First time with a DA last night, have a few follow-up questions

[ethereal45]

Hi everyone,

I used a DA for the first time last night -- I had someone give me a Porter Cable 7274 (the original model, NOT the XP). I found it to be a very nice tool, but slightly more labor intensive than I thought. I was working on a 2001 Oldsmobile Aurora, in a dark metallic champagne color. I washed it with Gold Class and gave it a quick clay with ClayMagic clay and lube.

I used Ultimate Compound on a W8007, and NXT 2.0 Liquid on a W9007 pad.

Some Questions and Observations I'm looking for a bit of feedback on:

1) The PC seemed to stop rotating pretty easily with the application of downward pressure onto the machine. I assume this is just a function of the motor not being as powerful as some of the other DA polishers out there. I would also assume that this machine is still capable of doing sufficient defect correction with something like Ultimate Compound, correct?

2) I had a very hard time telling how much product to use, and how often to reapply, and how often to work it in. It was very humid in the garage that I was working in, which I believe was helping the working time. For a sedan, how many times would you typically have to do the "X-pattern" application onto the pad for a hood or body panel? I only have one pad, and I also think I need to clean the pad more next time throughout the process. I made a few passes over each section until the ultimate compound appeared to be all worked in, then wiped off.

3) The waxing was a little better, as the pad didn't seem to need much wax after the first few applications of product. I probably only applied wax to the pad 5 or 6 times for the whole car, and only a small line across the pad a few centimeters long.

4) I know I need to clean the pads on the fly better, but is it okay to do an entire car on one pad? I know it's not ideal, but I'm not ready to spend $80 on pads so I can swap them out constantly.

Thanks,
Alex

[Murr1525]

Re: First time with a DA last night, have a few follow-up questions

1. Yeah, I have an older one, and find I need to work at +.5ish on the seting, compared to what is said here. 3.5, 4.5, etc.

2. The working area changes a bit based on how much correction you need. If just 'cleaning dirt', you might do a 2 foot square or so. If removing swirls, you may have to bring it down to 18' square or so.

So generally you would visualize a square on your hood say, put your X or cirlce on the pad, dab the pad on the hood on 2 or 3 pots in the square, then work over the area slowly.

Not sure about the 'worked in' part... you would want to remove the product while it is still wet.

3. Yeah, wax is easier.

4. Its fine to do... you'll just tend to lose cleaning power as you go. So swirls would be harder to remove the more the pad gets loaded up. So for wax that wouldnt matter. For cleaning, it just depends on how much of a cleaning you were trying to do.

[wifpd4]

Re: First time with a DA last night, have a few follow-up questions

I'm sure temperature and humidity will influence your work, if Nebraska is cooking like the rest of the country.

What speed were you using on your Porter Cable? Most of them are rated around 4 - 4.5 amps, usually plenty of power. Of course, it's always possible the buffer is defective.

Do a search on the forum for pad priming.

Meguiar's always recommends working in small test area of say 2' X 2' to determine what works best for defect removal. Trying always to use the least aggressive method.

For me at least, condition of defects, product being used and how aggressively determines whether I can make a pad last for an entire car or whether I need two or more. Cleaning on the fly is a big factor in helping lengthen the time a pad can be used. Aggressively using Ultimate Compound in difficult weather conditions and first time on a car I would think shorten that length of time.

Sometimes is easier to determine how well you are waxing by how thin the application. A pad will absorb some of the wax.

[KeithIndy]

Re: First time with a DA last night, have a few follow-up questions

As far as doing the whole car with one pad, just clean the pad often by putting the pad on a cotton towel and turn the buffer on, it will take off the excess product and "freshen" the pad up.
Somewhere there is a thread on how to do this.

[agp56]

Re: First time with a DA last night, have a few follow-up questions

Size of the vehicle you are working on comes into play, as well. When I am doing a Honda Odyssey or a Chevy Tahoe or Suburban I almost always use two pads.

[ethereal45]

Re: First time with a DA last night, have a few follow-up questions

I just feel like I need to run the PC on max speed in order for it to not bog down too much, the G110v2 appears to be much more powerful. I might have to look into one of those.

When I was polishing on speed 3 with a W9008 pad hardly any pressure would cause the machine to stop rotating.

[Murr1525]

Re: First time with a DA last night, have a few follow-up questions

Well, part of the idea is that you cant apply tooo much pressure...

[LS1BERLINA]

Re: First time with a DA last night, have a few follow-up questions

4. Its fine to do... you'll just tend to lose cleaning power as you go. So swirls would be harder to remove the more the pad gets loaded up. So for wax that wouldnt matter. For cleaning, it just depends on how much of a cleaning you were trying to do.

So for a pure polish, where you are not trying to achieve correction, it would be OK to use one pad to do the whole car, provided your cleaning on the fly regularly??

[Murr1525]

Re: First time with a DA last night, have a few follow-up questions

Yeah, pure polish could be one pad as well.

[TLMitchell]

Re: First time with a DA last night, have a few follow-up questions

When I was polishing on speed 3 with a W9008 pad hardly any pressure would cause the machine to stop rotating.

With a v1 PC you need speed 6 for compounding and correction. Padded anti-vibration gloves help. Keep the pad flat and release pressure if the pad starts slowing down too much. Mark the backing plate with a marker so you can see the rotation. As long as it's rotating you're OK. Smaller pads perform correction easier, I prefer 5.5" on most DAs along with 4"ers for tighter areas.

After the inital priming of the pad with the X you should only need a couple of dime sized dots of UC for subsequent passes. More isn't better, it just serves to gum up the pad. You don't want to work UC until it starts to dry out and disappear as you would with diminishing abrasives. If it starts to dry out a very light mist of water will increase working time.

The xP, GG and G110 v2 are indeed stouter machines. However, the PC has been used successfully by a lot of pros with concours results for a good long time. And you can't argue with the price you paid for it! The more you use it the better your results will become.

If you want to see what a PC will do try the MF DA System with 5.5" MF pads & D300 sometime. Speed 5 works great on the original PC. Speed and power aren't necessary or even preferred with that system.

TL

[ethereal45]

Re: First time with a DA last night, have a few follow-up questions

@TLMitchell,

Yes I tried again on another car on speed 6, it worked much better. So to get an idea of the right amount of product......I would use an "X" application across the pad, then do a small section of the hood, work it in, then wipe it off. Then reapply over that same section with a few small dots on the pad....then move onto a new section with a fresh "X" ?

I'm just debating if I should practice with this machine, or if I should just borrow this guy's Flex, which he is happy to loan to me!

Thanks for the input everyone, I'm having a tremendous amount of fun on this forum and out in my garage learning.