I have the Flex 3401 and I have definitely burned through the paint accidentally before with it on my daughters Honda Accord due to my own novice polishing ability at the time. MY SPTA 15mm long throw is my current large polisher favorite, and my Flex PXE-80 my favorite mini polisher. Once you go cordless on a machine, you won't ever want to go back to the cord again. It's just too cumbersome. The HDO pads are a must on the FLEX Forced Rotation machine to prevent collapsing or delamination of the pads. It definitely takes some getting used to. I like the old style "waffle pads" to compound/polish with. I think they are a little less heat, but I know there is an endless debate over what pads, blah blah blah, are the best for this and that. Honestly, most polishing work can be done with a good basic polisher like the SPTA cordless, good pads, and good product. I personally haven't jumped on the whole ceramic coating bandwagon yet and still get great results from Polishangel Viking Coat & VIking Spritz as the topper. One of the best non ceramic combos in my opinion after detailing for 40+ years. It has tremendous durability and it's quite simply one of the best and easiest to use sealants rivaling some ceramic coatings in durability. The problem is COST. It's the most expensive sealant and topper on the market today. That is why I have transitioned to ULTRALOCK from Menzerna which gives me about 9 months of solid durability and even longer when using a topper. ULTRALOCK is just so darned good and easy to use and looks great on the paint too. Wipe off is effortless which I love.
Thank you very much for your work making this valuable video. I am almost sold to forced rotation as it will not keep stopping at curves and edges of some crazy toyota cars :) The only point holding me back from going forced rotation is absence of knowledge if forced rotation machine will always finnish very well with one step compound leaving no holograms as well on black paints. At Least on German cars. Scholl s20 one step compound and medium cutting pad / blue spider pad combo for example to remove moderate to heavy swirls to 85-95% perfection = 85-95 % defects correced while super lttle haze and 0 holograms left after 2 passes= left to right and up snd down = 1 cross Kind Regards Your subscriber
@@marinedetailsupplyco.-tamp3457 have you ever used or heard of the makita polisher that is both forced rotation and normal DA with the flip of a switch ?
@@marinedetailsupplyco.-tamp3457 really ? Interesting. I saw that they basically never stall unless you’re crazy forceful on it in DA mode which kinda makes you wonder what’s the point
@@marinedetailsupplyco.-tamp3457 yea my point was it has a normal DA mode that you can get to stall, but it takes absurd pressure to do so, which kind of makes the ability to switch into normal non-forced rotation mode seem a bit of a gimmick or just a waste
A real dual action has 2 drive gears... long throws are random orbitals that only spin from momentum. Might as well consider the vibration a triple action
A long throw polisher can save you tons of time when comes to a perfect correction. In some instances you can just use this tool alone. The Lake country pads have a tapered edge so this isn’t an issue.
Where does a straight rotary buffer fit in here? I learned on older air powered buffers and wool pads, but now I use a DeWalt variable speed buffer/polisher with both wool and foam pads (I'm a 3M guy, so I use their system). I just bought a 3 inch mini random orbital polisher and I'm not happy with the buffing and polishing power of it. I can't tell if it's the size (3 inch pad) or the nature of these new DA polishers/buffers, but it doesn't seem to be as efficient as my rotary. Thoughts?
The 3 inch will never have the same power as a 5 or 6 in da. I purchased the spta v2 3 inch da and didn’t seem to have enough power. Stalled easily. Sold it and got the adams 3 inch da . The adams is soo much better. Way more powerful and battery life is exceptional. And price is right. I guess if I had $450 for a flex 3 in I would be tempted to try it, but right now I am very happy with the Adams
I learned my lesson using a rupes yellow foam with a 21 at speed 4-5 doing a quick all in one, I only got 40 minutes of use and did one car and the pad was destroyed. Even on the lhr 15 speed 4 even weakens the yellow pad if you do longer polishing sessions. Still my favorite pad.
I have the Flex 3401 and I have definitely burned through the paint accidentally before with it on my daughters Honda Accord due to my own novice polishing ability at the time. MY SPTA 15mm long throw is my current large polisher favorite, and my Flex PXE-80 my favorite mini polisher. Once you go cordless on a machine, you won't ever want to go back to the cord again. It's just too cumbersome. The HDO pads are a must on the FLEX Forced Rotation machine to prevent collapsing or delamination of the pads. It definitely takes some getting used to. I like the old style "waffle pads" to compound/polish with. I think they are a little less heat, but I know there is an endless debate over what pads, blah blah blah, are the best for this and that. Honestly, most polishing work can be done with a good basic polisher like the SPTA cordless, good pads, and good product. I personally haven't jumped on the whole ceramic coating bandwagon yet and still get great results from Polishangel Viking Coat & VIking Spritz as the topper. One of the best non ceramic combos in my opinion after detailing for 40+ years. It has tremendous durability and it's quite simply one of the best and easiest to use sealants rivaling some ceramic coatings in durability. The problem is COST. It's the most expensive sealant and topper on the market today. That is why I have transitioned to ULTRALOCK from Menzerna which gives me about 9 months of solid durability and even longer when using a topper. ULTRALOCK is just so darned good and easy to use and looks great on the paint too. Wipe off is effortless which I love.
Thank you very much for your work making this valuable video.
I am almost sold to forced rotation as it will not keep stopping at curves and edges of some crazy toyota cars :)
The only point holding me back from going forced rotation is absence of knowledge if forced rotation machine will always finnish very well with one step compound leaving no holograms as well on black paints. At Least on German cars.
Scholl s20 one step compound and medium cutting pad / blue spider pad combo for example to remove moderate to heavy swirls to 85-95% perfection = 85-95 % defects correced while super lttle haze and 0 holograms left after 2 passes= left to right and up snd down = 1 cross
Kind Regards
Your subscriber
I have both of these machines! Thank you for the up-to-date info on both of these polishers. 👍🇨🇦
No problem your welcome!!!
Great video!
Long throws are dual actions still, even forced rotations are da’s, they’re both just variants of a dual action
@@marinedetailsupplyco.-tamp3457 have you ever used or heard of the makita polisher that is both forced rotation and normal DA with the flip of a switch ?
@@marinedetailsupplyco.-tamp3457 really ? Interesting. I saw that they basically never stall unless you’re crazy forceful on it in DA mode which kinda makes you wonder what’s the point
@@marinedetailsupplyco.-tamp3457 yea my point was it has a normal DA mode that you can get to stall, but it takes absurd pressure to do so, which kind of makes the ability to switch into normal non-forced rotation mode seem a bit of a gimmick or just a waste
@@Fee.1 I own both the cordless and corded, corded is stronger and more recommended for correction.
A real dual action has 2 drive gears... long throws are random orbitals that only spin from momentum. Might as well consider the vibration a triple action
Thanks for the information, this was helpful
Have u tried rupes millie. Their forced rotation machine...I love it
Unfortunately rupes has had a lot of problems with the Millie and there's been some recalls.
Just one machine, why not a regular rotary? This long throw thing seems like it might be tough to use up against edges?
A long throw polisher can save you tons of time when comes to a perfect correction. In some instances you can just use this tool alone. The Lake country pads have a tapered edge so this isn’t an issue.
Where does a straight rotary buffer fit in here? I learned on older air powered buffers and wool pads, but now I use a DeWalt variable speed buffer/polisher with both wool and foam pads (I'm a 3M guy, so I use their system). I just bought a 3 inch mini random orbital polisher and I'm not happy with the buffing and polishing power of it. I can't tell if it's the size (3 inch pad) or the nature of these new DA polishers/buffers, but it doesn't seem to be as efficient as my rotary. Thoughts?
The 3 inch will never have the same power as a 5 or 6 in da. I purchased the spta v2 3 inch da and didn’t seem to have enough power. Stalled easily. Sold it and got the adams 3 inch da . The adams is soo much better. Way more powerful and battery life is exceptional. And price is right. I guess if I had $450 for a flex 3 in I would be tempted to try it, but right now I am very happy with the Adams
Thanks
I learned my lesson using a rupes yellow foam with a 21 at speed 4-5 doing a quick all in one, I only got 40 minutes of use and did one car and the pad was destroyed. Even on the lhr 15 speed 4 even weakens the yellow pad if you do longer polishing sessions. Still my favorite pad.
Hello
What is the speed rotation on Rupes when you polishing?How much rpm u set up?
Thanks
@@marinedetailsupplyco.-tamp3457 Tnx👍👍
Just get the MAKITA polisher with switch to use forced rotation or random orbital around 420 for corded or almost 600 for cordless.
Is there a way to measure the torque of polishers
can the flex do the job of a rotary
Well there went two pads…….
I will stick with harbor freight. Much cheaper!
Flex is sooooo over priced it’s crazy. Buy the new Hercules forced rotation exactly the same thing.