How to clean your foam pad on the fly

[magna_power]

Great video mike, that makes it very clear I'm new to machine polishing and only tried "on the fly" cleaning once (after reading your book) and I epically failed! My problem was I basically tried to hold the pad tight so that it would move before I turned it on, the machine won hahaha. the 6.5 inch pad probably didn't help either. Thanks again for the video!

[Mike Phillips]

Great video mike, that makes it very clear I'm new to machine polishing and only tried "on the fly" cleaning once (after reading your book) and I epically failed!

My problem was I basically tried to hold the pad tight so that it would move before I turned it on, the machine won hahaha. the 6.5 inch pad probably didn't help either.

Thanks again for the video!

Good to hear!

[ihaveacamaro]

What speed would I put the PC on when doing this?

[Mike Phillips]

What speed would I put the PC on when doing this?

High speed of course...

Actually, focus on these words...


on the fly....


The idea is to do this quickly and get back to work. When doing correction work you're normally on the high speed settings. Right?

You DON'T take the time to adjust the speed setting, just leave it where it's at while you're working, clean the pad and get back to work.

Adjusting the speed setting would take time, turn it down, clean you pad, turn it back up get to work. That's two points you're fiddle-faddling with the speed setting. Plus wear and tear on the dial.

Don't make this any more complicated than it has to be because it's really quite simple.

[ihaveacamaro]

High speed of course...

Actually, focus on these words...


on the fly....


The idea is to do this quickly and get back to work. When doing correction work you're normally on the high speed settings. Right?

You DON'T take the time to adjust the speed setting, just leave it where it's at while you're working, clean the pad and get back to work.

Adjusting the speed setting would take time, turn it down, clean you pad, turn it back up get to work. That's two points you're fiddle-faddling with the speed setting. Plus wear and tear on the dial.

Don't make this any more complicated than it has to be because it's really quite simple.

Ok will do

[dorkiedoode]

Does the pad have to spin when you're gripping it?? I gripped it and it just vibrate on the towel. If I lighten up the towel spin with it too.

[dorkiedoode]

nvm i think i got it now. i was expecting the pad to be all white again. i guess i was expecting a little too much there lol.

[Rez90]

Mike

Could you make a quick vid on how to use a pad conditioning brush properly to clean pads while polishing? I have one and honestly don't know if I'm using it correctly or not. Thanks.

[Colinpd137]

Mike

Could you make a quick vid on how to use a pad conditioning brush properly to clean pads while polishing? I have one and honestly don't know if I'm using it correctly or not. Thanks.

X2

Sent from my ADR6350 using AG Online

[Mike Phillips]

Does the pad have to spin when you're gripping it?? I gripped it and it just vibrate on the towel.

This is correct.

You use your fingers to grip the backing plate like I show in the video and pull the palm of face of your hand towards the face of the pad and this of course pushes the towel into the foam. Then two things happen...

1. the nap or cotton loops agitate against the foam to loose and remove any built up paint and residue gunk.

2. Because cotton absorbs, the cotton absorbs "some" of the excess liquid building up inside of the foam out of the foam.

If I lighten up the towel spin with it too.

That's okay.

I lighten up and allow the pad to spin a little and then repeat the squishing of the towel against the pad so you're getting more and different portions of the pad clean and wicked dry.

Remember, the entire idea behind the ONE THE FLY part of the title is this...

Buffing out an ENTIRE car in one day using a PC type of polisher already takes a long time. 6-12 hours depending upon how large the car is and how good or experienced you are and of course how many machine steps you're going to do.

You WANT a way to clean your pad QUICKLY so you can get back to buffing on the paint.

You DON"T WANT a way to clean your pad that takes 10 to 15 minutes or this will add up and add to the total time it takes to buff out the car and you'll be buffing out the average car for 2 days.

nvm i think i got it now. i was expecting the pad to be all white again.

Nope.

i guess i was expecting a little too much there lol.

Cleaning your pad on the fly is a way to get the pad "pretty clean" not "perfectly clean". Getting your pad pretty clean is good enough to get back to work quickly and get the job done and get the job done right.

If you want perfectly clean, buy more pads and after you buff a section, remove the pad and set it aside for washing and replace it with a brand new clean pad, or a used pad that you've previously cleaned and dried.

In a perfect world, more pads is better... let your budget decide...


Hope that helps... most people make cleaning their pad on the fly harder than it has to be... it's as easy as I make it look in this video and after you get your pad pretty clean... get back to work!

How to clean your pad on the fly

The above technique works with any of the below DA Polishers,

Porter Cable DA Polisher
Meguiar's DA Polisher
Griot's Garage DA Polisher
Shurhold DA Polisher



So let’s take a look at how-to clean your pad on the fly

Cleaning your pad on the fly is where you take a terry cloth towel, usually a medium size hand towel works best, you fold it in two and then simply hold the towel against the face of the pad and then turn the polisher on and use your hand that’s holding the towel to push the towel into the foam. This will act to draw any excess liquid out of the foam and any excess residue off of the face of the pad.


This is me using the Clean your Pad on the Fly Technique to clean my pad on the fly as we removed the oxidation off this Neon.