I was thinking about ordering the porter cable dual action polisher from properautocare.com that comes with the velcro backing plate. Does the accesorry kit they sell come with everything else i need to get started(besides polish and wax) and are the pads in the accesory kit what i should be using or should i get them somewhere else? Thanks
No they do not come with all the pads you will need. The "basic" kit for $129 kit comes with the pad and velcro backing plate that Porter Cable supplies which "sucks" to put it mildly. The "ultimate detailing machine" kit for $149 comes with CMA's own flexible backing plate and a white polishing pad. The white polishing pad is typically for applying glazes and has no cutting power. If you are buying the machine for surface prep to remove light swirls and scratches then you are going to need more pads. Keep in mind too that they do wear out so they are something that you don't just buy once. I would go with Meguiars. They sell a set of 3 pads for $24.95 which indludes 2 of their cutting pads which you would use for paint cleaner type products and 1 finishing pad which is used to apply glazes and wax/sealants.
Polish is an often confused term. It doesn't help that the manufacturers don't use it consistently. Basically there are two kinds of polishes, a pure polish which does not contain any kind of cleaners or abrassives and a cleaner polish which as the name states contains chemical cleaners and/or abrassive cleaners. A cutting pad would be used to apply any product that contains chemical or abrassive cleaners. The finishing pads would be used to apply pure polishes which are sometimes called glazes as well as waxes or sealants. Is that clear as mud now
