My Epic WORST DAY With my new Porter Cable

J

j0hn.H

New member
So I started out today in a positive mood. After receiving my PC on Monday, I finally had time to sit down and use it today. Went ahead and washed the car, then clayed the horizontal surfaces...the doors/fenders looked and felt fine so I skipped over them.



I've been reading these forums and others for months reading about how easy the PC is to use and that it should be easy to pick up. Wrong. Today made me feel beyond stupid.



I started with a white pad and Klasse AIO on my hood. My hood is like my prized possession as I always try to make it look the best since it seems to always look the worst. I turned on the PC and it sounds really clinky not like a smooth VROOOM of an electric motor but like something is banging around, clicking against a wall or something. This normal? Anyway. Got to going, went around the brim of the pad and then smeared the polish onto the hood turned the PC to 2.5-3 and moved the polish around a ~1.5x1.5 foot square. Upped the speed to 5 and took a dive at it. How hard should I be pushing. I feel like only ~2-3" of the pad is making contact with the hood. Also, I started to push harder later on in the day and it seemed like it was working really well. Then the PC started to smoke after I turned it off a little so I freaked out and cooled it down by putting a fan in front of it for a few minutes. Took the car outside to examine the hood. Some swirls were taken out but not really at all. There is micro-marring and it looks like a noob took a rotary to my hood kind of with those little swirly marks. :wall



I was like WHAT THE ****. Went inside and tried to do my trunk. I have a small trunk with a little spoiler on it. This is what ruined my day. I was going and as the PC reaches the edge of the hood, the side of the pad hits the spoiler while at speed ~4 and rips the paint off of the spoiler!!! :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: I just wanted to cry...there is a ~3" strip where paint is now gone on the side of the spoiler...that should be pricey to fix. God damn it. I know that was my fault but still, I'm angry. A lesson learned though. Basically...what am I doing wrong. I feel as though I'm giving it more swirls rather than taking them out. I want to have a swirl & mark-free car, not this piece of **** I have right now.



These are light to light-moderate swirls too, okay this is not an old car. This is a 2006 VW GLI.



I jsut need help. Do you think a body shop would teach me how to use it if I paid them or what? I feel really stupid after probalby spending over $350 in products and I still have this **** paint. I gave up for the rest of the day and just using a MF applied some glaze by hand to clean up the hood.



Should I be pushing hard enough to lower the RPMs of the PC? By how much? I feel like I'm bogging it down. Should it be freely revving up and just barely skimming over the paint or what. Should I be grasping it firmly and me telling it where to go or should I let it "wiggle" on the paint and let it go side to side? :mad: :mad: :mad: :help:
 
If the PC was smokin it sounds like it is not working right. Mine has never smoked and I have used it hard as heck when I had to get scratches out. No smoke.
 
No I was using the pads that comes with this kit:



Porter Cable 7424 & Foam Pad Kit - Car Buffer



Is it defective if it was smoking? Should I return it? It got very hot/warm as well, is this normal?



No pics of the spoiler damage right now, I'll get them later maybe. I don't even want to go look at it, it makes me feel like crap.
 
Not much actual DAMAGE was done, I just have very very light swirls from the PC in some areas. The real concern is that nothing was really fixed, I ripped paint off the spoiler, and the damn thing started smoking under not much pressure.
 
I think the paint on the spoiler is pretty thin, so you gotta be extra cautious when working on it. I remember someone posted here saying they had burned the paint on their spoiler, so if you were actually really hammering it down, I wouldn't be surprised if you actually took some paint off.
 
I'm by no means an expert but I learned how to use the PC by watching Mike Phillips (Meguiars detailing workshop). A few tips that might help:

1) Try spreading the polish at speed 2 or 3. Work and break down the polish at speed >5. The amount of pressure I use is enough to bog down the machine that it rotates about once every 4-5 seconds. More practically, I marked my backing plate with a sharpie so I can see that the pad is rotating very slowly. Move the PC across the car very slowly and work on a small area till you get the hang of it.

2) Move up in abrasiveness for both the polish and pad until you start seeing results. Klasse AIO on a white pad on speed 5 might not cut it. I just polished my car on Monday and a tried to remove swirls with Menzerna PO106FF on a green CCS pad and it wasn't getting rid of all the marring. I stepped it up to Intensive polish on a green pad and it cleared things up quite a bit.



Just my two cents.
 
Carl Johnson said:
I think the paint on the spoiler is pretty thin, so you gotta be extra cautious when working on it. I remember someone posted here saying they had burned the paint on their spoiler, so if you were actually really hammering it down, I wouldn't be surprised if you actually took some paint off.
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That's the thing, I wasn't even working ON the spoilder. :( The PC was on the trunk but then as I was going down the edge of the trunk, the side of the pad skimmed over the spoiler and ripped off the paint. :( I'll just have the body shop touch it up.
 
I thought you were supposed to use the larger pads, 6.5", flat on the surface, not up on the edge. It sounds like you used too much pressure along with using the pad on edge got you in trouble. I am not an expert but have a PC7424 and have never had any problems like this with it.
 
I always started out with the least aggressive polish in my arsenal, then moved on to heavier ones when I first started using the PC.



Is the spoiler aftermarket? VW paint is pretty tough in my experience (I own and have owned VWs), but unless the edge of the backing plate hit the paint, I'm not sure how the pad could have ripped the paint off.



I spread the polish using speed 3, then go up to about 6 with a bit of pressure on the PC, but not enough to bog it down *that* much -- slightly if at all. There are a few videos on YouTube that demonstrate good procedure, maybe check that out.
 
I like AIO it is a great chemical cleaner

but is not an abrasive polish

I have never been able to remove swirls with it (other's have)



smoke is not normal!
 
Did you remember to use the washer between the PC and the backing plate? Small washer should have been in the bag with the wrench for the PC. Goes on the threaded shaft of the backing plate before you screw it on.
 
Go to showcardetailing.com and get the pc video. There is a learning curve to everything, plus you need to find out what products and pads and techniques work for your vehicles. You learned a lesson though-be careful near the edges and what may or may not come in tuch with a pc or rotary.
 
cheech said:
Did you remember to use the washer between the PC and the backing plate? Small washer should have been in the bag with the wrench for the PC. Goes on the threaded shaft of the backing plate before you screw it on.
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No, I'll put that on....what exactly does that do. Oops... :2thumbs:



How can I get the backing plate off since what it is screwed into would just spin if I tried to undo it.
 
Use the wrench to hold the spindle to remove the pad.



No matter what a smoking PC is not normal, I would not think that leaving the washer out would cause this. Send an email to the place you brought it from so that you can get it replaced. I would not use it anymore.
 
gmblack3a said:
.......No matter what a smoking PC is not normal, I would not think that leaving the washer out would cause this. Send an email to the place you brought it from so that you can get it replaced. I would not use it anymore.
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I agree with that advice.



FWIW, I don't use that washer. In fact my PC, which is a Meg's branded Porter Cable, didn't even come with that washer.
 
I hear people talk about this washer from time to time, i dont have this washer nor did my PC come with one. I dont understand what this washer would even do for the PC.
 
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