Why doesn't anyone make buffing pads that are curved/concave to the surface of the panels?

[TiredOfPaintStains]

I recently bought a Rupes 21 Mark 2 kit w/ 7" pads and realized I don't even use the entire surface area of the pad due to the size and the panel I'm working on. It was on a door. I got pretty good at no splatter and the 1st time I used the Rupes, guess what, splatter! lol.

The Rupes pads are more stiff compared to some of the LC & Meguiars discs I have. But because of the size, i don't even use probably a good 1" circumference or outer edges of the pad due to all my panels are curved. That gap is what caused the splatter. I'd have to tilt the machine. I know they make some wavy pads or cross grooved pads that are cut for curved surfaces, but if someone made a pad that slightly curves or cups the surface, we could utilize the whole surface area of the pad on some of those stiffer foam pads instead of wasting surface area. I see some companies make pads that are curved, but it's curved the wrong way!

I guess smaller size pads w/ softer foams are ok since when you apply pressure, the foam compresses and contours the surface. When pads are stiffer, it may be an issue. I think any pad that curves WITH the surface is a good.

[kkritsilas]

it is impossible to know how much curvature to mold the pad to. as different cars have different curvatures, or, in many cases, different panels on the same car have different curvatures. 7" pads are pretty big, so thier edges will not conform to most curves. Smaller pads may or may not be an improvement. depending on the exact curve of the panel. You could try pushing down harder on the pad that you have.

[mwoywod]

I completely agree. Stiff foam pads like the UHS grey, rupes green, B&S orange and green low pros, grey thin pro pad, etc. are not ideal for working on panels with lots of concave or convex surfaces. Which hardly any vehicles have perfectly flat panels anymore.

Best pads I've found for using on curved surfaces are the Boss Microfiber. They need to be cycled after every few section passes so they aren't being overworked, but they're worth having because the soft foam interface always makes contact with 100% of even concave surface areas. Trying to use one of the stiff foam pads I mentioned and you'll struggle to maintain 30-40% surface contact which will kill your efficiency. I really don't understand why more guys don't have an issue with this.

I can tell you that of all the pads I've tried, the BOSS Microfiber Pad and the Buff & Shine Yellow uro-tec pads are the best I've found for buffing curved/concave panels.

[Finick]

I completely agree. Stiff foam pads like the UHS grey, rupes green, B&S orange and green low pros, grey thin pro pad, etc. are not ideal for working on panels with lots of concave or convex surfaces. Which hardly any vehicles have perfectly flat panels anymore.

Best pads I've found for using on curved surfaces are the Boss Microfiber. They need to be cycled after every few section passes so they aren't being overworked, but they're worth having because the soft foam interface always makes contact with 100% of even concave surface areas. Trying to use one of the stiff foam pads I mentioned and you'll struggle to maintain 30-40% surface contact which will kill your efficiency. I really don't understand why more guys don't have an issue with this.

I can tell you that of all the pads I've tried, the BOSS Microfiber Pad and the Buff & Shine Yellow uro-tec pads are the best I've found for buffing curved/concave panels.

Using the grey thin pro pad was quite possibly the most unpleasant experience I’ve ever had using my DA. I can’t even begin to understand how that pad is useful. Even on flat sections it didn’t seem that great.

The only way I got it workable was to soak it in ONR and spin it out, but that seemed like a lot of hoops to jump through to get it to just be okay, at best. Plus it feels weird workin with a pad that isn’t clean and dry.

Immediately after doing a panel with that pad I swapped back to a megs burgundy disc and, though I haven’t used every single pad out there, those things are so nice to work with. They seem to cut really well and are pretty pliable so they conform pretty well to curves. I’m surprised I don’t see them mentioned more often.

Thankfully I didn’t pay my own money for the grey thin pros.

[TiredOfPaintStains]

I completely agree. Stiff foam pads like the UHS grey, rupes green, B&S orange and green low pros, grey thin pro pad, etc. are not ideal for working on panels with lots of concave or convex surfaces. Which hardly any vehicles have perfectly flat panels anymore.

Best pads I've found for using on curved surfaces are the Boss Microfiber. They need to be cycled after every few section passes so they aren't being overworked, but they're worth having because the soft foam interface always makes contact with 100% of even concave surface areas. Trying to use one of the stiff foam pads I mentioned and you'll struggle to maintain 30-40% surface contact which will kill your efficiency. I really don't understand why more guys don't have an issue with this.

I can tell you that of all the pads I've tried, the BOSS Microfiber Pad and the Buff & Shine Yellow uro-tec pads are the best I've found for buffing curved/concave panels.

Thanks, i'll give BOSS MF pads a try, but I haven't really needed to use MF pads since my biggest battle has been black, soft paint. My cars aren't scratched too bad, so haven't gone all that aggressive on them. I've been using Megs, LC, & Rupe pads. My 3" LC pads are good for small areas and curved surfaces. The smaller pads are thick and small, so you can utilize their whole surface area.


it is impossible to know how much curvature to mold the pad to. as different cars have different curvatures, or, in many cases, different panels on the same car have different curvatures. 7" pads are pretty big, so thier edges will not conform to most curves. Smaller pads may or may not be an improvement. depending on the exact curve of the panel. You could try pushing down harder on the pad that you have.

I get what you're saying, but i'm not asking mfg to design pads according to specific curvatures. I'm saying, instead of 100% flat, make the outer edges curve TOWARDS the panels. IMHO, that would solve a lot of the issues. So the ideal pad would be curved a bit and when you contact the pad to panel, the foam would flatten a bit or contour to the surface. You could actually use stiffer foams as well. They actually have pads that curve. But they're curved the opposite way, i don't get the point in that.
yea, the pads could be pushed down, but pushing down adds more pressure if you're only trying to contact the outer surface. I know my 3" pads heats up real quick.

[ronkh57]

They do.
Flex variable contact pads, by LC

[DBAILEY]

I use the Meguiar's 3" power pads for this exact same reason you are describing. They are tapered out but are rounded on the edge which causes less drag allowing more spin on contoured panels. They are made from the same burgundy, yellow and black foams as the rest of the Megs pads are and the Velcro backing material is the same.

Some may think they are too thick for a long throw DA like the Mini, but they are only slightly taller than the Rupes pads. They have worked flawlessly for me with the Mini.

[TiredOfPaintStains]

They do.
Flex variable contact pads, by LC

thanks!! ask and I shall receive! I guess the key phrase is "variable contact" I'll give those a try for sure! Doesn't look to be all that common? Searching in google doesn't show much. On LC's site, oddly, the the VC DA pad still looks flat, but the rotary pads seems to be the closest.

if someone makes a foam pad that looks like the shape in row 2 of this link, it'd be good! I know foam may not flex like that, but the outer edges could be thinner. 5"-7" maybe i could try to velcro a foam pad to that....~half jokingly~

https://drillsnbits.com/products/4-diamond-convex-polishing-pads-set-of-8-pcs-with-buff-for-concave-sinks-or-ogee-edges?gclid=CjwKCAiAr_TQBRB5EiwAC_QCq5dhZInHk1HhcZ c1xC0a3HFeP5tYDJSoQgkSyZfJrNw9UzwGZyFQshoCeoEQAvD_ BwE

[BudgetPlan1]

They do.
Flex variable contact pads, by LC

Interesting...never knew about those: http://www.lakecountrymfg.com/category-products.aspx?CategoryID=63

61066

[DBAILEY]

That concave pad face may help on convex curved panels. They only make a 6.5" pad. If a panel is too curvy, convex or concave, for the size of pad I'm using, then I go to a smaller diameter pad and then if still problem I change from long-throw DA down to a normal 8mm DA.

[TiredOfPaintStains]

That concave pad face may help on convex curved panels. They only make a 6.5" pad. If a panel is too curvy, convex or concave, for the size of pad I'm using, then I go to a smaller diameter pad and then if still problem I change from long-throw DA down to a normal 8mm DA.

I realized on modern cars, EVERY panel has a bit of convexity(<-- i just had to look that word up..lol) The hood, roof, doors, and even trunk lids are mostly slightly bowed. My 92 nissan sentra's trunk lid is the flattest car part I have. I don't plan on buffing that junk at all..haha. So maybe 10% completely flat panels vs 90% curved panels out there? I was just surprised why these curved pads aren't all that common. I'm also surprised these companies don't provide stock custom sizes for us; xxx thickness x 12" x 24", so we can cut to our own size. Just sell the stock size w/ velcro. Or maybe they do, I just didn't look hard enough, yet.
I'm pretty much doing what you're doing right now, though. Takes forever, but gets the job done w/ my G110v2 to LC 3.0" BP using hydro-tech 3" pads.