Pads failing too quickly...

[DaC]

Guys I need some input as I'm already getting pretty pi**ed with my pads falling all the time...
I'm a noob still in detailing but today I detailed my 5th car...

I'm using a GG 6" ROP

My first batch of pads were Lake Country Kompressors Hydro-Tech Pads... 6.5"
6 Inch Lake Country Kompressor Hydro-Tech Cyan Advanced Cutting Foam (http://www.autogeek.net/h20-44-9600kr.html)
I bought 2 of each... crimson, tangerine and cyan...
I used the tangerine pad on my 1st car and it already got tear... it was completely destroyed by the 2nd car....

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/3492/dsc06126x.jpg
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/5737/dsc06130m.jpg

The cyan / crimson kompressor pads are still fine, even because I almost haven't used them but for test spots... the gold kompressor pad is still fine after waxing 2 cars with it.

So I figured it could be because kompressor don't get along too well with DA polisher...

2nd batch of pads.... 9 Lake Country Hydro-Tech Flat pads ( 3 cyan / 4 tangerine / 2 crimson) 5.5" low profile / Meg's MF 6" kit
Lake Country Hydro-Tech 5 1/2 x 7/8 Inch Foam Pads , hydrotech foam pads for water-based polishes, lake country foam pads, buffing pads (http://www.autogeek.net/hydrotech-low-profile-pads.html)

After 1 car....
Tangerine pads seems to be holding but already showing degradation on the foam top layer.... I think they should hold for 3 or 4 cars....
Both cyan / crimson are intact as they were almost not used.

Meg's MF kit also was used only with 1 car and all pads seems to be holding without any drawback at least after this first car.

But I wasn't getting a nice finish with them and ordered a new batch of pads along with po85rd

3rd batch of pads.. 12 Lake country flat pads (3 orange / 3 white / 3 black / 3 blue)

After the first car (a hond civic) where a I used 2 white pads...
Bang... the pads are already giving up.... The last one was used only to do the right side and the front bumper which was enough already to tear the pad... it even gave me my first burn through...
The pad failed causing me to burn a edge on the bumper... it was the last piece, the last section I was polishing... needless to say I got pretty mad on these pads....
http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/3342/dsc00503uw.jpg
http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/9302/dsc00504vq.jpg
http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/2819/dsc00458mk.jpg

So I'm thinking about some possibilities:

1 - I'm a completely "horse" and using so much pressure to the point of destroying all pads..
2 - Lake Country makes some really low quality stuff
3 - Griots 6" ROP is destroying all my pads like some guys here tend to believe
4 - I'm missing something......

Well... I live in Brazil and this is really frustrating because I've paid and waited so much for all these products to get to me from the US to end up being let down by them all the time......

[Old Tiger]

IME the Compressors work well on a rotary but arent well suited to a DA. I recommend the Megs DA MF System for a DA. Get many more cutting pads than finishing. Better yet use a tangerine or crimson to finish.

[rider9195]

It is something you have to get use to. Using lots of pressure and high speeds can make the pads life a lot shorter. I also be careful washing my pads so the adhesives don't come off.

[BobbyG]

I only use Lake Country Kompressor pads on my rotaries. They seem to be right at home there and do a decent job.

The other failures could be due to too much pressure causing them to overheat and separate.

[DaC]

Ok... I'll give the kompressor a break because as you guys said it is for rotaries... but it just makes me mad to have another brand new pad failing....
I swear I try to make just enough pressure to make the pads rotating about 1-2 times per second... with these brand new white pads I even stayed below speed 5 on my GG ROP... I actually used speed 4 / 4.5 most of the time during this polishing job as I was only looking to enhance gloss and really not correcting anything...

Maybe this 1-2 times rotation per second rule doesn't apply to GG ROP and more like to a polisher like PC ? I feel GG ROP needs some good pressure to keep pads rotating only 1-2 times per second....

I mean... I thought I would be getting around 10 cars done with a set of pad when I first started buying detailing stuff.... and it just makes me very disappointed to make 1 or 2 cars with a set of pads....

[onlycodered]

Is there any way you could have a friend make a video of your polishing technique? Maybe we can give you some pointers if we are able to see exactly what you're doing.

[RFulmer]

Wouldn't a DA have to be spinning pretty fast to cause burn through like that? That doesn't look like something that would have happened too easily.

[tw33k2514]

Has to be to much pressure. Il admit I am kinda down on Lake Country these days, but they should not fail like that, that soon. Its either speed, pressure, or both. And you ruled out speed, so it must be pressure.

That, or you are the unluckiest guy ever, and all your pads have been bad batches...

[DaC]

Is there any way you could have a friend make a video of your polishing technique? Maybe we can give you some pointers if we are able to see exactly what you're doing.

I was actually thinking about that and it would be great, because I think it's the easiest way to find what I might be doing so wrong...


Wouldn't a DA have to be spinning pretty fast to cause burn through like that? That doesn't look like something that would have happened too easily.

Actually I don't even think a DA can spin that fast to cause that, because as rotation gets higher it will also loose torque to be able to maintain it....
But here is what I think how it was possible...

I was polishing the lower side as the foam got apart from the velcro the outer edge opened like a mouth and actually the velcro made contact with it bitting the paint.... hell... I didn't even spent more than 2s on that spot... it was pretty fast... I was really surprised to see that... because I would never expect this kind of stuff from a white pad with PO85RD.


Has to be to much pressure. Il admit I am kinda down on Lake Country these days, but they should not fail like that, that soon. Its either speed, pressure, or both. And you ruled out speed, so it must be pressure.

That, or you are the unluckiest guy ever, and all your pads have been bad batches...

How long does your pads use to last ?

I also suspect about pressure... I think trying to get GG ROP to 1-2 rps is just not the right recommendation because it has almost the double of power and therefore, maybe, the double of torque from a porter cable for example.... which would require much less pressure to get a pad in that zone of rotation...

If you take a close look you'll realize that the pad's tears stops exactly where the backing plate ends.... I'm using a 5" backing plate...

[tw33k2514]

Ive used my current batch of flat pads on probably 9 or 10 cars, and they are holding up fine. Couple of the Orange pads have a little tearing on the edges, but I use my pads hard.

Lately though, I have switched almost exclusively to MF pads for correcting.

[DaC]

Ive used my current batch of flat pads on probably 9 or 10 cars, and they are holding up fine. Couple of the Orange pads have a little tearing on the edges, but I use my pads hard.

Lately though, I have switched almost exclusively to MF pads for correcting.

9-10 cars ? :surrender:
I must be an ogre then.... :bash:

[tw33k2514]

It should also be noted that I use 2-3 Orange pads per car if I am correcting. I also clean on the fly after every 2 panels.

[DaC]

It should also be noted that I use 2-3 Orange pads per car if I am correcting. I also clean on the fly after every 2 panels.

After cleaning them on the fly, do you prime the pad again ?

I take a little longer to clean the pads and usually use 2 per car... half with one half with the other....

[Capa1970]

I also have bad luck with pads and they don't last too long.

[erock]

Did you use 5.5inch hydrotech pads with the standard 6inch backing plate on the Griots polisher? Maybe you were grinding the backing plate into the paint? You shouldnt use smaller pads than your backing plate.