Some clarification needed

[malin819]

Always done my cars by hand but I'm considering buying a Griot's Garage 6" Random Orbital Polisher (This is not a DA right?) or would you guys recommend something else

I'll be using in the following order:

Meguiar Clay
Ultimate compound
Ultimate Polish
Deep Crystal Polish
Ultimate liquid wax

I'm also looking for a little final coat of wax that to go over the ultimate wax. Also, how many times would I need to do this regimen if the car is only summer driven.

I'll be buying the 6.5 inches Lake County Pads (which pad would you recommend for each step above)

[Christopher.Brown]

Re: Some clarification needed

This is a D.A. actually. Its the competing model with Meguiar's G110v2.... I personally believe the G110v2 has more power.. but I have heard from many that the GG is a solid machine.

I would suggest to only use 5" pads on this machine however. This is because the 6.5" pad with product is very large and heavy for this machine. It will bog the machine down when full of compound or polish. The biggest issue with the 6" pad is that it factors greatly inhibit the amount of transferred power that is lost from the motor that eventually makes it way to the paint's surface. I wont get into a overly technical reasons why the larger pad requires more work for the polisher, but to suffice it to say that 5" pad has a surface area of 78.54" and and 6" pad has 113.1" of area. The difference is nearly 70% more on the 6" pad. Therefore it is carrying 1.7 times the amount of compound or polish. Also this means that there is a LARGE added coefficient of friction which means 'pad drag" on the surface with also slows down the pad, and thus the optimal rate of correction in a huge way.

Another potential issue with 6" pads on a standard DA is difficulty in tackling contours with such a huge pad. Yes, it seems as if a larger pad would save a lot of time... and this would be the case if you were primarily buffing motor homes. However, modern cars have many smaller and more contoured panels than ever and the larger the pad the harder it is to effectively buff these areas. Especially with the built in safety mechanism in the DA.. when that outer edge of a large pad is only partially engaged on a smaller contour it will stall out the rotation and oscillation of the pad.

In short, I dont not believe a 6" pad SHOULD EVER BE USED ON A TRADITIONAL DA POLISHER....

instead use the 5" pad and OPTIMIZE the traditional DA for all of its capabilities

[The Guz]

Re: Some clarification needed

Chris covered the DA aspect. On your product list you don't need to use a polish twice. It's either ultimate polish or deep crystal polish. No sense in doing double work. Before you jump straight into ultimate compound, it is always recommended to try a test spot with the least aggressive product. For example ultimate polish on a polishing pad. Let the paint tell you what it needs.


It's hard to say how many times a year to do it. There are a lot of variables. You may be ok polishing this once a year.

[Selectchoice]

Re: Some clarification needed

And welcome to MOL!

[mohebmhanna]

Re: Some clarification needed

I agree with you, Chris, 5" pads is the best for PC, Meg, and GG polisher. However, the question I always has and I would like to ask is that why Meguiar's G110v2 uses the 6" pads W8006 for polishing and finishing why they not develop the 5" foam pads?