How many pads do you use?

[Camaro2010]

Don't know if this was covered I've looked, but can't find. I'm going to use Wolfgang swirl remover 3.0 and have 2 orange pad, also WG Glaze 2-white pads and WG Paint sealant 2-blue pads.
1. Do I have enough pads for each process which is 2?
2. How many pads do you typically use?
3. If I need more then two per process can I hand clean them with DP polishing pad rejuvenator? I don't have the bucket just the brush.
4. Does the pads need to be fully dry before I use them? And how can I fully dry them? dryer, spinning with towel?

Thanks in advance for the help. I'm starting my process tomorrow so any help would be great. Happy New Year.

[loudog2]

I usually use 3x6.5 inch pads per step with my flex. One for each side and then another for the top(hood, roof, trunk). I use the 4 inch pads for the bumpers on the PC.

[Camaro2010]

I usually use 3x6.5 inch pads per step with my flex. One for each side and then another for the top(hood, roof, trunk). I use the 4 inch pads for the bumpers on the PC.

Thanks. Hopefully I can get away with 2? How about cleaning then reusing?

[loudog2]

I use this to clean the pads off if they start getting caked:
Foam Pad Conditioning Brush cleans and reconditions foam and wool pads on the buffer. remove excess caked wax and polish from buffing pads. (http://autogeek.net/padtool.html)

[SATracker]

I did my mother-in-law's 1978 Olds 88. Never been worked on, mainly sits in the garage- it think it has 47,000 original miles. Anyway, I used Lake Country: 2 yellow, 3 orange, 3 white, 1 gray, 2 blue, 1 red; on a PC. Turned out nice.

[mcpp66]

Don't know if this was covered I've looked, but can't find. I'm going to use Wolfgang swirl remover 3.0 and have 2 orange pad, also WG Glaze 2-white pads and WG Paint sealant 2-blue pads.
1. Do I have enough pads for each process which is 2?
2. How many pads do you typically use?
3. If I need more then two per process can I hand clean them with DP polishing pad rejuvenator? I don't have the bucket just the brush.
4. Does the pads need to be fully dry before I use them? And how can I fully dry them? dryer, spinning with towel?

Thanks in advance for the help. I'm starting my process tomorrow so any help would be great. Happy New Year.

I would try just the white pads first to see if that has enough cutting power to do the trick.

[Pie]

I use 2-3. I don't have anything to clean them in between so I just switch to a new pad.

[Camaro2010]

I would try just the white pads first to see if that has enough cutting power to do the trick.

The only problem if I try the white first then I only have 1 pad to use for the glaze and 1 for the swirl remover. If it doesn't work I can't use the pad for the glaze due to cross contamination? Or can I still use the pad after cleaning it?

[DLB]

You can do it with 2 of each.

Using the TSR with the orange pads:
After every other pass or so, clean your pad on the fly with whatever works for you (compressed air and a soft brush, terry towel, whatever. Mike has a thread posted about this). After your pad gets to feeling and looking pretty cruddy and you are no longer achieving the cut you need - stop, clean the pad with water and cleaner (XMT Pad Cleaner is my preferred) and a brush, then dry it as good as you can. You can hold it good and sling out as much water as possibly, then let it hang or face foam side down on a grit guard or something to let the water escape. If you have a rotary, that works great for getting the excess water out. You could mimic this with a DA somewhat. For the Hydrotech pads that take forever to dry, I have placed then on top of the air registers in the house with a cloth beneath them to trap dust. Then blow them off with compressed air before using. (I also had vacuumed out the register duct before doing that too).

Then you can start with your fresh pad and use it, clean it, etc. and the other pad should be close enough to completely dry to use. Depending on the size of the vehicle, you shouldn't have to do this more than 1 time though. I have successfully squeezed out a car with just 2 pads before, but you have to keep it clean on the fly really well.

Then step to white pads with the FG, and Blue for the sealant.

DLB

[gewb]

I tried using a blue pad for sealant - soaks up too much product for me. Found red (less product soaked in) or gold (also soaks up product) to be better than blue but by hand is the best (for me) as long as my arthritis isn't acting up (then I use the buffer/gold pad).

As to two pads orange / white, as previously posted, just keep up on-the-fly cleaning and two of a type should be OK.

Regards,
GEWB

[Mike Phillips]

Don't know if this was covered I've looked, but can't find.


If it's not covered, then it needs to be covered. I've been working on new articles on buffing pads and can include on that talks about how many pads a typical detail would take. :)




I'm going to use Wolfgang swirl remover 3.0 and have 2 orange pad, also WG Glaze 2-white pads and WG Paint sealant 2-blue pads.

1. Do I have enough pads for each process which is 2?

Yes. Let em qualify that, which polisher do you own? If it's a new generation DA Polisher then no problem. If you have an older DA style polisher, you'll find it more difficult to keep the pad rotating as the pads become wet with product.




2. How many pads do you typically use?


More pads is usually better than less pads, at least more pads available.

If you're removing swirls, this means you need to keep the pad rotating on the surface and the new, 2nd generation DA Polishers are much, much better at keeping the pads rotating than the old first generation DA Polishers. Thus with the new polishers you can do the work faster with less pads.

With the old polishers it will take you longer and you'll want more pads because as soon as the pad becomes wet with product you'll want to switch to a dry pad. Wet foam seems to absorb and then dissipate the power coming out of the tool and this shows up to you and me as no pad rotation.




3. If I need more then two per process can I hand clean them with DP polishing pad rejuvenator? I don't have the bucket just the brush.


Yes, you can wash them by hand in a sink or bucket, then do your best to remove any water out of them.




4. Does the pads need to be fully dry before I use them? And how can I fully dry them? dryer, spinning with towel?


I know Meguiar's has pads they state can be washed in a washing machine and dried in a dryer. I'm not sure I've seen an official recommendation for this practice from Lake Country? I'll have to check or maybe someone else has a link to this information.

The drying part is the hard part because there's not a lot of way to quickly dry a wet foam pad. This is where more pads comes in handy. Again, you never listed the type of tool you have? If a newer polisher you'll be surprised at how much power it will have and you can use less pads because the newer polisher can better keep wet pads rotating.




Thanks in advance for the help. I'm starting my process tomorrow so any help would be great. Happy New Year.



If you haven't read through this article, please take a moment to read it as it's very detailed...

Tips and Techniques for using the PC 7424XP Dual Action Polisher to remove Below Surface Defects (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/expert-tips/20021-tips-techniques-using-porter-cable-7424xp.html)


:buffing:

[Camaro2010]

If it's not covered, then it needs to be covered. I've been working on new articles on buffing pads and can include on that talks about how many pads a typical detail would take. :)



Yes. Let em qualify that, which polisher do you own? If it's a new generation DA Polisher then no problem. If you have an older DA style polisher, you'll find it more difficult to keep the pad rotating as the pads become wet with product.




More pads is usually better than less pads, at least more pads available.

If you're removing swirls, this means you need to keep the pad rotating on the surface and the new, 2nd generation DA Polishers are much, much better at keeping the pads rotating than the old first generation DA Polishers. Thus with the new polishers you can do the work faster with less pads.

With the old polishers it will take you longer and you'll want more pads because as soon as the pad becomes wet with product you'll want to switch to a dry pad. Wet foam seems to absorb and then dissipate the power coming out of the tool and this shows up to you and me as no pad rotation.




Yes, you can wash them by hand in a sink or bucket, then do your best to remove any water out of them.




I know Meguiar's has pads they state can be washed in a washing machine and dried in a dryer. I'm not sure I've seen an official recommendation for this practice from Lake Country? I'll have to check or maybe someone else has a link to this information.

The drying part is the hard part because there's not a lot of way to quickly dry a wet foam pad. This is where more pads comes in handy. Again, you never listed the type of tool you have? If a newer polisher you'll be surprised at how much power it will have and you can use less pads because the newer polisher can better keep wet pads rotating.





If you haven't read through this article, please take a moment to read it as it's very detailed...

Tips and Techniques for using the PC 7424XP Dual Action Polisher to remove Below Surface Defects (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/expert-tips/20021-tips-techniques-using-porter-cable-7424xp.html)


:buffing:


Mike,
Thanks for the info. I purchased the Detailer's Choice Wolfgang Porter Cable 7424XP Swirl kit. The one thing that I no†iced is that I still have some water spots and some scratches? the spider webbing is gone. I think I need a more aggressive swirl remover or a more aggressive pad then the orange. Any recommendations?

PS. I'm also getting alot of dry powder when I'm applying the Swirl remover. any reason why I get alot of dry powder?

[Mike Phillips]

Mike,

Thanks for the info. I purchased the Detailer's Choice Wolfgang Porter Cable 7424XP Swirl kit.

Good, you have a very good polisher, it has the power to keep those pads rotating.



The one thing that I no†iced is that I still have some water spots and some scratches? the spider webbing is gone. I think I need a more aggressive swirl remover or a more aggressive pad then the orange. Any recommendations?


After you remove the shallow scratches and swirls, the deeper scratches that remain will stand out like a sore thumb because previously the were camouflaged but the zillions of shallow swirls and scratches.

We call these,

RIDS = Random Isolated Deeper Scratches

For a daily driver, I would leave them alone as removing them just means removing more good paint surrounding them.

The water spots must be Type II, that is an etching, not a mineral deposit and how deep they are depends upon how corrosive the chemicals in the water were when the etching took place.

You can try a more aggressive compound like Ultimate Compound or M105 with a cutting pad.




PS. I'm also getting alot of dry powder when I'm applying the Swirl remover. any reason why I get alot of dry powder?



Use more product?

Use an X pattern across the face of the pad or a circle pattern.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/796/Xpattern.jpg

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/796/CirclePattern.jpg

[Mike Phillips]

Take a read-through the below article, it's really in-depth, I actually can't think of anything I could add to it.

Tips and Techniques for using the PC 7424XP Dual Action Polisher to remove Below Surface Defects (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/expert-tips/20021-tips-techniques-using-porter-cable-7424xp.html)



:)

[Wax Gorilla]

Usually use four to five styles of pads and 2 to 3 of each on a basic detial with light to moderate paint correction.
I always think it is best to get 4 of each Pad when you are starting out !