15mm or 21mm?

[Cronenberged]

Just curious what's everyone's thoughts which is better. I'm gonna purchase a new polisher soon.

[BMWE46M3]

For years I've been using a Meguiar's 6" and found it too large for our cars but great on larger vehicles like my wife's Traverse. After watching a crapload of videos from Larry at AMMONYC with Kevin Brown I purchased a Rupes LHR75e BigFoot 3" Electric Mini Random Orbital Polisher through Kevin at Buff Daddy http://www.buffdaddy.com/product/LHR75e and I love it. Kevin is super helpful too if you have questions about pad types and/or polishes. I found this 3" polisher to work much better for our cars since they have a lot of curves and body lines that require a smaller pad. I also bought the 1" adaptor http://www.buffdaddy.com/product/1125EXT which works great for small surfaces like the door edges adjacent to the side windows.

[Tbonem3]

He's talking about the throw of the orbit. Honestly, I like the typical 8 or 9mm of a d/a. I would go 15mm if you want thaat style - 21 would be for large vehicles/boats.

For backing plate/pad, 5" plate with 5.5" pad is best for these and most cars (though the machine may say it's a 6", get a 5" plate). Smaller area, more pressure (more heat/faster cut). A 3" with 1" attachment isn't a bad idea for really small areas, but if you don't want to spend the money, you can also just do the few small areas by hand or get a 2"/3" plate/pad that fits onto a typical (high speed) drill that you already own. That will be forced rotation though, and you'll need to watch your heat vs. d/a random orbital.

[Cronenberged]

Tbonem3 what 5.5" pads are you using?

[Tbonem3]

Normally Lake Country CSS, but there was a big 50% sale on autogeek (this was like 2 years ago) and I grabbed a bunch of Lake Country's eurofoam (hydrotech) pads (cyan, tangerine). They have a bit more cut (better, firmer foam) than equivalent CSS, but finish very nicely like the css pad a step down in agressiveness. I love them. They also don't absorb as much product and keep it on the surface better for more cycle time.

I actually really like Chemical Guy's Hex logic pads - really really good cut from the orange one. Very stiff foam and didn't break down as quickly as orange CSS pad does. But they're really expensive (more than the regular CG's hex pads). I only bought one cause it was half price - some random guy on ebay was selling it.

Edit: They're still half off!

https://www.autogeek.net/hydrotech-l...ile-3pack.html

https://www.autogeek.net/h2o-9155-130mm.html - Cyan (blue) - Best one step pad IMO. Best cut you can get from foam, yet finishes like a softer foam polishing pad (like CSS white). Only a super soft pad like CSS blue would do any better (jeweling - ultra fine finish - almost undetectable difference - you'd do it before a ceramic coating or before a car show or something).

You'd still want a MF 5.5" pad for stronger cut (esp with a non diminishing compound) if you were correcting an older car for the first time where you want to really take it down. But that blue hydrotech would be good enough to take out almost everything. I found the CG's hex logic orange to cut a little better, but it's 3x the price. Ideally, you'd change pads every panel (esp if using compound/more heat), but it's hard to swallow the price with retail. Much easier to do with these hydrotech pads at under $5 a pop. Buy a bunch!

[Cronenberged]

Yea I don't plan on getting crazy and correcting,. I'll mess something up but I do plan to use a all one product Rupes Uno or Maguires 3-1. Tbonem3 I appreciate you helping find those pads and your input.

[Tbonem3]

Those tangerine pads would be perfect, some cutting ability (most scratches/swirls, water spots, ect) with very fine, wax/coating ready finish. otherwise, I'd recommend white LC CSS or white CG's hex.

You're welcome.

[c watson]

For an e46 M3 I would definitely recommend using 15mm. I would also recommend a mini polisher for those hard to reach places.