opinions wanted: Hydrotech tangerine vs. "traditional" LC orange

**builthatch** · 07-26-2014, 04:50 PM

i need to update my pad inventory. i have a lot of older pads. some are six years old or so and many are just tired. a lot of them are CCS and everything except some of my smaller pads follow the old LC color scheme.

i like foam. it's easy and has never failed me. i know MF has proven itself but i don't care.

i want to simplify things and the Hydrotech system seems like a good way to do that, since i prefer to have pads in so many sizes so just needing essentially three pad colors (generally speaking) would be nice...for once.

i love the old LC orange. it's very flexible with the Optimum Hyper twins. i read a lot about the HT cyan breaking down rather quickly, so i'm thinking i need to avoid that pad.

i was thinking that LC orange would be equivalent to cyan...because the tangerine, while it's "orange", looks like it's more along the lines of the old white.

so, if i wanted to avoid cyan, but wanted to keep things simple and stick with basically three colors, would it be dumb to do LC orange, HT tangerine and HT crimson? would my bases be covered there for pretty much any paint situation??

**dlc95** · 07-26-2014, 05:46 PM

I was considering the cyan, for compounding, green ccs for polishing, the blue ccs for aio, and the red ccs for sealant/wax. But, I find myself using all these different pads for different applications. I never would have thought I'd be using a yellow ccs cutting pad, but I needed it. They all seem to come in handy, and I like the options. I recently tried to cut back my inventory as well.

**builthatch** · 07-26-2014, 07:35 PM

i have a lot of CCS, including the constant pressure ones or whatever they are/were called.

i'm not a fan anymore vs. flat pads. maybe it's because the polish/compound technology has changed but i find i use less product with the flat pads vs. CCS and it's supposed to be the other way around.

plus, the little dimples? sometimes i swear they marr, depending on the paint and pad.

i like the concept of the three HT colors but i really can't handle a pad falling apart like what the cyan is known for.

**builthatch** · 07-26-2014, 10:29 PM

never mind, i found this very handy chart. i always wondered if this was out there, haha

**JVD** · 07-27-2014, 02:41 AM

Cyan will cut waaaay more than an orange CCS in my experience. They do break up after heavy use but I think it's worth it. They finish very well for the level of cut they provide. Oh, and I originally bought the thick version. They got obliterated pretty quickly on my PC. The slim pads last longer I think.

I also love the tangerine for finishing.

Cyan + FG400 and Tangerine + SF4000 is heavenly.

That chart is really helpful!

**mg6045** · 07-27-2014, 07:30 AM

I think those 3 pads are a perfect combination. And its actually the 3 I use most as well.

I do most all of my polishing with an Orange LC Flat pad and most all my finishing with a HydroTech Crimson. The Tangerine pad is always used when I 1 step polish a car.

**builthatch** · 07-27-2014, 09:50 AM

thanks JVD.

also, because i can't edit my other post (why does AG have a time limit??), here is a version i modified with a partial overlay grid to help make comparison easier.

Originally Posted by mg6045

I think those 3 pads are a perfect combination. And its actually the 3 I use most as well.

I do most all of my polishing with an Orange LC Flat pad and most all my finishing with a HydroTech Crimson. The Tangerine pad is always used when I 1 step polish a car.

how do you feel about the durability of the HT tangerine and crimson?