Large Wool Cutting Pad
Technically the pad I'm recommending is a "finishing" pad not a "cutting" pad but here's the deal.
First - Fiber pad cut more aggressively than foam pads because each of the individual fibers that make up a wool pad are a type of abrasive in and of themselves and each fiber can and will
cut the paint. So the fiber itself is a type of abrasive and this is why guys that finish out with only wool pads on rotary buffers leave holograms in their customer's paint.
Second - The difference between a wool
cutting pad and a wool
finishing pad is the
degree of aggressiveness. In the
BIG PICTURE when comparing wool pads to foam pads and in the context of using these pads on a rotary buffer, either type cutting or finishing is going to do a GREAT job of abrading or cutting the surface compared to any foam pad. This is key to doing the correction step in the fastest and most effective way.
If you work in a
body shop and have to cut new paint jobs all day long every day then by all means get a wool
cutting pad.
If you're detailing cars and thus not normally wetsanding the paint first, then simply by using a wool
finishing pad for any heavy or major correction job, this will put you miles ahead
time-wise versus using a foam cutting pad.
Plus wool pads cut
cooler than foam cutting pads and this is important because it's not good to heat up clearcoat paints. Even though you might read someone on another forum say something like,
You need to heat the clearcoat up in order break down the abrasives
or
You need to heat the clearcoat up in order to re-flow the paint
Both of these statements and practices are
wrong and this is called
destructive paint polishing.
(See page 124 of
The Complete Guide to a Show Car Finish)
So if you're mostly doing
reconditioning work aka detailing cars, then you'll do fine and be safer plus be able to do any follow up polishing steps faster by sticking with the pad I recommend below instead of a full-on, hardcore wool cutting pad.
Flex recommends using 8" wool pads
and smaller with the Flex PE14 so the below wool pad is perfect at 7.5" and is called the Lake Country 7.5" Electrified Sheepskin Final Polishing Pad.
Electrified?
The word electrified means Lake Country has taken the extra step to
electrify the wool which
removes the natural sharp barbs found in wool creating a pad that cuts fast but finishes with less scouring of the paint. This is a real benefit when buffing thin, scratch-sensitive clearcoat finishes.
Note: I see a few guys come to this forum and recommend using a brand of black wool pads so just to note, these pads
have the barbs.
Link to 7.5" Electrified Wool Finishing Pad
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Originally Posted by SonOfOC
The 3403 is just for light duty work and the PE-14 is for medium duty work. Use a wool pad with a Makita or Dewalt.
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