8C7B-4638-A8AD2998ECB38567&pproduct_uuid=1397EB82-B8D8-468D-B8127B54D101E075

which is a lot like the cheap $30 ones from Supercheap etc. I've got one of those but it takes bonnets rather than the lovely meguiars polishing pads (w8006 or whatever the code is) which are available at Autobarn now for about $30-$35 each.

[leo28]

This was the one This is the one pictured in the Meguiars write up in Speed .. its the 515w model ..
but I don't think it's going to be $50 (Peter may have been refering to the cheaper one as posted above)

Anyway .. the SA515 (125mm) is pictured in the article with the meguiars pads attached .. so this should be compatabile with the G-100

[MickyD]

cool, I go past a bunnings on the way home each night so I'll drop in tonight and have a look.

I wouldn't be surprised if it's pretty cheap, GMC is very good value IMHO.

[mack]

gday leo
i bought a porter cable from the states last week . with the au dollar at around 80 cents . it"s not a bad buy if you want a good machine. step down transformer will cost about 170 dollars at dicky smith. electronics
mack.

[MickyD]

here goes....

stopped at bunnings on the way home. The GMC is about $150 but there is an Ozito equivalent for $50 (I got one of these). It's got a 3 year warranty too, which from memory is 1 year longer than the GMC

There is also an ozito and a ryobi random sander that looks similar to the PC, but they both have 150mm velcro pads, and the staff didn't know if these could be changed for a 125mm one. they were both just under $100 (good value I thought, if the backing pad CAN be changed).
What I did find very interesting though was an attachment made by Triton that goes onto an angle grinder and makes it into a random orbital. This was about $90, with what looked like a 125mm backing pad.

I won't have a chance to try my new Ozito for a few days at least, but I'll put up a report when I've used it

Oh, and so overseas readers have a sense of the relativity of these prices, we pay around $40 for a bottle of NXT, and the Meg's MF wipes are $10 each.

[leo28]

Thanks Mack,

but getting the PC from the US + the step down converter ..
that's about AU$455.75 (US$360) + shipping..

So about AU$500 + 10% GST(for the G-100) + customs duty for importing. ... all up over AU$600

Even though Meguiars offer a lifetime warranty on the G-100, it's not really vaild here in Australia as the shipping would add extra cost, and you couldn't exactly get it serviced if a minor fault happened ..

So I think I'll just do what MickyD has done and find a local Random Orbital machine ... the equivalent spec'd models seem to go for around AU$150 up to AU$450, but as MickyD has found, you can get one for AU$50 (please let us know how it goes ;-)
And what specs is the Ozito ??

But if Meguiars Australia were to start importing a 240volt g-100 *hint* *hint* .. I WOULD DEFINATELY purchase one

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by leo28
This is the one pictured in the Meguiar's write up in Speed .. its the 515w model ..
but I don't think it's going to be $50 (Peter may have been referring to the cheaper one as posted above)

Anyway .. the SA515 (125mm) is pictured in the article with the Meguiar's pads attached .. so this should be compatible with the G-100

Here's a picture of the one leo28 is referring to,



Looks kind of bulky compared to the G-100 Dual Action Polisher? I was kind of thinking if a tool like this is looking good in the eyes of a person to power polish their car's finish, it's an indicator of how strong a desire the person has to create the kind of show car results only obtainable by machine.

Pretty good indicator.

Mike

[Mike Phillips]

A friend gave me one of these to try out for a polisher,



It has a 12000 OPM rating, which sound really fast. I thought it might actually work for polishing paint or removing defects but after attaching a foam pad and applying some pressure, it slows down to much to be effective at anything except spreading product around. It's tall design makes it awkward to use and after a few well-intentioned attempts to make it work, it now resides in the bottom of a tool drawer.

It appears to me that the design of the G-100 offers both the right amount of power and speed settings to make it the most versatile tool I've used. The design also makes it easy to use.



I've read somewhere that Porter Cable would be building a 240 volt model but I don't remember where...

Mike

[wblynch]

Don't know if this is usefull but I thought I'd offer it up.

I have a small gas powered Honda generator (600 watt) that produces both 110v and 240v AC. The price was several hundred US dollars but the thing comes in handy quite often. (good for watching TV when we get a famous California blackout).

Anyway, for our 240v friends, a small dual-voltage generator might be a good investment not only for using 110v power tools but perhaps other occasional needs?

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by wblynch
Don't know if this is usefull but I thought I'd offer it up.

I have a small gas powered Honda generator (600 watt) that produces both 110v and 240v AC. The price was several hundred US dollars but the thing comes in handy quite often. (good for watching TV when we get a famous California blackout).

Anyway, for our 240v friends, a small dual-voltage generator might be a good investment not only for using 110v power tools but perhaps other occasional needs?

There you go... thinking outside the box...



Mike