My Epic WORST DAY With my new Porter Cable

Same thing with me. I did not get a washer with my PC nor I use one. I have never had a problem with it.



I doubt the swirls were caused by a rotary. They are caused by improper washing and drying. If you ever take your car to one of those places that kids dry your car with terry towels that could be a culprit. Auto washes that touch your car with brushes or other parts could also cause marring and swirls.



How big is your backing plate and how big is the pad? Sounds likes the backing plate hit the spoiler.



I dont use that much pressure on the PC. I use enough to slow it down a tiny bit. Like others said, the pad should spin very slowly.



KAIO will do nothing for swirls. You gotta move to a more aggressive pad and more aggressive polish. Maybe try an Orange pad with a medium cut polish. If that works, go around the car again, but this time with a white pad and a low cut polish (finishing polish). That should remove MOST of the swirls and light scratches. Remember it's almost impossible to have a 100% swirl free car and even harder to keep it swirl free.



Put a message on the Regional Forum asking if someone would be willing to teach you how to use the PC. I'm pretty sure a member (being a professional or not) would be willing to teach you a thing or two...
 
hey john i think ive seen you on vortex sorry to hear man, keep us/me updated im in the same boat im a newb and want to order a kit but after hearing your story im a bit scared lol ;)
 
I don't use pressure at all on the flat surfaces. I just let the weight of the PC do the work. On the door panels are something, I'll just try to simulate the weight of the PC as if it was on flat surface.
 
Sorry to hear John, but thanks for the thread, as it is educational to hear the story and read everyone suggestions to your issues.



Though your story does make me a bit for nervous as this weekend will be my first attempt at using my PC. But, I think I finally lined up a test car (my neighbors Honda). Its in bad shape, but I think the roof isn't too bad, so I think I am just going to do his roof to get some time on the PC, before tackling my car.



I have run the PC on the some wood furniture and didn't hear any knocking or get any smoke, so yeah like everyone else said, I think there is an issue with your unit.



chris
 
As others have mentioned, your use of AIO and a white pad isn't going to do much of anything. If you think you are putting on more swirls, all you are probably doing is removing fillers from existing swirls making them more apparent. As far as pressure, it's often recommended to put around 15 pounds of pressure on the machine. Press on a scale to get a feel for how much that is.



As far as the washer, I think I read that the people have had the little bolts on the top of the backing plate (I think the 3"?) hitting the counterweight, and the spacer gives it enough clearance.
 
Vew said:
I don't use pressure at all on the flat surfaces. I just let the weight of the PC do the work. On the door panels are something, I'll just try to simulate the weight of the PC as if it was on flat surface.
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that's fine if you are waxing but don't tell me you can remove defect with a PC

and no pressure

and if you can it must take weeks to do a panel!
 
Coupe said:
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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It seems that with some PC/Backing plate combinations that if you don't use the washer the backing plate sits too close to the body of the PC, will not spin freely, and will cause the unit to overheat. The washer gives the BP enough clearance to spin freely. I have one on my PC.
 
Bababooey said:
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) T The amount of pressure I use is enough to bog down the machine that it rotates about once every 4-5 seconds.



Just my two cents.
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Rotate once every 5 seconds? That doesn't sound right.





John, it sounds like the PC backing plate hit your spoiler and took the paint off.

What size pad and backing plate were you using?



I burned the paint on my spoiler, but I was actually working the spoiler and was using 4" pads which heat up a lot faster than the larger ones.
 
cheech said:
It seems that with some PC/Backing plate combinations that if you don't use the washer the backing plate sits too close to the body of the PC, will not spin freely, and will cause the unit to overheat. The washer gives the BP enough clearance to spin freely. I have one on my PC.
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Yeah I've heard the same thing, its the rivets on back of the backing plates that might make contact with the counterweight if the washer isn't used. By the way the washer comes with the backing plates not the PC itself. All the backing plates I've purchased came with a washer.
 
John,



As others have said, AIO just won't do the job because it's a chemical polish. If you look on this abrasives list, it's way down there.



The kit that you received has the white and orange pads, so you have a polishing pad (white) and a more aggressive light cutting pad (orange) at your disposal. Do you have any other polishes? If not, PM me, and I'll see what I can do.
 
I believe I have Meguiars #2 as well, let me go check to make sure I have the # right.



It was right in the middle of their "cut" chart on the label.
 
Yes it's the Meguiars #2, Fine-Cut Cleaner. It's rated a 5/10 with 0 being light cut and 10 being heavy cut.



Is this too harsh or just right? I picked it up at the autoparts store a week or two ago since I thought I might need it in the future.
 
Sorry to hear about your accident. About the PC smoking, I wouldnt worry about it if your PC is brand new or recently refurbished. It could just be the grease used during assembly burning off, it is normal with power tools.
 
I put the washer on and I hope it changed it. It did look unusually close together, the screws of the backing plate were pretty damn smushed in there.
 
I had none of your horror stories with my new PC, but it did bog down way too easily and get overheated. I just returned it to amazon and am in here to shop for my UDM.
 
Hey, nice car! Lol I have an 06 GLI too, mine is deep black. I really don't know how you got micromarring, maybe you didn't work the polish until it broke down. The reason you didn't get all of the swirls out tho is because new VW paint is hard as a rock. I use the little orange pads that came free with my PC from Autogeek. Those little pads are agressive, and you need to be very agressive with VW paint. It seems like whatever somebody on here says they used to do something on their car, you have to use something that's one step more agressive to get the same results.



If I were you, I wouldn't overwork myself. This paint is hard to correct, so it takes a while. Do the hood and fenders one day, then do the rest on different days. Do everything (other than spreading the polish) on speed 6. Under no circumstances thould the PC be making noise or smoking tho, I've used mine for entire days, it gets hot but no smoke.
 
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