i used to work for ziebart and i think we used gem orbitals never really looked at them closely to see the name and stuff
they were fairly heavy and did a great job.

question is. has anyone tried that portercable dual action polisher and a gem orbital?

if so which did you perfer

its like 60-70 bucks more for the gem but its worth it to me as i'll be waxing quite frequently and want a good buffer thatll last forever.

lemme know hwat you think

portercable 7424 $139.95 @ www.premiumautocare.com
16lb gem orbital 199.95 @ detailking

 

Porter Cable all the way. I cant recomend it enough. Search for it on the internet (Porter Cable 7424, 6-inch polisher) to get the cheapest price. THEN, go onto properautocare.com and get the pads. I love thier store and they have awesome pads, but you can find the machine cheaper elsewhere.

The orange is for grunt work...some deeer scratches and swirls.
White is for general polishing.
Grey is has very little friction of its own...for waxing/sealing.

 

so i take it u dont use bonnets

see i learned how to buff at ziebart and we always had those gems (i believe havent found any other product that resembles it as closely) always used bonets on the 11" pad and we used them for polishing and waxing. however we also had some makitas around for running highspeed (i only used it on white silver and lighter color cars i didnt really trust myself to use on the darker colors (although i probably could have dont know till you try)

i've found really good pricing on that porter cable. but how do you like using such a small pad ? 6" seems like youd have to make hundreds of passes.
and the thing isnt balanced ontop of the pad is it? seems like the weight gets held up by your hand.. how much pressure you have to apply when polishing and such?

the gem. the weight of the machine did the work

hmm sounds like i'm fighting for the gem. must mean thats what i should get...

 

The PC is MUCH more powerfull. If your gonna go with the Gem then there was little point in asking, BUT, if you want my oppionion, it would be undoubtedly the PC.

 

ya i'm going over my decision again cuz its a 200 dollar buffer ya know? lots of stuff i could spend 200 on but i need a good buffer that'll last me forever

portercable having the variable speed is nice as you can use it for polishing as well as waxing and other stuff.. where as the gem is limited to 1700 or so rpm.. so you'd have to apply more pressure, which is what you DO NOT want to do (or well if you dont knwo what your doing you shouldnt )

man i just wish i could try out that portercable before buyin it... i'm just not sure if i'm going to like that 6" pad or not

 

I love the 6-inch pad. In fact once you get used to it, you wont want a bigger pad.

The PC isn't just a time saving machine, so if thats gonna be our main purpose, just get a cheap Waxmaster frmCostco and you would never tell the difference. With the PC, you end up spending more time but get MUCH MCUh better results.

 

ya i see where your comming from.... it also seems the pc in its lowest setting still runs at like 2x the speed of the gem i was looking at.

the gem is a professional tool. ziebart are one good example of ppl using it.. but maybe the extra heat made by the pc would help w/ application of product?

also i'm leaning towards the blackfire products. what do you know about those products?

 

I agree with Brad4. The PC is easy to use. I have 7.5 inch pads to protect from bumping the edge of the back plate against a mirror or something. I don't change speeds, just keep it between 3 and 4 on the dial.