I own a 2012 Acura Crystal Black Pearl Acura TL and in the past I have had good success on LC CCS 5.5 orange pads to take out swirls and scratches with Meg's UC. I have had these pads for about 6 months now but they seem to be losing effectiveness?

The reason for me suspecting the lost of effectiveness is because I just worked on a 2012 Acura MDX with Crystal Black Pearl and I applied the same techniques but I only got 50% correction. Altho, it is possible that the MDX has harder paint but I kind of doubt that as the owner has told me that his MDX scratches fairly easily.

So the question is, how long do the LC CCS orange pads supposed to last?

The second question is, I just placed an order for LC MF 5.25 pads and how much more of a cutting power can I expect on these MF pads when compared with CCS 5.5 orange pads? In addition, do these LC MF pads require a different backing plate as the Meg's ones do or can I just use the same LC Dual Action Hook & Loop Flexible backing plate that I already own?

One more question, what is the proper way to maintain nanoskin autoscrub towels?