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I used this on my entire compact car. Seems kind of heavy but maybe because I did the whole car with it, just trying to save a dollar by not having to buy 2 buffers since I might do one or two cars when ever needed.
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Some reviewers have complained of the lack of power of this machine and its inability to correct paint. And while indeed it is rated at 2 amps as opposed to the 7 Amps of the 6" Griots, it is still powerful enough for paint correction if used properly. Of course having less power it may take longer to correct paint, but it can do the job with the right technique. Some of the fundamental mistakes that users make when using any polisher is too much pressure and too much polish-(I know this because this was my mistake until I learned better). Either will greatly diminish the cutting/correcting ability of any polisher. The 3" Griots being less powerful and having a smaller diameter is more susceptible and less forgiving of these types of errors.In truth, its strength is in correcting small and odd shape surfaces such as that found on a motorcycle or in oddly shape areas of a car that would challenge the contact surface of the 6". So if the appropiate amount of pressure and polish is used with this machine it will corrects well, but I would not recommend it for large flat areas which are better served by the 6" machine-as the British saying goes "Horses for courses."
Another benefit to this polisher is using the yellow scrub pad with a 1:1 alcohol/water mix to remove excess wax/polish from black trim etc. I have found this technique to be very effective.
Best Deals for Griot's Garage 10739STDCRD 3" Random Orbital with 10' Cord
The 3" is almost small enough to get to all the paint work for my roadster and not too small for me to complain about doing the large hood with it... Make Sense? I thought it was pretty cool that you can hit 3/4" wide sections of metal with it and it doesn't splatter the wax (Griot's Best of Show). I couldn't imagine trying to hit small spots like that with a 6"... but maybe I'd be wrong.I also polished my car with (Griot's Machine #3 Griot's Garage 11163 Machine Polish 3 16 oz.), applied glaze (Meguiars #7 Meguiar's6 Mirror Glaze Professional Show Car Glaze. 16 oz. liquid), and cleaned up my headlights (Meguiar's PlastX Meguiar's PlastX Clear Plastic Cleaner and Polish -10 oz.) with this tool. I've cleaned my headlights by hand before and that just didn't compare with how well this little orbital worked. If only it had a 1" pad for the really really tight areas of the headlight-But I might try cutting down a 3" pad next time.
I did all this in about 16 hours over the weekend in the garage. My arms were quite sore on monday but I don't think it was from the weight of the machine (Think wax removal). It was pretty comfortable, but I reccommend taking a few breaks so that your hands don't go numb from the vibration. The DVD that comes with the orbital is a little cheazy, but it has some good points that probably saved me some time-I'd check it out before you get started.
The only problem that I have is that there are no wax removal bonnets for this model. Sore arms after getting the wax back off. I e-mailed Griots to see if they have some that are not on the web site, but it looks like I may end of having to make my own. Meguiar's makes a 3" microfiber finishing pad (DA Microfiber Finishing Pad 3 (2 pack)), but I am not sure that they will work with this orbital. The speed shine is a must when using the wax.
BTW--I picked up the Griots Clay Bar and the speed shine kit (Griot's Garage 11145 Paint Cleaning Clay Kit) along with the orbital and I'm glad I did-I think dollar-for-shine the clay bar is probably the highest value that I've seen--even better than the orbital. This was the first time I used clay and the difference afterward was crazy. I could kick myself for not trying the clay years ago.
I ordered most of the products mentioned above from BJs.com and it was delived 3 days before my order for some other Griots products from Amazon even shipped. I ended up going out and buying some stuff I ordered from Amazon at a automotive store just so I didn't have to wait another week to start using my orbital. I'm going to order future Griots items from Griots's own site since the $0.50 or $1.00 saved through Amazon might not be worth waiting 6 days for my order to even ship. Even though I ordered my obital at BJ's the shipment came direct from Griots as evidinced by the Griots box-So I'm pretty sure that Griots wasn't the hold up.
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