SR99
08-11-2012, 09:51 PM
I was originally trying to figure out the equivalent Buff & Shine pad to the Lake County white pad. I think the short answer is the green B&S pad is probably closest to the LC white, but some of the information I came across in trying to find the answer was...interesting.
First, I figured just matching pad colors wasn't the answer because the white B&S pad is a 90 ppi (pores per inch) open cell polyester pad intended for fine finishing, and sits at the top (least aggressive) end of their pad hierarchy.
The LC white pad I'm trying to match is 75 ppi blended pre-polymer and is intended for fine polishing or pre-wax cleaners.
So I found various comments from "random internet guys" implying, if you want to match pads across different manufacturers, you just need to find the ppi (pores per inch) for the pads and match that.
Reviewing the manufacturer's data, I don't think that's correct. Sometimes but not always. The type of foam seems to play a role as well. But that's not the final answer either (as described with examples below).
For example,
in the Lake Country CCS line, the white pad is rated at 75 ppi, but they also have a black pad rated at 75 ppi. The black is apparently a softer (more easily compressed) pad. The white pad is intended for fine polish or pre-wax cleaners and is made of "blended pre-polymer" foam. The black pad is intended for single step products, or fine swirl remover polishes, and is made from open cell polyurethane foam. The white and black pads are next to each other in the LC pad aggressiveness order and they are intended for different things, even with the same ppi.
Similarly, Lake Country has a green pad and a red pad, both 80 ppi and both made of open cell polyurethane. It seems like the only physical difference between them is the dye used to color the foam pads, but the green pad is recommended for light swirls and holograms, and the red pad is intended for applying last step products, sealants, glazes. Quite different uses for the same ppi and same foam material, but the compressibility might be different. Don't know; no info given on that.
At this point I throw my hands in the air because none of this made any sense.
Adding to the puzzle, on the "color" side of the story, Lake Country has a second green pad, intended for more aggressive uses than the 80 ppi green pad, and it fits between the orange and white pads in the aggressiveness order. But it's only available in certain sizes and product lines. They couldn't come up with a different color? Maybe foam dye colors are very limited; who knows.
Meanwhile, it turns out B&S has 2 different white pads, one is the 90 ppi open cell polyester foam pad mentioned earlier, intended for fine finishing, and the other is european prepolymer foam intended for heavy polishing (couldn't find the ppi). Also only available in certain sizes and lines. It's possible the european foam white B&S pad may be a good match to the LC white, but it's not clear. They also have 2 different black pads at different ends of the aggressiveness range but you get the idea.
So, here's what I concluded, when it comes to cross referencing pads from one manufacturer to another:
You can't go by color. It may work sometimes (e.g. yellow pads seem pretty consistent) but others would range from wrong to very wrong.
You can't go by ppi. It may work sometimes but others it would be wrong.
You can't go by foam type, since there can be differences in the foam characteristics even if it's the same foam type and same ppi.
What's left?
The text descriptions of the intended use, from the manufacturer.
Those don't really match either, but you can usually narrow it down to the match being one of two pads. That seems to be about the best you can do.
Circling back to my original question:
Lake country white 75 ppi blended pre-polymer pad
approximately equivalent to:
Buff & Shine green 60 ppi open cell polyester foam pad.
Or not?
First, I figured just matching pad colors wasn't the answer because the white B&S pad is a 90 ppi (pores per inch) open cell polyester pad intended for fine finishing, and sits at the top (least aggressive) end of their pad hierarchy.
The LC white pad I'm trying to match is 75 ppi blended pre-polymer and is intended for fine polishing or pre-wax cleaners.
So I found various comments from "random internet guys" implying, if you want to match pads across different manufacturers, you just need to find the ppi (pores per inch) for the pads and match that.
Reviewing the manufacturer's data, I don't think that's correct. Sometimes but not always. The type of foam seems to play a role as well. But that's not the final answer either (as described with examples below).
For example,
in the Lake Country CCS line, the white pad is rated at 75 ppi, but they also have a black pad rated at 75 ppi. The black is apparently a softer (more easily compressed) pad. The white pad is intended for fine polish or pre-wax cleaners and is made of "blended pre-polymer" foam. The black pad is intended for single step products, or fine swirl remover polishes, and is made from open cell polyurethane foam. The white and black pads are next to each other in the LC pad aggressiveness order and they are intended for different things, even with the same ppi.
Similarly, Lake Country has a green pad and a red pad, both 80 ppi and both made of open cell polyurethane. It seems like the only physical difference between them is the dye used to color the foam pads, but the green pad is recommended for light swirls and holograms, and the red pad is intended for applying last step products, sealants, glazes. Quite different uses for the same ppi and same foam material, but the compressibility might be different. Don't know; no info given on that.
At this point I throw my hands in the air because none of this made any sense.
Adding to the puzzle, on the "color" side of the story, Lake Country has a second green pad, intended for more aggressive uses than the 80 ppi green pad, and it fits between the orange and white pads in the aggressiveness order. But it's only available in certain sizes and product lines. They couldn't come up with a different color? Maybe foam dye colors are very limited; who knows.
Meanwhile, it turns out B&S has 2 different white pads, one is the 90 ppi open cell polyester foam pad mentioned earlier, intended for fine finishing, and the other is european prepolymer foam intended for heavy polishing (couldn't find the ppi). Also only available in certain sizes and lines. It's possible the european foam white B&S pad may be a good match to the LC white, but it's not clear. They also have 2 different black pads at different ends of the aggressiveness range but you get the idea.
So, here's what I concluded, when it comes to cross referencing pads from one manufacturer to another:
You can't go by color. It may work sometimes (e.g. yellow pads seem pretty consistent) but others would range from wrong to very wrong.
You can't go by ppi. It may work sometimes but others it would be wrong.
You can't go by foam type, since there can be differences in the foam characteristics even if it's the same foam type and same ppi.
What's left?
The text descriptions of the intended use, from the manufacturer.
Those don't really match either, but you can usually narrow it down to the match being one of two pads. That seems to be about the best you can do.
Circling back to my original question:
Lake country white 75 ppi blended pre-polymer pad
approximately equivalent to:
Buff & Shine green 60 ppi open cell polyester foam pad.
Or not?