polisher/buffer
- Thread starter dougm
- Start date
Whitesnake
Newbie
One car? Harbor freight. Or possibly hire someone to buff it for you unless you really want experience the joys of buffing. Even cheap, your starting fresh, buffer, pads, compounds, etc.
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I’m a newbie and couldn’t make up my mind so ended up with both. The Rotary is what works for the serious paint correction but I like the RO for the polishing stage. Cordless would have been nice but the the length of time I’ve found myself working I know I would need a lot of expensive batteries…. If I was one and done with this project then I would have gone the Harnor Freight cheap route. I have a lot more buffing and polishing envisioned in my future so I went ahead and got the Flex 14-2 Rotary and a Flex 3401 forced RO.
Whitesnake
Newbie
That is a rotary and will do all the buffing and polishing you could want. Some people think it’s scary and you’re going to ruin your car. I don’t know, it’s what I learned on over 20 years ago. You could always get the feel for it on a scrap panel. Or harbor freight makes the Hercules geared polisher which is a copy of the flex 3401. It still gets a lot of correcting done but is a little “safer” if you’re worried. What kind of buffing are you doing? Just refreshing some old paint? Cutting and buffing new paint?
Whitesnake
Newbie
Those are some fine machines you bought and should serve you well for a long time. I’d like a flex rotary but my 20 year old makita is still going strong. But I do have a flex xce 10-8 125. Which is just a little more refined 3401. I think the 3401 is still a touch more aggressive though.
I guess I have some “tool snob” in me… tend to go overboard when I need to buy new toys, even when I’m sure cheaper crap would serve fine for the limited use I will give them.
I didn’t even realize they had released a newer version of the forced RO Flex until I saw a Mike Phillips video last week. I believe he also mentioned the old one being slightly more aggressive. I think the new one doesn’t get neatly as hot or as loud though…
will be a metallic paint with clear, so if im thinking about this right it will be just to cut and buff the clear a little. thanks you guys for responding.
Whitesnake
Newbie
If you thought you were going to use it more than once then yes. I’m in the Milwaukee ecosystem so I have one along with the da polisher and they both work great. I do a fair amount of work “offsite” so I like my cordless equipment for that. Or if I just need to hit a quick spot I don’t have to get a cord out. I believe I got the m18 rotary for 190ish bare tool.
Jim C
Oldtimer
battery is fine if your doing something small but if you have alot of sqft to do then your going to want a corded model. buffers take some serious power to run and work the paint surface so your going to suck a battery down in no time and if you have hours of compounding and polishing to do then your going be hating life. youll need 10 batteries running on 3 chargers ot keep up
'68 Coronet R/T
Oldtimer
I would recommend getting a name brand that will be easy to resell when you're finished.
The one below is what I use and it has a variable speed trigger as well as the dial to set maximum speed.
The one below is what I use and it has a variable speed trigger as well as the dial to set maximum speed.
Dean Jenkins
Promoted Users
I used the HF unit for a few years. When it died I got this same DeWalt model. Love it!
Jim, do you run foam on a rotary?.. I had issues when i tried that..Pad was jumping around like nuts..The foam pad i tried was larger, maybe 7-8 inches, if i remember correctly
dhutton01
Backyard Hack
Try some Chemical Guys pad lube. Really helps foam pads from grabbing. At least I think that is what you are describing.
Don