///M-Spec
Staff Emeritus
- 4,928
Porter Cable 7424 6" Variable-Speed Random-Orbit Polisher
What it is: A dual action, random-orbit polisher
What it costs: USD $130 for the basic unit
How long have I owned/used it: 4 weeks
Pros: Easy and safe to use for novices, great results in about half the time it takes to polish by hand
Cons: Optional backing plate and additional pads can get a little pricey
I bought the PC 7424 a few weeks ago when I decided detailers in New Jersey simply want too much money to do a decent job. I'm not interested in spending hours upon hours in the summer heat toiling away by hand go get professional looking results, but the prices detailers here charge for a simple 1 step wax job are an eyebrow raising $80+, while a 2 step polish and wax run in the grab-your-ankles $130+ range.
It was time to take matters in my own hands. Literally.
After a few days of research, I decided to go with the popular PC 7424. It has a solid reputation, is inexpensive and is readily available online at a number of auto care sites. It is not a professional grade polisher that can take paint right off the car, but a safe but effective tool anyone can use with no training.
The basic 7424 weighs about 6 lbs, plugs into any household wall outlet and will polish a typical car in about half the time it takes to do by hand. The business end of the 7424 is a pad that oscillates so fast, it becomes a blur even in the slowest of it's numerous speed settings. This motion is a random 'jiggling' rather than a spinning rotation you may find in a professional polisher. The randomness of the pad movement helps keep a novice with no training in using a machine polisher from creating swirl marks or harming a car's finish.
HOW IT WORKS
Using the 7424 is simple. You plug the sucker in, moisten the pad with a foam pad lubricant (you don't want to hit your car's paint with a competely dry pad, it may create swirl marks), then apply some wax/polish/glaze/compound (whatever you are using) onto the pad or the car itself. Spread the wax (or whatever you are using) with the machine off, then choose an appropriate speed and turn it on to begin application. When the wax (etc) is worked in and hazed up, you simply wipe off the residue with a towel.
That's it. It used to take me 4, maybe 5 hours to wash, then wax a normal sized car by hand (if I rush and do a half-assed job, I could do it in 3) With the PC 7424, I can do the same job in less than 2 hours. For polishing, normally a far more time intensive job, it still only took me just under 2 hours and 30 minutes to get truly stunning results.
PC 7424 with stock pad and backing removed; shown with red 'fine/finishing' and white 'polishing' CCS pads
THE 'ATTACHMENTS'
The 7424 Basic package comes with just the polisher itself along with a single 'white' polishing pad. The pad is fixed to its plastic backing plate, which is then hand-torqued into the unit itself. Having only one pad is not much of a problem if you just want to wax the car. But if you want to be able to swap from an abrasive pad for compounding to a fine pad for waxing, you may want to invest in a removable backing plate and a variety of pads.
A removable backing plate runs about ~$16 and a good pad runs about ~$10. I bought the gee-whiz CCS 3 extra pads and a backing plate for $46. The backing plate and pads I bought use velcro to stick the pads into place.
Here you can see the white pad on the 6" backing plate (yellow piece)
THE RESULTS; COMPOUNDS, POLISHES, GLAZES, SEALANTS AND WAXES
Since the PC 7424 is only half the equation in getting your car looking good enough to eat off, I will touch briefly on the other products I've used in conjunction with the polisher. If there is sufficient interest, I would be happy to write stand alone reviews for the waxes and polish I've bought.
The first job for me and the 7424 was putting a coat of sealant on my mother's Lexus SC430 as a Mother's Day gift (better than a card and a hug, I say). The sealant (wax) was Meguiar’s NXT Generation Tech Wax. My 'fancy stuff' hadn't arrived in the mail yet, so I just ran down to the local Target and bought it off the shelf. The results were not too bad. The car's luster improved significantly and had a highly reflective shine when I was done. The only downside was the shine had a cold, technical look; like the car was covered with a layer of super thin polyurethane. The NXT did not do much to bring out the paint's vibrancy.
When it came time to do my own Z4 M Roadster, the 'fancy' stuff had come in the mail. Without reading any reviews, I decided to try out two Blackfire products made and sold by Classic Motoring Accessories in Tampa, FL. Their website was highly detailed (pun inteaded) and filled with such helpful how-to articles, I decided to check out their private line.
First, I washed throughly, then polished the Z with a coat of Blackfire Gloss Enhancing Polish and let it cure over night. Taking my time, this job took roughly 3 hours. The next day, I went over it with a finish coat of Blackfire Wet Diamond All Finish Paint Protection. This took a little less than 2 hours, again with me taking my time.
I was very impressed with the results. I've included some pictures, but it's hard to show just how vibrant and deep this combination has made the BMW Interlagos Blue paint look on the Z4. The color has a lot of depth now and looks almost 3 dimensional in good sunlight. Of course, there is a bright, clear shine on the car; the Z4 wouldn't look out of place if you drove it into the middle of a showroom floor.
Before...
...and after
No photoshop tricks here. That's what the paint does!
Of course, much of this credit must go to the PC 7424, without which, I would have had to spend days getting the car looking this good.
I've since used the 7424 on my wife's Nissan Murano. I went back to the NXT this time, since it was going to be a 'quick and easy' job. Again, the shine was very bright, but it was clearly a surface shine, and the paint didn't come through much at all. Maybe in the fall, I'll hit it again with the Blackfire.
Overall Rating: 9 out of 10
Conclusion: If you love having a 'just detailed' look, but hate the time and energy required to hand polish and wax your car(s), this is the product for you.
One more gratuitous pic.
M
What it is: A dual action, random-orbit polisher
What it costs: USD $130 for the basic unit
How long have I owned/used it: 4 weeks
Pros: Easy and safe to use for novices, great results in about half the time it takes to polish by hand
Cons: Optional backing plate and additional pads can get a little pricey
I bought the PC 7424 a few weeks ago when I decided detailers in New Jersey simply want too much money to do a decent job. I'm not interested in spending hours upon hours in the summer heat toiling away by hand go get professional looking results, but the prices detailers here charge for a simple 1 step wax job are an eyebrow raising $80+, while a 2 step polish and wax run in the grab-your-ankles $130+ range.
It was time to take matters in my own hands. Literally.
After a few days of research, I decided to go with the popular PC 7424. It has a solid reputation, is inexpensive and is readily available online at a number of auto care sites. It is not a professional grade polisher that can take paint right off the car, but a safe but effective tool anyone can use with no training.
The basic 7424 weighs about 6 lbs, plugs into any household wall outlet and will polish a typical car in about half the time it takes to do by hand. The business end of the 7424 is a pad that oscillates so fast, it becomes a blur even in the slowest of it's numerous speed settings. This motion is a random 'jiggling' rather than a spinning rotation you may find in a professional polisher. The randomness of the pad movement helps keep a novice with no training in using a machine polisher from creating swirl marks or harming a car's finish.
HOW IT WORKS
Using the 7424 is simple. You plug the sucker in, moisten the pad with a foam pad lubricant (you don't want to hit your car's paint with a competely dry pad, it may create swirl marks), then apply some wax/polish/glaze/compound (whatever you are using) onto the pad or the car itself. Spread the wax (or whatever you are using) with the machine off, then choose an appropriate speed and turn it on to begin application. When the wax (etc) is worked in and hazed up, you simply wipe off the residue with a towel.
That's it. It used to take me 4, maybe 5 hours to wash, then wax a normal sized car by hand (if I rush and do a half-assed job, I could do it in 3) With the PC 7424, I can do the same job in less than 2 hours. For polishing, normally a far more time intensive job, it still only took me just under 2 hours and 30 minutes to get truly stunning results.
PC 7424 with stock pad and backing removed; shown with red 'fine/finishing' and white 'polishing' CCS pads
THE 'ATTACHMENTS'
The 7424 Basic package comes with just the polisher itself along with a single 'white' polishing pad. The pad is fixed to its plastic backing plate, which is then hand-torqued into the unit itself. Having only one pad is not much of a problem if you just want to wax the car. But if you want to be able to swap from an abrasive pad for compounding to a fine pad for waxing, you may want to invest in a removable backing plate and a variety of pads.
A removable backing plate runs about ~$16 and a good pad runs about ~$10. I bought the gee-whiz CCS 3 extra pads and a backing plate for $46. The backing plate and pads I bought use velcro to stick the pads into place.
Here you can see the white pad on the 6" backing plate (yellow piece)
THE RESULTS; COMPOUNDS, POLISHES, GLAZES, SEALANTS AND WAXES
Since the PC 7424 is only half the equation in getting your car looking good enough to eat off, I will touch briefly on the other products I've used in conjunction with the polisher. If there is sufficient interest, I would be happy to write stand alone reviews for the waxes and polish I've bought.
The first job for me and the 7424 was putting a coat of sealant on my mother's Lexus SC430 as a Mother's Day gift (better than a card and a hug, I say). The sealant (wax) was Meguiar’s NXT Generation Tech Wax. My 'fancy stuff' hadn't arrived in the mail yet, so I just ran down to the local Target and bought it off the shelf. The results were not too bad. The car's luster improved significantly and had a highly reflective shine when I was done. The only downside was the shine had a cold, technical look; like the car was covered with a layer of super thin polyurethane. The NXT did not do much to bring out the paint's vibrancy.
When it came time to do my own Z4 M Roadster, the 'fancy' stuff had come in the mail. Without reading any reviews, I decided to try out two Blackfire products made and sold by Classic Motoring Accessories in Tampa, FL. Their website was highly detailed (pun inteaded) and filled with such helpful how-to articles, I decided to check out their private line.
First, I washed throughly, then polished the Z with a coat of Blackfire Gloss Enhancing Polish and let it cure over night. Taking my time, this job took roughly 3 hours. The next day, I went over it with a finish coat of Blackfire Wet Diamond All Finish Paint Protection. This took a little less than 2 hours, again with me taking my time.
I was very impressed with the results. I've included some pictures, but it's hard to show just how vibrant and deep this combination has made the BMW Interlagos Blue paint look on the Z4. The color has a lot of depth now and looks almost 3 dimensional in good sunlight. Of course, there is a bright, clear shine on the car; the Z4 wouldn't look out of place if you drove it into the middle of a showroom floor.
Before...
...and after
No photoshop tricks here. That's what the paint does!
Of course, much of this credit must go to the PC 7424, without which, I would have had to spend days getting the car looking this good.
I've since used the 7424 on my wife's Nissan Murano. I went back to the NXT this time, since it was going to be a 'quick and easy' job. Again, the shine was very bright, but it was clearly a surface shine, and the paint didn't come through much at all. Maybe in the fall, I'll hit it again with the Blackfire.
Overall Rating: 9 out of 10
Conclusion: If you love having a 'just detailed' look, but hate the time and energy required to hand polish and wax your car(s), this is the product for you.
One more gratuitous pic.
M
That's what I did on 'Slow-n-Ugly' here. I also figure any car younger than 5 years and in decent shape only needs a polish once a year. The rest of the time, you can just hit it with some wax/sealant and it should stay looking good for a long time.
