3401 kit, now which one?

felixthecat

felixthecat

Member
After going back & forth, rupes15 vs 3401, I`m going w/ the 3401. Now which kit? I`d like to go w/ the Wolfgang or Sonax products or maybe the Blackfire kit. Now what pads? The Wolfgang ultimate comes w/ the 4 3/8 bp & the hydro-tech pads, where the Sonax kit comes 6.5`` hybrid pads. How are the b/s 6`` pads? Now I see theres a new ``Dream kit`` which comes w/ a 4`` bp & 5`` pads.
 
felixthecat- Sorry, but I`m just not the guy to ask about pads, totally out-of-date, using up ones I bought forever ago :o

BUT...IMO that 4 3/8" plate would be small for the 5.5" pads *on that machine*. You do want overhang for safety`s sake, but not too much and *IMO* that kind of diff would really be pushing it.

If you didn`t see my post on the other thread where you were discussing Rupes/etc. 15mm-throw vs. the Flex 3401, you might want to check it out before you definitively make up your mind.

If I didn`t have the Flex 3401, which I bought before long-throw RO/DAs were around, I might not buy one today, or at least I`d have to give it a lot of thought.
 
Only pads I`ve used in my extremely limited Flex use were Lake Country Force Hybrid which are not sold here (or any PBMG site; apparently they`re waiting for the `new` Flex to come out...since last April I think), the 5.5" on Flex 4 3/8 BP.

When I was pondering kits, I kinda looked for pad-centric, no polish/compound kits. You`re gonna have to buy more pads anyway cuz they only give you 1 or 2 of each type.

When I was looking for the Rupes 15, I went with the kit that gave me the most pads, bought the 32oz Bottle of each compound/polish separately because they were giving away 1 pad with each bottle and then completed pad `sets` by grabbing pad bundles w a mix of pads the ensured in the end I would have 6 of each pad. Was interesting to run the numbers on the various combos to get me to point of:
Machine itself
1 bottle 32 Oz of each compounds/polishes (except green as many said it was kinda superfluous)
6 of each kind of pad

The Rupes I wanted to stay "in the system" to start wirh.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
 
I was originally going w/ the Rupes Duetto as it has a 12mm throw & smoother then the gg6``/pc & I like the style body. Many ppl mentioned it wasn`t worth it as I`ve read.
 
I stopped using my 4 3/8 plate, my 5.5" LC pads were starting to deform ,way too much unsupported pad. The plate might work with 5.5" face pads that have a smaller Velcro backing, so can`t comment on that.
 
Sounds like the 5.5" pads with 4 3/8" plate combo is one of those YMMV things.

BudgetPlan1- Noting again how much I enjoyed your post about trying out the Flex 3401, I`ll be interested to hear if that pad/plate combo continues to work well for you.
 
Accumulator said:
Sounds like the 5.5" pads with 4 3/8" plate combo is one of those YMMV things.

BudgetPlan1- Noting again how much I enjoyed your post about trying out the Flex 3401, I`ll be interested to hear if that pad/plate combo continues to work well for you.
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:cool: With the velcro on the back of the Force Hybrids being 5", the gray (and I suspect the orange as well) get no deforming when pressured...and I was *really* leaning into the gray pad to see how much it could take without the edges curling up...it did fine. Now a white & black polishing pads...well that will remains to be seen although I do not recall the white deforming at all when used with M205 although I really was taxing that one much, pressure-wise. I`d guess a standard 5.5" LC flat pad with no taper would not appreciate the support lacking in the smaller backing plate, however.

Got some B & S LowPros as some said they enjoyed those on the Flex so we`ll see how those do some day. They have the same 5" velcro size so they will probably be OK. Very little overhand on the 4 3/8 plate when using 5" velcro backing pads. Force 5.5" pads are cheaper ($5.60) than the B & S ($7.25) so all things being equal in performance, would stick with LC Force.

Probably gonna have a go at the side of a fleet van today w/ the Flex & Force/M101 combo again and see how fast I can bust it out.
 
BudgetPlan1- Ah, OK, thanks for all that additional info.

One of these days I`ll finally have to buy more pads and the more I know the more I know.

Bet you`re gonna do the van in no time with that combo.
 
felixthecat- I`ll be interested to hear what you end up going with, and how it works out for you. Heh heh...in suspense...
 
Accumulator said:
felixthecat- I`ll be interested to hear what you end up going with, and how it works out for you. Heh heh...in suspense...
Click to expand...
Yea, me too.....I did order the Mike Philip`s book on the 3401 last Saturday afternoon when I got home from work. Wish I could pull out my magic bag to figure it out....LOL
 
Felix,
I have the 3401, using the Lake Country Inter-changeable backing plate system that use 4", & 6" backing plates. The 4" is for use with the 5" Lake Country Hybrid pads. I believe, this is the, "Dream" system.
The 4" BP and the 5" Hybrid pads are considered the best combo on the market for the Flex by many people. I suspect, that`s why it`s the "Dream" system.
 
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