Porter cable or udp's?

[Burtonsnow157]

Alright so i again have some spare cash on the side to spend on my habit and i'm hoping to get a little guidance on what you guys think is better to invest in.

Right now i barely have any money under the hood as you can see in my mod list. My car is a daily driver so it cant get to crazy just yet.

I'm looking at either steeda udp's or a porter cable 7424 kit with a bunch of polishes and pads. Which is wiser to get? the udps supposedly net better gas mileage but probably unlikely. . . (do they?)
The porter cable kit does seem very versatile because my paint does have some minor imperfections, as it is 5 years old now. How much of a gain would i see with udps? rwhp?

 

[CobraRed_96_GT]

I say PC if you can use it well. Having a car with great paint and a car with mediocre paint is a difference in about $1000 in the worth of the car. While UDP's might hurt you. I know you're not concerned about that - but coming from a guy with steeda UDP's and 12 year old paint that's in the process of turning pink; trust me.

 

[darkside03gt]

I say get a mothers power ball for paint and get the pulleys. I used the mothers mini powerball and some meguires plastex for my headlights and the results are awsome. If i werent leaving for a year soon i would get the one for paint just to see how well it works.

 

[CobraRed_96_GT]

a powerball for paint? Stick to wheels and headlights with that thing (i have one), you need a random orbit

 

[darkside03gt]

a powerball for paint? Stick to wheels and headlights with that thing (i have one), you need a random orbit

i've seen it and its made of different material and looks like it would work pretty good. I've had such a good experience with the mini i would like to see how the paint ball works.

 

[CobraRed_96_GT]

i've seen it and its made of different material and looks like it would work pretty good. I've had such a good experience with the mini i would like to see how the paint ball works.

just read reviews of it on detailing boards first (i haven't), but it's a good idea

 

[Burtonsnow157]

i have a powerball for paint already and i just use it to apply wax with barely any pressure. it has no where near the ability to polish an entire car. . . you need the different pads and all of that for different polishes, ive done my research and i'm confident i can use the PC pretty well. just curious, you said about the udp's hurting me

i know that there are problems associated with the piggyback style ones, but the steeda ones are developed with the correct dampening characteristics and seem safe, what can go wrong with them?

 

[Killa]

lowes sell a PC for 100 buck>

 

[san~man]

Invest a little more and buy a Flex DA polisher. You'll thank me later.

 

[Stark77]

10 pack of microfiber towels + Meguiars stage 1 paint cleaner, stage 2 paint polish, stage 3 wax = $30 dollars. Steeda UDP's = $180ish. I would go with the UDP's. It allows the engine to not have to work as hard to turn over the additional weight of that old gigantic harmonic balancer.

 

[ROUSH1]

ADAMS POLISHES

Car Wax, Car Polish, Auto Detail Supplies - Adam's Polishes

Just did it this weekend and it works awesome, it really easy to operate also.
the dvd the send gives you step by step instructions.

 

[isjoining]

thats an expensive kit.

you can get better priced PC kits from autogeek

 

[Burtonsnow157]

you can get better priced PC kits from autogeek

thats probably where im getting mine, they also have a full tutorial on youtube. . . .

 

[CobraRed_96_GT]

i have a powerball for paint already and i just use it to apply wax with barely any pressure. it has no where near the ability to polish an entire car. . . you need the different pads and all of that for different polishes, ive done my research and i'm confident i can use the PC pretty well. just curious, you said about the udp's hurting me

i know that there are problems associated with the piggyback style ones, but the steeda ones are developed with the correct dampening characteristics and seem safe, what can go wrong with them?

I just meant hurting the price of the car as most people want a stock one, they run fine.

Flex is sex

Autogeek is a good idea

 

['03GTinFLA]

I had UDP's and I liked them. They perked up the car a little, made it rev a little quicker. I think they are a solid mod for NA applications. I also have a PC. I love it. I do my car, my gf's car, other people's cars. It's pretty sweet. Overall I would say do them both, but do the PC 1st. You'll get more use/enjoyment out of it. At least I did. And the mothers powerball is not such a good idea if you can get a PC instead. Just my .02, not trying to flame the powerball suggester. I got mine from autopia-carcare.com Just another option to look at.

 

[Burtonsnow157]

I love it. I do my car, my gf's car, other people's cars. It's pretty sweet.

just a side question about the porter cable, obviously when you first get it youre gunna wanna medium to heavy polish it and then finishing polish it, but after that you dont really polish it more than once every few years right?. . . .and just keep glazing and waxing/sealing inbetween

 

[san~man]

just a side question about the porter cable, obviously when you first get it youre gunna wanna medium to heavy polish it and then finishing polish it, but after that you dont really polish it more than once every few years right?. . . .and just keep glazing and waxing/sealing inbetween

Not necessarily. You may get small scratches/holograms from washing, etc, that can't be taken out any other way than with the polisher. You may end up using it every 3-4 months or so, plus for friends/family.

It's worth it in the long run. If you don't want to invest that much into the Flex, the Porter Cable is still a good option. I bought mine new for $90.00 from a local store here, but with the pads and accessories it'll come out more.

 

['03GTinFLA]

My car is black and I'm pretty anal about the whole car in general so I strip the wax and do the whole thing probably every 3 months or so. Like sanman said, it gets little swirls and watermarks in the paint and I can't stand it so I just do the whole thing. Plus I really like working on my car. Doesn't matter if it's engine work or waxing. I love it. Then you have my gf's honda with 140K on it. All I do with that is use some cleaner wax and then maybe another coat of carnuba or synthetic wax. It's so much easier with the PC than doing it by hand. Every once in a while I'll see one of my friends cars that you can tell hasn't been waxed since they bought it and I tell them to bring it over and drop it off for about 3 hours. Then do the whole thing and they come back and can't believe how much better it looks. But like I said, I like to work on cars.

 

[fudleyd]

Not necessarily. You may get small scratches/holograms from washing, etc, that can't be taken out any other way than with the polisher. You may end up using it every 3-4 months or so, plus for friends/family.

It's worth it in the long run. If you don't want to invest that much into the Flex, the Porter Cable is still a good option. I bought mine new for $90.00 from a local store here, but with the pads and accessories it'll come out more.

+1 This is so true...I think I have done all of my family's cars now...lol.

I have a black car and it needs tons of care to look it's best. I had UDP's and a PC and like them both, but the polisher is lots of fun and you will get tons of satisfaction from it.