Got my new Flex out for the first time yesterday afternoon. What a pleasure it is to use. Sure makes any other half assed attempt at polishing I've done in the past crap. All I really wanted to do was clean and give a shine to a bonnet and guard tops as they were stained and aged. The car is a ute so it has scratches and small dents, I only wanted it to look more presentable. Half and an hour and I was done. And as sore as I was, and still am, I was able to easily hold onto the Flex and work it around. The whole task was much easier than I expected.
Before
After
I found this a great learning process as I now understand at what stage the Menzerna 2500 works. At first I thought it would cut more but it didn't. There was a lot of crap on the paint and a clay bar before hand would have benefited but I wasn't up for that. I did have some other Meguiars something that was more of a cutting compound so used it first to clean the panel then followed it up with the Menzerna 2500 to buff out the Meguiars.
It was quite easy to just let the compound and foam pad to do the work. For me it was a little strange to use the large 6.5 inch pad. All my other woodworking tools have 5 inch or smaller and I often go for the 3 or 2 inch backing plate. But it didn't take long to get a feel for how it wanted to go. I also soon felt safe about not burning edges and what not. At a low speed with forced orbital, you have a lot of feel. I am very happy that I went with this model.
I'm looking forward to trying it again on some paint that is in better condition. Hopefully without a broken rib too.