New Guy with a question

[pronova]

I've been wanting to start doing my own detailing and I'm glad I found this site to help me along.Ive ordered a GG6 and 5.5 in. LC flat pads,2 yellow,4 orange,4 white,2 black and 2 blue.My question is your supposed to clean the pad after every section(20in.x20in.).Does that mean just using a pad conditioner brush or using the on the fly technic.When do you normally have to wash the pad out with pad soap and water.After one or two panels?How many pads do you normally use in the compounding,polishing and waxing steps.
thanks for any input.

[AutowerxDetailing]

It's hard to answer this question specifically because there is a large variance for how quickly your pad will get dirty depending on: polish used, how many passes you are making in each section, how much clear is polishing off and getting stuck in the pad, etc.

The best thing I can say is as you start to polish your car you can sort of just "tell" when it is time to clean your pad or change to a new one. You will get much less cut and the product will sort of coagulate into a clumpy haze on the paint as you make each section pass when you are using a dirty pad.

[Mike Phillips]

My question is your supposed to clean the pad after every section(20in.x20in.).Does that mean just using a pad conditioner brush or using the on the fly technique.


When do you normally have to wash the pad out with pad soap and water.





Some of this is personal preference, but here goes...

If you want to work as surgically clean as possible you clean your buffing pad after each section pass because you're going to have two things on the face of your pad and you don't want to continue grinding these two things into the paint in the next section you buff or add fresh product onto a pad with these two things, these would be,

Spent product
Removed paint

Use a combination of both the pad conditioning brush and cleaning your pad on the fly technique. I think these two articles explain everything,

How to clean your foam pad on the fly (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-articles/20135-how-clean-your-foam-pad-fly.html)

Why it's important to clean your pads often... (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/tricks-tips-techniques/28755-why-s-important-clean-your-pads-often.html)



And somewhere in this video I show how to clean your pad on the fly...


Removing Swirls, Creating Show Car Finishes on Two 1967 Camaros

Removing Swirls, Creating Show Car Finishes on...






Normally you wash your pads at the end of a detailing session because it will take time for them to dry. See this article,

How to dry a foam pad after hand washing (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-articles/26512-how-dry-foam-pad-after-hand-washing.html)



More articles in my article list...


:)