At a price point under $80, it’s an easy choice for those looking to pick up a more serious polisher to brighten up their car or boat. Compared to the $30 smaller two-handled polishers I see used all over, this 7-inch polisher/sander not only does double duty, it will give you a lot more control and leverage when putting that new shine on your vehicle. It works a lot like the Bosch ROS65VC 6″ Random Orbit Sander but without the orbital feature or vibration reduction.
Klutch 7-inch 11-amp Sander/Polisher Features
The Klutch has a side handle that can be left- or right-hand mounted. With a device like this, the handle isn’t optional, so it’s good that the one with the Klutch is comfortable and well-padded. With it installed you may have trouble cinching up the included nylon bag when you put the tool away, but it’s easy enough to detach if you really want to. On the tool itself is a spindle lock which is located on the front of the die-cast gear housing and is used when switching between the rubber sanding disc and the hook and loop pad.
The trigger is located just where you’d expect it and whether you’re right- or left-handed the straight handle is going to work perfectly for you. We liked how the speed adjustment dial was located on top of the tool and could be addressed with bare or gloved hands (and when you’re dealing with polishing a car you will want to wear gloves). When you’ve got a lot of work to do, a trigger lock can keep you in business and relieve the stress on your hand.
Testing & Use
The soft start motor was very noticeable in both low and high speeds. It’s a great feature to have on a tool like this for a number of reasons—the least of which is the fact that you can fling a lot of compound around by accident if you don’t have the tool completely seated prior to spinning it up. With the soft-start you get some extra grace in the event you’re not perfectly positioned.
We used the Klutch 7″ Polisher to restore the shine on a Jeep Liberty. It’s not as glamorous as a Ferrari but it certainly gave the tool a workout—perhaps more so by the lack of residual wax. Starting the tool up had the familiar slow-start we love. The tool does exhibit a significant amount of mechanical noise, however. After removing the disc we could attribute it to the spindle shaft, which tends to have some play within the housing—though not enough to cause us any concern.
In use, the Klutch operated smoothly and efficiently, allowing us to use medium speeds of around 1500 for polishing applications, which is traditionally where we like to be in order to get a good polish but not get too aggressive on the metal and paint. The job went quickly and we liked how well the 7″ polisher let us direct the rotating pad where and when we wanted it. This tool has a lot of control and it didn’t tend to get away from us. We worked on the hood in a top-down orientation and also along the sides of the vehicle, working the tool in a 45-degree position along the surface of the door and quarter panels. At 7 pounds it’s not light, but that weight was well-distributed and the power made up for it in the exchange. We were able to not only polish the car, but get out a few testy scratches that had been in the paint for going on a year now.
When we switched to sanding, higher speeds were the ticket and the tool allowed us to bear down on it enough to get the job done. This tool can go from a delicate polishing job to an application where it’s knocking down excess body filler off a repair with just a change of the head. That’s pretty cool – though we doubt you’ll do both in an afternoon… but you could!
Changing pads on the hook and loop pad was simple, though it has an excellent grip – something that you probably should appreciate on a 300 max-RPM device. The too also comes with extra brushes, which always makes me wonder whether to praise the company for the expected longevity of the device, or wonder if there’s something they know that I don’t. I think that in this case it’s likely the former.
Conclusion
For under $80 how can you not like the Klutch 7″ polisher/sander. It’s got power, control and a decent amount of included accessories. It’s an easy tool to use and the hook and loop attachment methodology means you can quickly and efficiently change pads as needed to get the job done. There are more expensive tools that will produce greater torque, but for most polishing and light sanding applications this will do very well and produce great results.
