Pads? CG hex or Lake Country.

**soapboxpreacher** · 04-23-2020, 05:30 AM

As someone new trying my hand at paint correction...it didn’t go as good as I expected.

First I started very conservative white pad bundled with my griots da kit and a one step. Didn’t do much in the wake of correction of scratches and swirls.

Car is white is it is a pain to really see how good or bad your paint really is.

Moved to the bundled orange medium cut pad with all in one...not much better.

So tried using megs ultimate polish. Typical 6 passes, speed on DA properly set, right pressure and the results were better but still not there.

So is this a case of pads that are cheap? Wrong polish? Or both. My guess is both and my inexperience with paint correction is obvious!

So I am taking a step back and want to take another stab at this. I have a 6” and 5” plate for my griots DA need the right pads and the right polish/compound.

This is for my personal Tesla model 3 in white. It definitely looks better then when it started but it was a SOB to get it to that point. Also what is the best way to remove wax/ceramic consumer protection like seal and shine or TW spray ceramic. TW hybrid ceramic spray was put on after and I would definitely use again! But since I need to do more work to correct I obviously need to remove that.

I did clay prior to polishing/correction but not sure I should do that again for too much claying is not a good idea. Let me know and my apologies for the long post.

New to this whole correction process and would like to get good at it.

Mike Phillips · 04-23-2020, 06:29 AM

Have you watched this video yet?

Mike Phillips · 04-23-2020, 06:31 AM

Did you mark the sides of your pads or the top of your backing plate so you're eyes could see and monitor pad rotation?

If the pads are not rotating you're not doing anything.

Also - what are you using for an All-in-One?

The Megs polish is a fine cut polish, could be you need a number of things like a different product and some tweaking of your technique.

You'll get there, we'll help you.

**soapboxpreacher** · 04-23-2020, 06:40 AM

Thanks mike I will check out the video. Already been thru some of your detailers library post and they has helped me to not overly obsess over some this quest to ultimate perfection and reality. It’s not bad right now by any means, I am my own worst critic and I look very closely to find imperfections. With that said to the overwhelming world, they would be thrilled to what I have done.

**soapboxpreacher** · 04-23-2020, 06:45 AM

I didn’t mark the pads. Is it merely a sharpie and a few tick marks on the side? I’m using the new TW hybrid polish and wax. I do like it quite a bit but think with the pad marking and the right pad, I might get the results I’m looking for. I did try some megs ultimate polish after thinking that would work better than the TW and it did but very marginally. That is a very mild polish good for me as a beginner so I don’t find myself with a disaster on my hands by getting too aggressive.

**Bruno Soares** · 04-23-2020, 07:50 AM

Definitely mark your pads to monitor rotation, just dray a thick line with a sharpie on the side. I would much rather use Lake Country pads than CG Hex pads. I'm also not a big fan of the CCS pads but the flats or Thin Pro pads are nice.

The protection you have on now will be removed easily by the polish.

I've heard that Tesla paint is on the hard side so you just might have to step up to more aggressive pads/polishes to achieve desired results. If you're ordering products get a bottle of Griot's Fast Correcting Cream and/or Correcting Cream, those will help you cut more if needed. Orange pad but might have to get microfiber if you can't get Orange to cut enough.

**soapboxpreacher** · 04-24-2020, 07:39 AM

Thank you both this will help tremendously.

**acuRAS82** · 04-24-2020, 08:32 AM

Agree with Bsoares 100%. LC, but not CCS. Flats or ThinPros (favorite) or even the power or hydro ones are good too.

**Hermes1** · 04-24-2020, 09:47 AM

Nothing wrong with GG pads with the correct technique and choice of polish, AIO depending on level of correction required. I have used both GG and Lake Country and both with very good results and have yet to see a difference between the two.

**acuRAS82** · 04-24-2020, 11:51 AM

Originally Posted by Hermes1

Nothing wrong with GG pads with the correct technique and choice of polish, AIO depending on level of correction required. I have used both GG and Lake Country and both with very good results and have yet to see a difference between the two.

He’s talking Chemical Guys Hex. I bought these as my first and while they’ll do the job, I probably could have paid less for better performing LC pads.