Cleaning Meguiars #66 out of pads

[dunston]

The product works very good! The only problem is I can not get them clean. I have a Grit Guard pad washer filled with DP pad rejuvenate and the pads still come out dirty. I also tried soaking them in hot water with the DP pad rejuvenate with the same results. This was with lake country pads. Will another type of pad be able to clean out better? Thanks!

[Mister B]

I've always had problems getting waxes totally cleaned out of my pads. I have never been able to get them to look like new again, after using a wax with them. Polishes are much easier to clean from the pads and get the pads looking like new again.

I think it is just the nature of the beast. Waxes bead water and therefore are just that much more difficult to clean from foam pads.

[jmp09fg2]

For one, if wax came out of the pad with just water would you really want it on your car? No, it would just wash away with the first rain.

Secondly, I find that "milking" the pad is very effective. While it is wet, pinch as much of the pad at one time as you can and work your fingers away from the backing. Your fingers will get covered in the old wax so I suggest doing this over a sink. Repeat this all over the pad until your fingers start coming out with only a little bit of wax, rince, ring, spin, and put them out to dry. Hope that helps.

Edit:
Try soaking your finishing pads or whatever you are using in DP pad rejuvinator and water for about 15 minutes. Then do by hand. The pad washer is better for compound and polish...

[Mike Phillips]

Hmmm.... where did I post about this recently?


Washing waxes or paint sealant out of pads is usually hard and messy, just try this by hand one time and see what it feels like all over your hand.

A quality wax or paint sealant shouldn't be water soluble, if it is, then that means just like it will wash out of your pad easily, it will wash off of your car easily, so discovering that pads with wax or paint sealants are hard to clean is a good thing.... sort of...

:D



I tell me once he was having a really had time getting the wax build-up out of the inside of his foam buffing pads and wanted to know how to fix the problem.

One idea I suggested was to cut down on the amount of wax he was using because if you're using a finishing wax or finishing sealant or finishing hybrid, you shouldn't be using so much product that your pads are becoming saturated in the first place.


Now when it comes to a cleaner/wax, or a cleaner/sealant, or a cleaner/hybrid, this can be a problem as repeatedly applying product t your pad and working on a vehicle will tend to saturate your pads.

This is the nature of the beast as if you're doing production detail work it's faster and easier to have a few extra pads to get the job done and then focus on cleaning the pads later after the job is over.

Suffice to say, getting waxes, sealants or hybrid protection product out of the inside of a foam buffing pad will never be as easy as watching TV or eating a piece of cake. You're going to have to find a cleaning solution that will dissolve, emulsify, break-down the product inside the pad and basically hand squeeze and squish it out under running water.

Pad washers are not going to work well for this and you're also going to create a transfer all the removed wax, sealant or hybrid product into your pad washer water.

I don't clean wax/sealant/hybrid pads in my pad washer, I pretty much use it for compounds and polishes.


For any lurkers reading this and wondering?

Why does he keep talking about waxes, sealants and hybrids?

Great question. The reason for this is because some detailing enthusiasts like to be very specific when referring to products in the "Paint Protection Category" so usually when I type I segment them.

See this article for all the categories and what they include...


How To Choose The Right Wax or Paint Sealant for your Detailing Project (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/hot-topics-frequently-asked-questions/23263-how-choose-right-wax-paint-sealant-your-detailing-project.html)



:)

[dunston]

Thanks for all the tips. I used little product and tried cleaning the pad often. I soaked the pads in hot water and the DP pad rejuvenate for almost a hour, squeezing them out over and over again. Then rinsed them with running water for at least 15 minutes per pad. They still have the waxy residue in them that I want to get rid of before using any of my other products on the pad.

[Mister B]

They still have the waxy residue in them that I want to get rid of before using any of my other products on the pad.

That is going to be difficult to completely remove all of the wax residue from the pad. What I normally do is use dedicated pads for each wax product that I use. I'll take a sharpie and label the backs of my foam pads so that I know which wax I previously used with each pad. That way I don't have to worry about any cross contamination of different waxes. I'm always using the same pad for the same wax.

I learned this technique several years ago from Mike Phillips on another forum and it has worked good for me. Maybe give that a try. You can never have too many pads.:D