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diitto

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Everything posted by diitto

  1. I hear you... I got these three scratches down to where 1 of the 3 is gone and the other two are so slight that it takes time to find them.. I'm confident if I wanted to work at it longer that I could make those two completely vanish too but above all I want to stick to my creed of "do no harm" and so I decided to consider where I landed to be good enough... Again, thanks for all the help... bob...
  2. Wow... Today I got the courage to give it a go... The first pass of orange and white took the swirls right out... But, as more or less expected, that didn't touch the scratches themselves... I went ahead and did a couple of cycles of orange and white... Then I did a couple of series of green, orange and white, all so far with the Porter Cable... Then, because the scratches were still basically unchanged, I got up the courage to break out the drill... I have two cordless drills but neither generates much speed. So I broke out my 30+ year old corded drill that is variable speed but with quite a high top speed (though I actually didn't look to see what it really was, not sure the videos said anything about speed either than, if I recall, that higher speeds were desired)... Anyway, I gathered my courage, put the orange pad in the corded drill and let er rip... I was pretty fearless with the PC but I was just the opposite, full of fear, with the drill... I did a few passes with the orange pad on the drill, then I would switched over to the PC and do an orange/white combo... The bottom line is the swirls disappeared the moment I first touched them with the PC. And the scratches themselves were much improved after some patient work with the drill followed by the PC... I was way jazzed... The drill is still pretty scary as it wants to take off and walk and my fear of burning paint shows how big a novice I am... But I felt both the pad and the trunk surface a number of times... The pad was always quite cool and the trunk was at most a tiny bit warm... Never hot... Anyway, thanks for all your help... much appreciated... bob...
  3. Thanks Dylan... And I did go ahead and watch that full video again and yes, the narrator, and I'm assuming you are that narrator, right??? did say to use speed 4 with these 4 inch pads... Good input... I have now locked that in my brain... And I did watch another video by Junkman and he points out that while the Flex is both orbiting AND rotation, both forced, that there is no forced rotation in the PC... He pointed that out by showing that you can free wheel the PC while it is off but that you can't do that with the Flex... I picked up my new PC and true enough, while it's off I can turn the pad freely. Again, to start calmly, it's my intention to do a first run over that entire rear area just like in your video, between the tail lights if you will, starting with the orange pad/polish and then going to the white pad/polish... If a couple of rounds of that don't show any improvement I will then go to the green pad/polish and do a full three system run a few times... It appears that often you must do a full three passes with all three polishes to see reasonable results, right??? And again, all at speed 4... thanks... bob...
  4. Hi Dylan... Yes, I have seen that video and yes, you are correct, when he swings beneath the corvette badge he is right in the area where I want to work. But it's hard to see in most of these videos exactly how fast the pads themselves are spinning... In some of the big pad videos I've clearly seen where the pad is rotating slowly but with these smaller pads it's harder to see rotation... I might need rotation to eventually remove these small scratches but my huge fear is burning the paint and from what I've learned, constant rotation can equate to burnt paint and that's what I want to avoid... I was expecting to see the PC vibrate but not rotate at quite the rate I appear to be experiencing when I hold it against my hand... One other question... The PC comes with a counter weight attached that says "use only with 5 inch pads"... Obviously, when used with the Adams system, you are using either 4 inch or 6 3/4 pads. Are you supposed to change counter weights when using these with the PC?? My guess is not since I've never heard them mentioned in any of the videos... So am I ok using the one and only counter weight that comes attached to the porter cable even for use with 4 inch or perhaps (later) 6 3/4 inch Adams' pads??? thanks... bob...
  5. OK, now I really need help... A bit ago I got out the Porter Cable (PC) 7424xp for the first time, installed the PC backplate for the 4 inch FOCUS pads I just bought and then stuck the orange pad on the back plate... It's been my understanding that the Porter Cable IS NOT a rotary polisher but is instead purely a random orbital polisher... I just turned it on and tested it against my hand... At speed 5, where the videos I watched suggest the bulk of the polishing be done, not only is this device randomly moving here and there but also it's spinning like crazy, at least that's what I think I see... On speed 1 it appears I can come close to stopping the pad from rotating if I press very hard into my hand but on speed 5, first I seem not to be able to stop it from rotating at all, no matter how hard I press, and when I press hard it begins to get hot on my hand... When I watch the videos of the guys polishing at speed 5 or even 6, it appears that the PC is barely rotating at all and if I recall in one of the videos, the narrator even tells you that you sort of know you have the correct pressure when the polisher is barely rotating... But what I see tells me the pad is rotating like crazy... When I shut it off and watch the counter weight inside I see it spin to a stop and it appears to be coming down from quite a rotational speed... So help me out... Is the Porter Cable running the 4 inch pads really spinning as well as randomly vibrating??? I'm confused... Please help... thanks... bob..
  6. Hi... I earlier reported three light scratches (cant' feel them with a gentle fingernail swipe) on my 2012 Corvette that I unfortunately made worse by trying some very light hand polishing right on the three scratches... That resulted in doing nothing to the scratches but it did create three finger shaped swirl marks around each scratch... So I went out last weekend and bought a 7424xp Porter Cable orbital polisher... I also bought and have now received the FOCUS 4 inch polishing kit from Adam's with both the Porter Cable backing plate and I also bought the rotary drill backing plate... I've watched the Adams' videos (all of them I think) twice now and will likely do so again... I bought the 4 inch system rather than the 6 3/4 inch system because the area where these are is on the rear of the car between the tail lights and very near the Corvette cross flag emblem... I will tape that off first... I am so hoping I will be able to improve this, to at least get rid of the swirls which are more visible now than the scratches (either can only be seen in just the right light) with the orbital polisher and I am going to start conservative by starting with the orange and then going to the white, forgoing the coarser green at least for a first attempt... Also, assuming the jpg I attached shows up, the area is between the two arrow heads and is in an area where there is no sharp crease but instead a gentle bend in the way that back panel is built... Can anyone offer me any tips beyond what I've already watched in all the videos about how best to proceed so I can at least get rid of the swirl if not the scratches also... Do I have any chance of removing the light scrathes with the orbital or will that only be possible with a rotary drill??? Any feedback would be much appreciated... My main goal is to improve but a second main goal is to DO NO HARM... Thoughts???? thanks... bob..
  7. Got it... Thanks for the pictures... That helps a lot... I just bought the 4 inch kit for the Porter Cable and I bought the Porter Cable itself locally earlier today... I will start with that and if I decide I need to take the next step up to the drill (which I hope I don't cause I am paranoid about doing more harm than good) I will place a second order for the drill back plate and will just have to pay a second shipping charge... Thanks for the help... And the pictures were great... bob...
  8. Got it... And one last question, will that PC backing plate fit into a rotary drill if I ever decide to try the drill approach or will I then need to also buy the rotary drill backing plate at some later time??? I appreciate the help... thanks... bob..
  9. Oh, and one other point... One of the videos added a tip that the 4 inch FOCUS set of pads, even when used on the Porter Cable orbital polisher (not on a rotary drill when it put up that tip) is an "aggressive polishing system"... Are the 4 inch pads any more "aggressive" when use on the PC than are the 6 3/4 inch pads??? Again, I'm a newbie and looking not to dive in at the deep end... Aren't the 4 inch pads in their respective colors the same as the large pads other than size??? Is there something about the smaller size that makes that system more "aggressive"???? thanks... bob...
  10. Hi... Thanks for the help... I've seen a lot of the videos but I hadn't seen the one you embedded in your post... Thanks... I'm a total newbie so my thought was to start with the orbital polisher as it sounds like they are not prone to potentially overheating and burning paint where using a rotary tool (drill) has that potential... What I haven't been able to see in the videos is the backing pad (either for the 6 3/4 pads or for the 4 inch) having anything on the surface that is velcro like... But the picture you posted of a previous style certainly shows the velcro... So I'm assuming what you're telling me is if I buy the kit at this link, Adam's FOCUS 4" Porter Cable Polishing Pad Kit one of the two backing plates mentioned that comes with that kit, Adam's FOCUS 4" Backing Plate Adam's PC 4" FOCUS Pad Backing Plate will fit right into the Porter Cable 7424 xp and that it will have some sort of velcro attachment that will allow me to just stick the green, orange or white pad right on it??? is that correct???/ And why two backing plates??? One appears to be for the Porter Cable polisher... Since that entire kit is meant for the PC, what is the other backing plate for??? thanks... bob...
  11. Hi... I have a new 2012 Corvette... Recently I discovered three small scratches side by side by side on the rear end just below the corvette emblem near the center of the back of the car... I'm pretty careful about belt buckles and the like near the trunk but my guess is I likely wasn't as careful as I thought at some point... Oh, and the scratches can't be felt with a fingernail so I don't think they're deep but certainly visible in the right light... Anyway, I tried some very light hand polishing with some Meguiar's polish (very fine). That didn't phases the scratches but it did manage (much to my chagrin) to sort of make the area around the three scratches brighter or shinier than the surrounding paint... Anyway, I've been watching Adam's videos and thinking about buying the Porter Cable 7424 and the green, orange, white polishing kit but because this is in an area that is sort of small and I don't really want to get into polishing an entire car I was thinking about buying the 4 inch kit rather than the larger 6 (or 6.5?) inch pads... One question is what exactly causes the pads (4 or 6 inch) to stick to the backing plate??? In the videos I see what appears to be velcro or something like that on the back of the pads themselves but I don't see such on the backing plates??? What makes them stick??? And second, is buying the 4 inch focus kit an ok thing to do for a small area (with the 7424 PC) or are there some added risks with using the 4 inch pads versus the larger 6 inch versions??? Above all I don't want to do any damage... Thoughts???? thanks... bob...
  12. Hi... Just joined as I have a question that I will post over in the appropriate topic area about three small scratches I want to try to remove from my 2012 Corvette... I own some Adam's detail products already but now am thinking about trying to learn how to use a PC 7424... I've watched the Adam's videos and am now wanting to take a next small step... Anyway, Hi All... Bob...
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