Pad Size ?

screamng said:
What are the advantages / Dis-advantages between a 6" vs 5" pads?
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I have a GG polisher with a 6in backing plate and i am looking into going to the 5" backing plate. Pads in smaller size are cheaper and the smaller size makes your polisher more versatile. I dont have professional knowledge/experience so im sure they can give more details about the pros/cons of the different sizes.
 
If your polisher has enough power to drive it, a 6' pad will obviously cover a larger area with less effort. I have a griot's 6" da which does have enough power , so I use 6" pads most of the time (I have a pick up). if the vehicle has smaller body panels, etc., a 5" pad is easier to work with and less expensive than a 6". a polisher with less power will benefit from running a 5" pad(a pc for example), which it will do easier than driving a 6" pad. a griot's will drive a 5" pad with even more efficiency than a 6". I have a back up d/a with a 5" backing plate and a griot's 3" da for smaller/tighter areas.
backing plates aren't too expensive and are easy to change, so get yourself an extra 5" and change it when you need it. after you try it, you may like the 5" better. remember, you can never have too much detailing stuff. :)
 
tropicsteve said:
,,,,,,,, a griot's will drive a 5" pad with even more efficiency than a 6". ,,,,,,, remember, you can never have too much detailing stuff. :)
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I have the GG6 and the GG3 Just receive the latest GG flyer in the mail and noticed the "new' 5" backing plate conversion and pads, and wondered why?

If the GG will drive the 5" more efficient it makes sense. I agree with you about never haing to much detail stuff, the wife on the other hand, that is a tough one to break. I just take her out to the garage and point out her black Exploder, normally I have success:yay
 
if you do go with a 5" backing plate, I do think it's better to go with a backing plate from the manufacturer of the pads you use the most. I do use griot's pads, but I use lc pads the most(greater variety available from lc) and went with the lc flexible backing plate. it works fine with other pads, but obviously each pad manufacturer will recommend their own backing plate designed for their own products.
 
I have a GG6 and GG3, I have 6"-5"-3,3/4" backing plates and I run 4", 5.5" and 6.5" pads I find the 5.5 the most powerful and versatile pads to use and I use lake country flat pads cheep durable and work great. With the 6.5 pad I need to use the GG3 to cover about 10-20 percent of the car truck I cant get the 6.5" into. With the 5.5" i can get to 95 percent of the car and can usually just do the other 5% by hand. 6.5 pads are nice for big trucks SUV's they have some huge panels hoods, bed sides, ROOF especially. I find the 5.5 pads have the best combo of speed (area covered) and power and versatility out of all the pads.
 
I like both the 5 and 6 inch plate on my GG. As stated above, the 6 will cover more area, but the 5 is maneuverable. I also ditch the handle on those polishers so that they will fit into tighter areas, but that's just my preference.
 
I have the GG 6 inch polisher, along with the 3 inch, 3.5 inch, 5 inch and 6 inch backing plate. I also have the LHR15 which uses a 5 inch backing plate, but I also have the 6 inch packing plate (and the washer mod for each backing plate). I find the 5 inch pads are just easier to work with unless your working on a van. The griots will handle just about any pad size you throw at it. The LHR15 handles 5 inch and 6 inch backing plates without a problem, but takes some getting used to when working on curved panels (not very forgiving if you don't move the machine correctly the pads will stop spinning). If you are not in a rush, a 5 inch backing plate with a 5.5 inch pad is vert versatile.
 
To answer your question - Pad Rotation is what you want the most in my experience, which is why I use Rotary Power.

It would seem that you can get more pad rotation with a smaller pad than a larger pad, on any of the D/A's, so perhaps the 5.25-5.5" pads would be better on the D/A ?

I know when the famous Flex 3401VRG came out around 10 years ago, everyone loved it, even with the counter-clockwise rotation, but we all found out that putting the next smaller pad from the 6" pad made the machine so much more easy to use and control.

And this machine has the most forced rotation that does not stop, than any of the other machines..

Some guys even went to taking their 6" backing plate and cutting it down to be able to use the smaller 5" pads, and they loved it..

Eventually Flex came out with the smaller backing plate, and later, even came out with an adapter to use even smaller pads with backing plates for this machine..

The bigger 6" pads are fine and they will cover more area, but you the user, have to be able to put more pressure on that bigger area and control it. If you ask me, I would think this is harder than the next smaller pad to do, especially around smaller areas.

I will take the trade off by using a smaller 5"+ pad and get the best control, be able to put more pressure on a slightly smaller area, and get this combo with a spacer into about any area on any vehicle without having to stop and change backing plates and pads..
Dan F
 
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