Foam vs Fiber - Car Detailing by Hand or Machine

[Mike Phillips]

Foam vs Fiber - Car Detailing by Hand or Machine





When working on car paint by hand, the safest application method would be a soft foam applicator pad. If you need more bite or more cleaning or abrading ability to remove swirls, scratches, oxidation and years of neglect, then a soft microfiber applicator pad will provide more abrading ability than foam. The thing is, if you start with a fiber pad, the fibers themselves can leave their own defect, (marring/scratching), but that's the trade-off to get more abrading ability. The good news is, in most cases, you can remove the fiber marring or scratching by re-polishing but switching over to a foam applicator.

Here's the difference,


Foam has a UNIFORM surface texture.







Fiber pads have a CHAOTIC surface texture. The surface is made-up of thousands of individual fibers. In context, as you press and rub a fiber pad over the surface each of the tiny fibers "cuts" the paint. This is more aggressive than the uniform surface texture offered by soft foam.







If you're trying to use the least aggressive process possible then start or test with foam. If this isn't cutting it, (pun intended), then test or use a soft microfiber applicator pad.


Make sense?

[Mike Phillips]

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The same surface abrading differences and abilities hold true for buffing pads when machine polishing.





A fiber pad, (any brand any style), will always offer more abrading ability as compared to a foam pad due to the individual fibers cutting the surface.


On harder paints you may be able to finish out with a fiber pad but on softer paints, the fibers will tend to leave micro-marring. For this reason, always do a TEST SPOT. If your test spot reveals the paint to be on the softer side of the Paint Hardness Spectrum, then do a second step switching over to a foam pad.

If you only want to do ONE STEP and a fiber pad is leaving micro-marring - then you must re-test and find the most aggressive foam pad that can be used that will not leave foam pad marring in the finish.


Fiber pads are great for their cutting ability but you cannot always finish out of softer paints for this same ability.



Make sense?

[Mike Phillips]

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Microfiber DA pads vs Foam