Lake Country Microfiber Pad Delaminating

[triplejumper18]

I purchased some 6" and 3" Lake Country Microfiber Pads a couple months ago. The Autogeek rep suggested them on the phone to me when I was looking to buy some more pads. I bought two of each to test with. The first opportunity I had to try them was a couple weeks ago and it was on a black CX-9 to see how they worked combined with Chemical Guys Black Light and Porter Cable 7424. After using them on the hood and fenders the microfiber was starting to delaminate from the foam. Autogeek customer service sent me out replacement pads. Today I thought I would try the replacements out on the trunk of my BMW cabrio project with Blackfire SRC Compound and Flex 3401. After correcting the back half of the trunk only, the microfiber is delaminating from the foam pretty easily. After each 2'x2' section I would check the pad for heat and clean them. I didn't feel any heat on the microfiber face. I am not having these kinds of issues with my Optimum microfiber pads or Lake Country foam pads.

[ixnod]

I purchased some 6" and 3" Lake Country Microfiber Pads a couple months ago. The Autogeek rep suggested them on the phone to me when I was looking to buy some more pads. I bought two of each to test with. The first opportunity I had to try them was a couple weeks ago and it was on a black CX-9 to see how they worked combined with Chemical Guys Black Light and Porter Cable 7424. After using them on the hood and fenders the microfiber was starting to delaminate from the foam. Autogeek customer service sent me out replacement pads. Today I thought I would try the replacements out on the trunk of my BMW cabrio project with Blackfire SRC Compound and Flex 3401. After correcting the back half of the trunk only, the microfiber is delaminating from the foam pretty easily. After each 2'x2' section I would check the pad for heat and clean them. I didn't feel any heat on the microfiber face. I am not having these kinds of issues with my Optimum microfiber pads or Lake Country foam pads.


three things to check for:

It may be a bad lot number that got past inspection.

could be a temperature extreme ( extreme heat or cold).

could have come into contact with a solvent.

[Mike Moore]

Meguiars (the inventors of Microfiber discs) had challenges with delamination when their pads when they were first released.

Since then they have addresses this issue. The Megs MF discs I've used since are solid as a rock with no problems.

[triplejumper18]

three things to check for:

It may be a bad lot number that got past inspection.

could be a temperature extreme ( extreme heat or cold).

could have come into contact with a solvent.
I'm hoping it's just a bad lot. It's been between 55-65 degrees both times I've used them, and they came right out of the bag. It takes forever to clean off all the loose fibers.

[triplejumper18]

I love the cut and finish that these pads have, but when they're not delaminating, they're shedding constantly.

[Mike Moore]

I've not found the Megs to shed. Maybe just a hair but VERY little.
do you clean you mf disc with compressed air or a bug sponge?

[triplejumper18]

I've not found the Megs to shed. Maybe just a hair but VERY little.
do you clean you mf disc with compressed air or a bug sponge?
These are Lake Country microfiber, not Meguiars. I clean my pads with the Meguiars nylon pad cleaning brush.

Every single one of these damn pads has delaminated just from working on the trunk.

[cardaddy]

Did you check the *back* of the pads for heat? MF pads tend not to heat on the face. (Actually foam pads don't heat so much on the face either.)

What Meguiar's found was the movement on the Velcro side was causing frictional heat buildup. Imagine all those little hooks and loops, all twisting and pulling, banging up against one another thousands of times a minute.

That's what they came up with, and say in all their training classes to use *only* their backing plates as the pads and plates are designed to grip better to one another than a 'non' matching set. :dunno:

Also... are you using ONLY the brush to clean the pads? I don't know if I'd trust it to get them as clean as they really like to be. Doesn't take a big compressor, but air is the key to getting them clean between section passes.

[triplejumper18]

Did you check the *back* of the pads for heat? MF pads tend not to heat on the face. (Actually foam pads don't heat so much on the face either.)

What Meguiar's found was the movement on the Velcro side was causing frictional heat buildup. Imagine all those little hooks and loops, all twisting and pulling, banging up against one another thousands of times a minute.

That's what they came up with, and say in all their training classes to use *only* their backing plates as the pads and plates are designed to grip better to one another than a 'non' matching set. :dunno:

Also... are you using ONLY the brush to clean the pads? I don't know if I'd trust it to get them as clean as they really like to be. Doesn't take a big compressor, but air is the key to getting them clean between section passes.
A pad shouldn't delaminate after two 2'x2' sections.

[Wes Bremec]

Flex 3401 and microfiber pads to not vibe well together. The forced rotation of this machine makes the pad heat up very quick and also become cake like. The only microfiber pad I use on this machine is the optimum or with the LC rotory microfiber pads. The rotory version of this pad has a larger foam core interface to help with the panels curves. I tend only to use pc style DA's with mf pads anymore. It's the nature of the beast and mf pads were i tended for these types of machines to work on low speeds and slow sectional passes:)

[triplejumper18]

Flex 3401 an microfiber pads to not vibe well together. The forced rotation on this machine makes the pad heat up very quick and also become cake like. The only microfiber pad I use on this mâché is the optimum and with the LC rotory microfiber pads. The rotory version of this pad has a larger foam core interface to help with the panels curves. I tend only to use pc style DA's with mf pads anymore. It's the nature of the beast and mf pads were i tended for these types of machines to work on low speeds and slow sectional passes:)
I have a love/hate relationship with the Flex. I would try these pads again on the PC, but I've destroyed them all. As much as I like buying from Autogeek, I wish I had a local distributor for replacement stuff that I don't want to wait a few days shipping for.

[Wes Bremec]

I recommend megs cutting pads vs LC or optimum.

[Mike Moore]

I recommend megs cutting pads vs LC or optimum.

Agreed, Megs suggests using their backing plates with a PC.
Megs does not suggest mf discs with speeds over 4800 OPM.

For Megs the complete mf disc system D300 etc. was a couple of years in development.
Megs states that this mf system was the longest R&D they have ever done on a product.
Not trying to be ugly here but IMHO the "other" folks are trying to duplicate without the R&D

[cardaddy]

A pad shouldn't delaminate after two 2'x2' sections.

I agree. But *something* is wrong or it wouldn't be happening.

Mequiar's has pinpointed it to friction from within the Velcro system, more so than heat from the paint surface is all I'm saying.

And my experience has been that I can do an entire vehicle with only two of their pads. (Actually have used the same two pads to do several, including a large SUV and a large GM tank, amongst others.) They still look as good as day one and its been over 2 months using them. ;)

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using AG Online

[AutowerxDetailing]

I agree. But *something* is wrong or it wouldn't be happening.

Mequiar's has pinpointed it to friction from within the Velcro system, more so than heat from the paint surface is all I'm saying.

And my experience has been that I can do an entire vehicle with only two of their pads. (Actually have used the same two pads to do several, including a large SUV and a large GM tank, amongst others.) They still look as good as day one and its been over 2 months using them. ;)

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using AG Online

I agree. The Meg's MF discs clean on the fly with compressed air VERY WELL. It just takes a few seconds to re-fluff the MF fibers and blow out all the spend polish and paint. Not so much with the LC MF pads I've used. It seems like after a few section passes they mat down and are impossible to clean properly. I really like the Meg's MF discs... I just wish they weren't nearly double the price of the LC version!