Meguiar's Professional Dual-Action Polisher Sux!

I used my Meguiar's polisher for the first time today. What a piece of crap! $182.19 with two bonnets and shipping down the toilet. It is impossible to get the polishing bonnet centered on the backing plate so the machine wants to vibrate out of your hands. To keep it under control I tended to push down too hard, causing the motor to overheat to the point the body got too hot to touch. It throws a fine mist of liquid polish EVERYWHERE! My Tacoma looks like I parked next to a paint booth. I'm now spending my day off with a toothbrush & a can of WD-40 trying to clean up. As an added bonus blue smoke started to pour out of the machine as I was finishing the last panel. I don't know what I'm gonna' do yet, but I shouldn't have given my $19.99 Turtle Wax polisher to my son. CRAP!

 

I use a Sears Craftsman Orbital, it wont burn the paint and does a great job.

 

Why are you using a tooth brush on your paint??

 

A lot of the problems you stated can be fixed by improving technique. You only need 3 pea sized drops of polish. Spread them around at low speed, then turn the speed up and begin your actual polishing. This will prevent polish sling.
You do not need a lot of pressure in order to polish effectively. I've used a g110 several times and it has not vibrated abnormally. This polisher differs from the turtle wax polisher in that it has enough power to remove scratches, therefore it takes a little getting used to.
Search the web for some videos on technique and this should help you out.

 

^ probably on the trim where the wax got stuck

 

Correct. The polish and the machine should be doing the work. Also, if you are serious about auto detailing the Flex is a great machine and worth every penny.

 

I have one of those, and it works great. Even at the highest setting it's easy to control. If it's really vibrating that badly, maybe you should send it back for another. I don't think what you are describing is normal -- sounds like something might be wrong.

As for slinging polish/compound, I know what you mean -- I made the same mistake the first time. But that's not down to the DA. As mentioned above by Josh, the proper technique will prevent slinging.

 

Yeah, they'll do that.. Have you used a DA polisher before? or seen one run?
My PC gets pretty excited above 4, you aren't going to be running it one handed while you enjoy a beverage for sure.

Slinging sucks, but you'll only do it once before you start adding compound by the drop and spreading it with the machine off.

Don't throw it away quite yet..

 

Thank you for all the responses and advice. I had a Sears random orbital for years, it worked great but finally gave out. I had never used a D/A polisher before. I read about the Meguiar's in Popular Mechanics then watched the video on the Meguiar's web site. I thought this looks real easy. Well of course I used WAY TOO MUCH polish (I used Nu Finish to boot) and started out on speed 4! So now I know; 3 drops of polish, speed 1 to start with and I think I'm gonna' switch to a Meguiar's product too.
To answer a couple more questions; I was using the toothbrush on the black plastic parts and the machine I have is the v2 model. The ergonomics aren't great and I am used to a dead-man switch.
I also figured out too late to stand in the bed when I do the roof so any spray goes to the side not in the bed. Plus I gotta' work on getting that polishing pad CENTERED on the backing plate.
My son's friend is an electrician, he's going to check it to make sure I didn't fry the damn thing. If I did, I might just switch back to a random orbital type.