Prototype Lake Country Hydro-tech pads - Testing, Results and Reviews

[O.C.Detailing]

Okay, so John and I received 2-each of the redesigned Lake Country Hydro-tech pads. 1-Cyan and 1-Tangerine each for a total of 4 pads.

We were asked to test them and test them hard, so today we were asked to work on a 2000 BMW 323i Station Wagon...and it's black and SERIOUSLY messed up in reference to it's paint quality as you'll see in the pictures I post in this thread.

First and foremost, here's a short video to show how I polish using my Griot's:



I had to stop the video because the seal of the window I was polishing under had a bunch of water stuck under it and decided that it would release and soaked my pad, but it still shows my own personal technique when it comes to polishing with my Griot's.

Some observations. I started with the Cyan pad. It started out very firm and correcting nicely. As I really got into polishing the car, the pad got softer and I started noticing that the center of the pad was creating a divot or indention. The center of the pad was MUCH softer than the outer edge but was NOT hot. It was warm, but no where near what I would consider HOT. This was after polishing just half of the hood, the driver's fender, driver's door and half of the rear driver's door. Here is a before and after picture of the pad:

Before:


After today's work:


Please notice the divot in the center.

At the end of the day, I had only cleaned the pad once and the picture above was taken BEFORE I cleaned the pad. The next photos are of the cyan pad after only half of the car next to an Orange 6.5" CCS pad after at least 5 cars worth of work and after I cleaned it at the end of the day so that it could be set up to dry:




So what I'll show you now are some photos of the condition of the car we worked on and a few 50/50 photos:





Here's a scratch that I had to wetsand out and a photo of that same area being buffed out:




Here's a photo of the hazing the Cyan pad left in the paint using the Griot's DA. It's hard to see, but look below the light and not exactly where the light is shining in the reflection:


Here's a before and after of half of the front fender after 1 pass of M105 on the Cyan:



Here's a 50/50 of that same fender, notice the heavy marring left by the Cyan pad as well:


Here is a 50/50 of the driver's door with marring after 2 passes of M105 on Cyan:


And here's a picture of the Cyan pad, again, after having been used on just half of the car and the wear that the pad is undergoing after just half of it's first car:


John has some close-up pictures of the pad and I'm sure he'll post them once he gets a chance.

In conclusion, the pad is wearing ENTIRELY too quickly for just having used it on half of a car. The foam appears to be breaking down VERY quickly in the center of the pad, but it doesn't seem to be affecting the correcting power of the pad. The center of the pad also seems to be tearing a little at a time and not at the edges, so at least with the backing taken to the edge of the pad, the tearing issue seems to be solved, but it's hard to say that after just the first use.

Please stay tuned for more as we break out the Tangerine pad tomorrow and show what happens after one use on that one as well.

[SouthernStyles]

Thats disappointing i am really looking forward to trying these pads but im waiting until they fix all the snags before i order.

[VR8]

So here's my version of the same story.

Same car, a badly damaged black BMW. Tons of water spots, swirls and bird poo etchings.














And a quick view of the pads and product. Mine have the "F" for Flex ... to eliminate confusion.

[VR8]

We both had success with the Cyan pads. The below 50/50 shots will show that. I personally enjoyed the pad a lot. It felt smoother over the surface than a similar cutting yellow CCS pad does, and it seemed to correct, on my Flex, with less marring. At this point I'm a happy camper with the Cyan pad.

Adam's section of the hood.


My passenger door.


Then we started to notice the concave center of Adam's pad.


At this point my Cyan pad was fine. Adam decided to wash his out with clear water I believe. You can see the slight pad wear along with the concave center.


This is my pad after finishing half of the car.



This is Adam's Cyan after finishing his half of the car.




After cleaning with APC and warm water, the pad from the Flex.


And the pad from the Griot's after it's second cleaning.

[VR8]

I'm sure someone has a good explanation as to what would make a pad concave like that. Hopefully Eric? I'm only speaking for myself but I didn't have a clue, other than it may have been a defective pad. My pad from the Flex showed very little wear (it was only half a car) and corrected very well. I am pleased, but mystified.

[WRAPT C5Z06]

Interesting how the Griot's didn't handle the pad nearly as well as the Flex 3401. VR8, did you use speed 6 as well?

[Rsurfer]

OCD, sorry that's your initial's...was that done on purpose? LOL I know you said the center of the cyan pad was warm, but not hot...did you remove the pad right after polishing to feel the center of the backing plate? I say this because I had basically the same problem with a 3m backing plate and a 3m Ultrafina pad that concaved because of the heat from the backing plate.

Sorry no picture of the front of the pad, but it was concaved. Doesn't seem like a pad could cave in on a flat backing plate unless there was excessive heat transfer. Just my thoughts.

[O.C.Detailing]

The Griot's is a much more violent machine than the Flex. The only thing that is constant with the Griot's is it's oscillations. The rotations of my Griot's are pretty much dependant on the surface I'm polishing and the products I'm using. I'm not really sure why the HT pad was wearing in the center like that though. As you can see, the CCS pad hasn't worn like that at all in all of the cars I've used it on.

One other thing that should be said, the garage we work out of was floating either in the upper 40's and lower 50's all day, so external heat and the temperature of the surface of the vehicle even after polishing only got the pad and backing plate warm and not actually hot. This can be backed up by Jonathan as I made sure he was aware of everything that was happening with my machine and pads so he could give an objective 3rd view-point. So no, there wasn't much heat.

[arkus]

On the 3m pad , it looked like there was a lot of heat generated .

[O.C.Detailing]

Rsurfer, yes, my name was set up like that on purpose. lol Jonathan and I both touched the pad and the backing plate immediately after I polished out a fairly large section of the car and it was only warm and not hot to the touch. Not only that, but I was CONSTANTLY touching the pad after buffing sections of the car once I saw the divot starting to form to see if I was generating a ton of heat.