標題: [保養相關] Review - Meguiar's DA Power System, pads washed [打印本頁]

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作者: PPLd    時間: 2013-1-9 09:45     標題: Review - Meguiar's DA Power System, pads washed

本帖最後由 PPLd 於 2015-10-27 09:14 編輯

Short Term Review: http://www.meguiars.com/en/autom ... 00-da-power-system/





Introduction
First of all, hats off to Corey for providing the review format.  It is the best review format I have ever seen.  Second, I would like to thanks Todd of Autopia-carcare to send me the Pinnacle Signature Series II carnauba paste wax as a Xmas gift!  Thanks!

Back in late 2011, Meguiar's announced an innovative concept of using a drill adapting unit to SAFELY polish a car.  The unit is called DA Power System [DA Pwr Sys].  It is called a system because this is not the same adapter you used to have - The rotary action of a drill is converted into a Forced Rotation dual action movement so the chance of burning through the paint is basically eliminated.  The DA Pwr Sys was introduced to the market until the end of 2012 as a 2013 product.

In this short term review we shall take it out for a test drive and see how well it can handle polishing tasks.



Product description (adapted from Michael Stoops, Meguiar's):



*In my opinion, if extra cutting is needed, you may use the 3" Meguiar's DA MF cutting pad and D300 MF Cutting Compound with the DA Pwr Sys.




Claim (found on Meguiar's product description):
- Start getting pro results at home, with the revolutionary DA Power System
- Dual-action, rotation provides faster and safer results.
- Produces far superior results than mere hand application
- More Shine, Less Time!



Details:
1. Packaging: One drill adapter tool with yellow Meguiar's polishing pad already attached.
2. Directions:  I only have the photo with me now.  I will copy the text out later.

3. Construction: Hard plastic surface with a rubbery grip.  Metal gears.
4. Color: black / yellow
5. Size: Less than 9-inch.  Feel very well in hand.

6. Price: USD$59.99
7. Cost: As long as the unit is well maintained, I think this will easily last a decade?
8: Manufacturer: Meguiar's
9: Made in: China



Additional Products used:
1. 2 generic water buckets
2. 2 Grit Guards
3. Chemical Guys Citrus Wash & Gloss, Meguiar's APC+.
4. 1 Lowes Pro Line Grout Sponge
5. 1 Meguiar's Water Magnet
6. 3M Blue Clay & PPLdetailing Spray V3 - Polycharged
7. Meguiar's Swirl X
8. Meguiar's Ultimate Polish
9. Pinnacle Signature Series II Carnauba Wax and Americana HEX applicator



Environmental Conditions:
8-16*C / 46-60F (used in different places)
~50-70% RH
Last wax section: The BMW is garage kept and was Opti-Sealed 2 months ago.  Total mileage is around 1000km / 620 mile.  The PS3 and musical instrument have never been washed or waxed before, but they have never been driven on road either lol.



A photo is worth a thousand words.  We shall see some photos first and rejoin for the pros, cons and verdict.



The DA Power System come in a clear plastic packaging.


Back of the packaging.  Hope you can read the words:


The PS3 cover I was going to polish.


Let's take a closer look:


Mixing shampoo.  CG CWG was used.  It was only 8*C / 46.4F outside and the shampoo is not dissolving well... 25ml of APC+ concentrate was also added.


This is the suds from CG CWG and APC+.


The PS3 cover was foam pre-soaked, strip washed with the Proline Grout Sponge, and dried with Water Magnet.


I clayed the PS3 with warm PPLd V3 lube and genuine 3M mild blue clay.  Now let's see how much swirls are revealed after claying under tungsten garage lighting:


Take it out to fluorescent lighting:


The backind plate has a diameter of just under 3 inch.  Should work well with most 3-4 inch pads on the market.




It was getting late that night so I came back another day for polishing the PS3.  We played with the BMW first.  The owner backed into a wall and someone touched it up and sanded it.  My mission is to buff it to shiny surface.  Not up to my standard but whatever...  Here is how it look before:


Ta-da!  This is after 1 pass of DA Pwr Sys, cordless drill, orange pad, D300.


This is after 2 passes.  DA Pwr Sys took care of the sanding haze easily.




Edit: Someone decided to leave me some scratch on the rock hard Alfa Romeo Blu Mirabeau paint.
Used D300 + orange cutting pad, M205 + white pad.  A few passes and most of the scratches are removed.




We went back to the PS3 another day.  Over view of tools to be used.


Install the DA Pwr Sys as instructed.  You need to insert the whole head into your drill.  When attaching the foam pad to the backing plate, make sure you have it centered.


Prep-ing the pad.


Prime the pad well with Swirl X.


Spread it on PS3.


DA Pwr Sys in action.  Can you see the foam pad moving / motion blur?


Ultimate Polish was used for further refining.  It leave a noticeably deeper look and better finish than Swirl X on black.


Again, spread it well.


PS3 to be waxed using Pinnacle Signature Series II paste wax.  As you can see, the PS3 at the backgroud is nicely polished.


Results:




My friend helping me asked if I can polish his musical instrument.  I have absolutely no idea about music stuff but was told this "thing" is made of wood.  I have never worked on wood paint before so I started with UP + black pad.  Spread the polish on.


I polished it 2 times and it turned out nice.  Waxed it with Pinnacle SSII wax and here are the results:


Another angle:


Afterwards, I cleaned all the pads properly.  The stains are removed and they feel / look like brand new!


Pros:
+1 Powerful enough to remove sanding marks.
+2 Handy, light weight but solidly built and ergonomically designed
+3 Far less vibration than a full size DA
+4 Quiet operation

Cons:
-1 None I can think of.

???:
1. Is there any maintenance needed for the system?  Do we need to grease it like bicycle chain or other mechanical gear?  If yes, how do we do that?
2. The 3" backing plate cannot be changed so this might cause a problem for some.  Not for me because you should not change it.
3. You can use it with a cordless drill, but the battery will be drained fast so you need a few battery packs in hand.


Conclusion:
Before using the DA Power System I actually asked myself "what can you expect from such a small thing?".  Take it out for a test drive and I was amazed by the outcome.  This DA Pwr Sys is a very nice car detailing tool.

In terms of power, DA Pwr Sys is able to remove 3000 grit sanding marks with an underspeed cordless drill easily.  The level of correction is much higher when MF cutting pads and corded drill are used.

Ergonomically, DA Pwr Sys is a joy to use and very effective.  This tool is handy, light weight but solidly built and ergonomically designed.  The side grip makes applying downward pressure so natural.  You really need to hold it in hand and use it to experience this.  This is what all tools in the world should be eh?
And if you have ever used a traditional DA, you know they are noisy and vibrate like no tomorrow.  Your arms will begin to fatique in 3 hours.  This is not the case for DA Pwr Sys.  Its gear unit virtually makes no sound.  All you have is the motor sound of your drill and vibration from paint surface.

There is no direct competition on the market.  The closest tool is probably the Griot Garage 3" DA polisher.  Being cheaper ($95 vs $60) and so versatile (recommended but not necessary for a electricity supply), I will go for the DA Pwr Sys.

Meguiar's hit a home run with this product IMO.  I will not hesitate to buy this if I were to choose again, and I will definitely recommend this to friends.  The power, size and flexibility make it an attractive package!  I will not be polishing without the DA Power System in my arsenal.

Score: 9/10
Highly Recommended.
Questions and comments welcomed.





Side Track 1:
What is the difference between Rotary polisher, Dual Action polisher, Random Orbital polisher and a Forced Rotation DA polisher?

To keep things simple, I will only provide a short answer here today.
A Rotary polisher spin along a fixed axis at high speed.  It is the most powerful tool among all these, but if not handled properly, it will leave holograms or even burn your paint.
99% of the wax shop in HK use a rotary with a wool pad because it is cheap and fast, and the finish is really exceptional because most people dont understand how much damage a rotary can do to your paint if you let those professionals do it:




A Dual Action (DA) or Random Orbital (RO) polisher, on the other hand, does not rotate on 1 fixed axis.  It work like the drawing toy we played when we were small that make your pen move around to draw crossing lines.  Because it does not rotate on a fixed axis, you dont drill down onto the same spot on your paint.  Frictional heat is greatly reduced and your paint will not be burnt or grinded away.

The following photo shows the locus of polishing pad on your paint for the 2 types of machine: Image credit: Dave KG.



For DA vs RO, I had a discussion with the Director of Training of PBMG before regarding the difference between DA and RO, which can be found here:
http://www.autogeekonline.net/fo ... tal.html#post598818

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=225210
Member josh.hibbler from that forum mentioned:




While I am not sure if the points he said is right or wrong, this serves as a good reference in future.

In simple words, the terms Dual Action (DA), Orbital, Random Orbital (RO) are loosely used when it come to auto detailing because most likely we do not use the grinding function(?). They basically refer to the same type of machines that vibrates and rotate the pad to create a circular locus of pad that does not repeat itself.

Now, a DA polisher may stop spinning and just vibrating if you apply too much pressure on it.  A pad that is not spinning will not do any correction for you.  So some companies re-designed the DA mechanism and come up with a forced rotation machine, which means the pad is driven to keep rotating.  As far as I know, FLEX 3401, Makita BO6040, Bosch 1250DEVS are example of forced rotation DAs.


Further reading (Another old post by Sir Mike Phillips):
http://www.meguiarsonline.com/fo ... onal-Orbital-Buffer





Side track 2:
You may have probably notice that I used a new wash media to wash the BMW and the PS3 this time.  It is the famous Grout Sponge.  My initial impression with this wash media has been good.  It is very soft when soaked in water, rinses clean and release dirt when dipped in rinse bucket due to the large pores, create a tons of suds as you wash as air is mixed with soap water.  Squeeze it on your car and a lot of soapy water will come out, allowing you to do a pre-soak.  I heard people still on their first sponge after washing 100 dirty cars and not found a grout sponge-induced scratch.







Side track 3:
I used the Hex grip applicator to apply the Pinnacle Paste Wax.  The entire applicator is made of foam, but the contact surface is made of soft, smooth foam, and holding grip is made of firmer foam.  It is so comfortable to hold than those crappy Meguiar's yellow foam applicators.  Color may vary but they work the same.


[img]http://premiumfinishcare.com/images/products/large/Ultima/Exterior%20Applicator[1].jpg[/img]







Side track 4:
The Pinnacle Signature Series II paste wax is one of my all time favourite paste waxes.  It has a soft and buttery texture.  It smell so good you want to eat it instead of spreading on your car.  Application wise this is so easy and removal is even easier it almost come off in the wind!  As you can see, the look is wet, deep, but also classy and sexy.  It is so smooth to touch after a few hours.




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作者: fx50fd    時間: 2013-1-9 10:28

like!!!!! thanks a lot for this review!!!!

may i know for your cordless drill, how long for each battery last? thanks thanks .

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作者: piggyman    時間: 2013-1-9 10:55

PPLd,

I also wax my home piano with SwissVax Shield.  It also gives a shiny and glossy look.  However, I have not taken any pre and post photo about it.

Sure, home applicants are a good place to use up those unused/disliked detailing products!

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作者: choi_b    時間: 2013-1-9 11:26

wow...... excellent review PPLd
treat the ps3 cover as with your car, full gear in washing, amazing

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作者: peterlws    時間: 2013-1-9 12:05

The da system is really attractive, but seems I can't get it in HK?

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作者: carcarli    時間: 2013-1-9 12:15

Thx, PPLd, great review.

之前剛巧問了 meguiars hk , 佢地話二月頭有動作(會入 da pwr sys), 但價錢未定

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作者: piggyman    時間: 2013-1-9 12:59

回復 4# choi_b


    Choi_B,

I always treat my home applicant as auto detailing.  I mentioned before ... Medals, metal stands of furniture, LCD TV, monitor, notebook ... etc.

Sure, not everything can go thro all stages of detailing.  But, polish and wax can be applied in most cases!!

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作者: yinyeah1212    時間: 2013-1-9 14:26

it is really something great to learn for those who do not have an electricity supply.  i have a makita cordless drill and this really seems to be worth a try.

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作者: pkenneth    時間: 2013-1-9 15:49

本帖最後由 pkenneth 於 2013-1-9 15:52 編輯

回復 1# PPLd

Great review!!!
The PS3 is amazing, I never through that it can be water washed.

Thanks again for the DA power sys
I am preparing a list and pending action after my car is repaired.
Wolfgang Paintwork Polish Enhancer using compound pad
SF4000 using polish pad
Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant using wax pad
Would it better to put a wax over the sealant? How about Autoglym HD wax, Does it a good choice?
Thanks for the recommendation.

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作者: kchung    時間: 2013-1-9 22:17



如果佢今個月有, 我即刻買黎開年.

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作者: peterlws    時間: 2013-1-9 22:21

我岩岩先係 autogeek 訂左 set 電鑽用既架生佢就出

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作者: PPLd    時間: 2013-1-9 22:33




    fx50fd,

Thanks for reading my long article.
I used a cordless drill to remove sanding marks.  This is a heavy duty job and the aging battery only lasted 45 minutes.
If you have a drill with battery in good condition and not as heavy duty as compounding sand marks, I think the battery can last like 1 hour under normal usage.  However, every battery and every drill are different so what is happening to me may not apply to you.

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作者: PPLd    時間: 2013-1-9 22:36




    piggyman,

It is a very luxury move to use Swissvax as what you think "unused / disliked" products lol~

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作者: PPLd    時間: 2013-1-9 22:37




    choi_b,

Thank you for your patience in reading my work.
It is just a plain plastic cover so I can remove it, wash it, dry it and installed it back.
Then I suddenly noticed "dang, the rest of the PS3 looks terrible!".

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作者: PPLd    時間: 2013-1-9 22:38




    peterlws,

I would like to thank you for reading my article.
Meguiar's HK is usually 3-6 months slower than me hahaha.
Btw I guarentee you they dont know about their stuff as good as I do.

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作者: PPLd    時間: 2013-1-9 22:39




    carcarli,

I guess the price is end of $6xx, or beginning of $7xx.

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作者: PPLd    時間: 2013-1-9 22:40




    piggyman and choi_b,

You should be able to apply car paint products onto shiny hard surfaces, and also wooden surfaces.
Remember, Meguiar's started off being a furniture polish business.

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作者: PPLd    時間: 2013-1-9 22:41




    yinyeah1212,

Thank you for reading my writing.
The DA Pwr Sys is indeed a very nice tool to have, even if you already have a full size DA.

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作者: PPLd    時間: 2013-1-9 22:48



pkenneth,

I am happy to see that you like my sharing.
I cannot remember if I know about your car or not.  
Wolfgang Paint Enhancer is a paint cleaner... Nah...
SF4000 may not give you the desired effects, and I prefer to use it with black pad.
Wolfgang DGPS?  Forget it.
I think I have over 40 pots of good carnauba waxes...  Too many to choose lol!

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作者: PPLd    時間: 2013-1-9 23:00




    Be careful of using a Rotary.
See the photos I showed here about what rotary can do to your paint.

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作者: eaglefire    時間: 2013-1-9 23:48

the review is great PPLd!!! another tempting present for myself!!!

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作者: kchung    時間: 2013-1-9 23:58

回復 1# PPLd

what a great review and detail on RO/DA, hope I can get DA in HK soon and try it out. Thanks PPLd

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作者: pkenneth    時間: 2013-1-10 10:06




Thanks for ur reply,
My car is mazda 2 in drak grey.
Does you mean SF4000 is better using a finishing pad with DA pwr sys?
How about I use SwirlX as compound and next SF4000 and followed by sealant/WAX?
My mission is to remove the scratches which is obviously to see under a sunlight in closer looking and keep the car have a wet glossy looking.

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作者: PPLd    時間: 2013-1-10 10:42



SwX is not a compound.
How deep is ur scratch?

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作者: eaglefire    時間: 2013-1-10 15:45

PPLd,

u really pushing me into the hell

i read u used cordless drill, sorry but i hv no idea abt this tool. how much does it cost and does it fit the purpose for car detailing? i mean does the power of drill is good enough and 45 min battery life enough for waxing?
i believe the tool is not cheap. does the drill cost over 1500?
i think i hv to save money again...

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作者: peterlws    時間: 2013-1-10 21:24



PPLd 兄，search 過唔係好覺，可唔可以 send 條 link 黎睇睇?

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作者: PPLd    時間: 2013-1-10 21:35




    Yes I always push people into deep sh1t.  Maybe the letter "d" in my name stands for "devil" ??
It is not a surprise for HK PPL to hv no idea abt this tool.  Cordless drill are usually very cheap.  They are only a few hundred on Taobao.

My fastest record is 30 minutes to seal a car.

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作者: PPLd    時間: 2013-1-10 21:37




    You may have missed some parts of my review?
Please read through it again.

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作者: eaglefire    時間: 2013-1-11 02:47



ummm, i hv checked the Meguair's forum, they suggested to use a drill w 1500-2500 rpm (http://www.meguiarsonline.com/fo ... -Power-System/page3). it seems that cordless drill is hard to achieve the requirement. whts the one u tried? i think the best i could find in cheap price are hving 600-1200 rpm only. dunno if they could satisfy the need.

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作者: kinhung132    時間: 2013-1-11 07:23

提示: 作者被禁止或刪除 內容自動屏蔽

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作者: PPLd    時間: 2013-1-11 08:17




    You probably missed some parts of my review.
About the drill range and what drill I used...

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作者: PPLd    時間: 2013-1-11 08:18




    I heard that no shop is selling it in HK.

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作者: ckkong97    時間: 2013-1-11 09:00



我曾經係旺角見過有舊貨 (上個月既事)

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作者: carcarli    時間: 2013-1-11 09:44

上次除左問個位 meguiars hk 代表 da pwr system 幾時出外, 仲問埋 swirl x, 佢話暫時唔會入, 因為佢話d 客覺得同 "UC" 功能差不多所以唔入

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作者: kinhung132    時間: 2013-1-11 11:03

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作者: carcarli    時間: 2013-1-11 11:52

回復 35# kinhung132

我還是新手一名, 都係向 PPLd 或其他 member 學習中
swirl x 我未用過, UC 就用過, 初步係 UC 覆蓋範圍大d, 而 swirl x 係針對 swirl on paint.

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作者: PPLd    時間: 2013-1-11 12:16



Who did you ask?
The guy who answered you this way need to have his ****** ####-ed for misleading customers.
It is their job to explain the diff between SwX and UC, not listen to customers' misconceptions.

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作者: PPLd    時間: 2013-1-11 12:18




    UC is not thick and not hard.  It is a a liquid.
Swirl X has a thicker consistency.
However, the texture of product has nothing to do with its function and how well it perform.
Both are solid products.

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作者: piggyman    時間: 2013-1-11 12:18

回復 33# ckkong97


    In MK??  I guess the one you saw was bought by me.  A month ago, a member bought Autoglym HD wax.  I wanted to buy it as well.  When I was searching for that, I found and bought that bottle of SwirlX in Wai Leung (MK).

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作者: PPLd    時間: 2013-1-11 12:18




    What do you mean by "larger coverage"?
I bet you probably cant remove much swirls on paint using Swirl X if you do by hand or machine on "non-soft" paint.

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作者: carcarli    時間: 2013-1-11 12:42

回復 37# PPLd

mr. wong @ meguiars hk, 佢就係咁同我講佢d 客向佢咁反映.

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作者: carcarli    時間: 2013-1-11 12:49

回復 40# PPLd

我未用過 swirl x.
冇錯, 我係用手上 UC, 初步覺得係將一架兩年半冇打蠟既紅色車既六成左右 swirl mark, scratch 清走同回復漆面

所以我非常有興趣買 da pwr sys

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作者: ckkong97    時間: 2013-1-11 12:51



I think yes, you bought it...
Wai Leung@洗衣街..

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作者: eaglefire    時間: 2013-1-11 13:26



PPLd,

Sorry i still cant find the info when i read again. would you mind to tell the rpm u used when using corded drill when u polish the PS3?

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作者: PPLd    時間: 2013-1-11 14:45



Wait, you asked for cordless drill at first.
The cordless drill was 10.8V.

Now u ask abt corded. I hv to check my Bosch but i tk it can go up to 3000rpm??

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作者: eaglefire    時間: 2013-1-11 15:08



yes.  i am wondering the speed of the corded and cordless drill u use during polish.

im now looking at the AG site, struggling with the 15% discount!

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作者: kinhung132    時間: 2013-1-11 15:34

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作者: PPLd    時間: 2013-1-11 15:48

本帖最後由 PPLd 於 2013-1-11 15:53 編輯


I dont buy from them unless they hv 25-60% OFF.
last time they sent me Xmas gift too..

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作者: PPLd    時間: 2013-1-11 15:49

本帖最後由 PPLd 於 2013-1-11 15:53 編輯


I hv nvr got UC drying on me.

Now READ EVERY WORD CAREFULLY but DONT OVER THINK WHAT I IMPLY:
Did u follow the instructions and draw an X pattern on ur pad b4 u start?

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作者: eaglefire    時間: 2013-1-11 15:53



umm so i should wait for another big sale promotion~~

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作者: charles1128    時間: 2013-1-13 20:56

For those who did not bought a drill yet, I suggest them to buy one with an automatic power press, that's drilling without constantly hold pressing the trigger because that's really tired!

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作者: tonyk3388    時間: 2013-1-13 21:44

wowo!! I like the silky smooth PS3!
This DA system looks great to me, but my 7-seater is tooooo big to detail like this...

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作者: kstsui    時間: 2017-4-20 10:56

Thx so much for the tutorial man, is any requirement for the cordless drill to be compatitible with the meiguar DA system?

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作者: PPLd    時間: 2017-4-20 14:40




    Meguiars do not have such requirement.

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作者: kstsui    時間: 2017-4-20 14:55




    Thanks~~ so most typical driller can do la

I m thinking to buy a cordless one.... coz my car park has no power socket... hope the power is enough

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作者: PPLd    時間: 2017-4-20 15:18




    You can rent power and water supply in some car parks.
Some let you use polisher.

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作者: kstsui    時間: 2017-4-20 15:29




    mine has water but no power...

I double check the DA again and it seems that I need to get a driller with 3/8"

"Attaches to most standard household drills. Recommended for use with 3/8" corded drill that operates between 1200-2,500 RPM's"

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作者: PPLd    時間: 2017-4-20 16:20



You can buy a complete set for less than a thousand dollars.
System compound polish sealant pads and towels all there!

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作者: kstsui    時間: 2017-4-20 16:43




    u order from Amazon and ship through 代購？

which cordless driller do you use?

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作者: PPLd    時間: 2017-4-20 16:54




    No ar I saw it in 2 places before.

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作者: kstsui    時間: 2017-4-20 16:58




    where u seen that?  So you buy your DA in local store in HK?

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作者: nekkix    時間: 2017-4-20 17:04

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作者: kstsui    時間: 2017-4-20 17:16




    oh yea, seems he is referring to this set

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作者: upsagel    時間: 2017-4-21 13:54



我記得係有口徑同埋轉速範圍的要求，

http://shop.upsangel.com/car/fix/DA-Power

適用所有3/8“（10mm）夾頭，轉速在1200～2500轉（最高2800轉）的電鑽。

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作者: kstsui    時間: 2017-4-21 15:49




    係呀無錯