y8s
12-03-2012, 09:50 PM
XMT Polishing Pad Cleaner by Pinnacle For your dual action or rotary polisher. (http://www.autogeek.net/xmt-pad-cleaner.html)
http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/autogeek_2239_88967866
That stuff ^^
Over the weekend I did some heavy cleanup work on a 1998 Honda Civic with some neglected--rather, "forgotten"--paint. I Iron-Xed, Speedy Prepped, and washed it really well and after doing a couple test spots to determine the best course of action, decided that I wanted to start aggressive.
I opted to use the Lake Country Ultra-fiber microfiber 5.5 inch pad and Optimum Compound II.
And since I'm a relative n00b with microfiber pads, I probably overloaded and overworked this one. Here's my technique of rendering a pad useless:
1. Do your test spot on Saturday. Don't wash the pad.
2. Do 80% of a hood with 10 section passes for each section using the same pad.
3. Add too much product
4. Clean on the fly and with the brush, but only a little.
5. Get that compound caked on to the pad in a solid, matted mess until it starts dusting and sticking to the hood so you can't remove the compound.
6. Let the pad sit overnight. Heck, let it sit all the next day too.
I wish I had a picture to show you, but I don't. Just imagine a solid clump of spent product and maybe a little visible texture. No good.
I tried brushing it out with my pad brush and it just dragged lines in the surface. I sprayed it down with the XMT Pad Cleaner and tried again. It almost did something. So I pulled off the spray head and held my finger over the opening and poured a little more generous helping onto the pad. I then hit it with the brush and the compound started to come free. Several minutes of scrubbing and rinsing later, I had a pad that was soft and fuzzy and looked like new.
If you were to compare the tortured pad to the one that did the last section after cleaning both, you wouldn't be able to guess which was which. For a while, the grungier looking pad was the one that had the least use--but even that came out easily with enough of the XMT cleaner.
If there was one thing I'd change about it, it would be the smell and method of application. The spray nozzle gets too much into the air and it burns my nose. If it had a squeeze bottle top, I could get more product where I needed it more quickly.
Thumbs up for clean microfiber!
OK Fine I took a picture.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-l6DwbMWKxzE/UL1kN6ws1oI/AAAAAAAARAc/0u_YYIWM-Hw/s1024/20121203_214635.jpg
Matt
http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/autogeek_2239_88967866
That stuff ^^
Over the weekend I did some heavy cleanup work on a 1998 Honda Civic with some neglected--rather, "forgotten"--paint. I Iron-Xed, Speedy Prepped, and washed it really well and after doing a couple test spots to determine the best course of action, decided that I wanted to start aggressive.
I opted to use the Lake Country Ultra-fiber microfiber 5.5 inch pad and Optimum Compound II.
And since I'm a relative n00b with microfiber pads, I probably overloaded and overworked this one. Here's my technique of rendering a pad useless:
1. Do your test spot on Saturday. Don't wash the pad.
2. Do 80% of a hood with 10 section passes for each section using the same pad.
3. Add too much product
4. Clean on the fly and with the brush, but only a little.
5. Get that compound caked on to the pad in a solid, matted mess until it starts dusting and sticking to the hood so you can't remove the compound.
6. Let the pad sit overnight. Heck, let it sit all the next day too.
I wish I had a picture to show you, but I don't. Just imagine a solid clump of spent product and maybe a little visible texture. No good.
I tried brushing it out with my pad brush and it just dragged lines in the surface. I sprayed it down with the XMT Pad Cleaner and tried again. It almost did something. So I pulled off the spray head and held my finger over the opening and poured a little more generous helping onto the pad. I then hit it with the brush and the compound started to come free. Several minutes of scrubbing and rinsing later, I had a pad that was soft and fuzzy and looked like new.
If you were to compare the tortured pad to the one that did the last section after cleaning both, you wouldn't be able to guess which was which. For a while, the grungier looking pad was the one that had the least use--but even that came out easily with enough of the XMT cleaner.
If there was one thing I'd change about it, it would be the smell and method of application. The spray nozzle gets too much into the air and it burns my nose. If it had a squeeze bottle top, I could get more product where I needed it more quickly.
Thumbs up for clean microfiber!
OK Fine I took a picture.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-l6DwbMWKxzE/UL1kN6ws1oI/AAAAAAAARAc/0u_YYIWM-Hw/s1024/20121203_214635.jpg
Matt