Review: XMT Polishing Pad Cleaner

[Marc08EX]

Product Review: Pinnacle XMT Polishing Pad Cleaner
XMT Polishing Pad Cleaner by Pinnacle For your dual action or rotary polisher.



Description: (Taken from AG's website)

An intense cleaner for all your foam and lambswool pads in a convenient spray bottle.

Clean pads produce better results, are less likely to mar, and last longer. There is absolutely no downside to cleaning buffer pads and reusing them! Pinnacle XMT Polishing Pad Cleaner is a penetrating cleaner that releases products from foam and wool polishing pads, and refreshes the texture of the pad. You’ll get more mileage out of your pads and spend less time cleaning them!

Pinnacle XMT Polishing Pad Cleaner is an intense cleaner formulated specifically for foam and wool pads that are laden with car care products. To understand how this cleaner works, you’ve got to take a look deep inside the foam, where products accumulate during the detailing process:

Polishes, swirl removers, and compounds all contain oils that serve as lubricants. They have to – otherwise you’d be polishing with a dry pad! If there’s one thing we know about oils it’s that they’re, well, oily. They leave a residue. Even if you rinse the pad immediately after using it, the oily residue remains because oil repels water and vice versa. To truly clean the pad, you have to use a degreasing cleaner.

Pinnacle XMT Polishing Pad Cleaner contains a strong degreasing agent that breaks up oil and eliminates every last trace of residue. Soap (as in dish soap) can leave a residue of its own, so there is no soap in this cleaner. The only thing you will find in XMT Polishing Pad Cleaner is CLEAN.

Think of the inside of a foam pad as a series of interlocking rooms. Pinnacle XMT Polishing Pad Cleaner powers through these chambers in a way the water or soapy water can’t accomplish. When it encounters a roadblock, it breaks through, flooding the foam with oil-dissolving cleaner. When you rinse the pad, the cleaner is flushed out of the pores, leaving the pad clean, fresh and rejuvenated.

Wool pads are a unique cleaning challenge, but Pinnacle XMT Polishing Pad Cleaner can handle it. Polishes can stick the wool’s fibers together like glue. XMT Polishing Pad Cleaner eradicates the oily bond holding the fibers together so the wool bounces back to life once dry.

Pinnacle is dedicated to preserving your vehicle and the environment. XMT Polishing Pad Cleaner is VOC compliant under the guidelines for an all purpose cleaner.

Pinnacle XMT Polishing Pad Cleaner is ready to use in a convenient spray bottle. Each time you change pads as you polish, mist the used pad thoroughly with Pinnacle XMT Polishing Pad Cleaner and set the pad aside. The cleaner will prevent products from drying out and caking in the pad as you work on your vehicle. Once you’re done detailing, scrub the pre-soaked pads with a foam conditioning brush. Rinse them in running water to completely remove residues. For the best results, clean the pads right away.

Pinnacle XMT Polishing Pad Cleaner can even breathe new life into old pads. Dried, caked products are no match for the intense cleaner. Spray the pad thoroughly and let it soak in for several seconds. Use a Foam Pad Conditioning Brush to agitate the pad. Rinse well. Repeat this process if necessary.

Pinnacle XMT Polishing Pad Cleaner brings foam and lambswool pads back to life with penetrating cleaning agents and degreasers. This is the only cleaner you need to unlock stubborn residues and rejuvenate the pad texture. Spray it on and the polish is gone!

Price:

$12.99 for 12oz
$29.99 for 64oz
$39.99 for 128oz

Introduction:

Before, I was always using APC to clean out my pads after a detailing session. They work great but there are certain times where the APC is not enough to clean out the dirt in the pads. Most certainly, it will not fully clean the pads you didn't clean for months and left the old polish caked on the pad. There was a time where this product went on BOGO. I purchased this and the rest was history.

How It Works:

Here's a picture showing the directions behind the bottle:



Shown below are 2 Meguiar's W8204 4" Polishing Pads. I used one with Ultimate Compound on my red car. It has been left like that since Saturday therefore the product and the paint transfer were left to dry for about 4-5 days. The other pad with the blue stains was used with Optimum Hyper Compound. This was used 2 days ago so it's not that long. But both pads weren't washed right after using it.



What I do is I spray the pad liberally with the XMT Pad Cleaner as shown:



Here are the pads shown saturated with the pad cleaner:





A side profile shot to show you how much product I sprayed on the pads:



I usually wait between 5-10 minutes for the product to work its magic and break down the old compound, polish or any gunk that's in the pad. After, I use my hands to massage and clean the pad as shown below:



Don't be afraid to push hard on your pad. Your pad can take it.

After, run your hot water and rinse out the pads. Make sure you also massage the pad while the water is running into it. As you're doing this, your pads will come out cleaner and the old gunk that's in the pads should be washed away. Here's a picture of how dirty the water is from these 2 small pads:



After you're done rinsing the pads, squeeze on them and try to wring out as much water as you can. I usually just air dry them by setting them on top of the grit guard. (sorry forgot to take pictures of this).

When you're all done, your pads should come out looking clean and new like so:



Tips:

• Use rubber gloves. This irritates your skin very quickly.
• If possible, use some type of nose mask. It will help prevent the fumes and small moisture particles entering your nose and into your lungs. Trust me, it doesn't smell good. I always cough automatically when this happens. I'm sure it's because my body's rejecting it.

Suggestions For Improvement:

The only thing I would suggest is for this product to have a normal bottle sprayer head. The aerosol sprayer the 12oz bottle has atomizes the product too much. It's not a bad thing but it's really not necessary. The main reason I want this change is because my fingers get tired if you have a lot of pads to clean especially when I have 6.5" pads. The 2 4" pads for this review was no problem but bigger pads require more product. I just wish there was more volume flow per press. Also, atomizing the chemical makes me cough like crazy. I inhale these very little beads of product and my lungs reject them of course.

Conclusion:

Ever since I tried this product out, I have always used it to clean my pads and it has worked without fail. If you haven't tried a dedicated polishing pad cleaning solution, you need to try the Pinnacle XMT Polishing Pad Cleaner. It's very effective in cleaning out compounds and polishes from your pads. It also works on old caked on product. So instead of throwing away your old, unwashed pad, you can revive it with the XMT Polishing Pad Condition. It has worked for me every single time.

[Jrocket]

Another Great and thorough Review!

I use Xmt pad Cleaner as well and will say as well this is a good product to pick up as it does exactly what it states.

Great turn out everytime.


Im with you on the sprayer though.. not the ideal sprayer.. works but could be better for sure

[Johny B]

Great review.

[ihaveacamaro]

Another great review!

I too cough a lot when I use this product... I think it may have something to do with the petroleum distillates but I'm not sure.

The coughing is so bad, I don't use it anymore. But it DOES work!

[FUNX650]

Thanks for this review Marc...
And the heads-up Tips, as well!!

Tips:

• Use rubber gloves. This irritates your skin very quickly.
• If possible, use some type of nose mask.

If I may:

-If I don't like the bottle/sprayer set-up on a product,
I transfer the product to one of my liking.

-No one should be faced with coughing spells when using any product...

I always cough automatically when this happens. I'm sure it's because my body's rejecting it.

Also, atomizing the chemical makes me cough like crazy. I inhale these very little beads of product and my lungs reject them of course.

I sincerely hope so...

-Use of your suggested inexpensive paper filter nose/mouth masks is better than
breathing in copious amounts of atomized skin/lung-irritants.

Remember...This is a "strong APC":

Description: (Taken from AG's website)

An intense cleaner

Pinnacle XMT Polishing Pad Cleaner is a penetrating cleaner

Polishes, swirl removers, and compounds all contain oils that serve as lubricants.
They leave a residue.
To truly clean the pad, you have to use a degreasing cleaner.

Pinnacle XMT Polishing Pad Cleaner contains a strong degreasing agent that breaks up oil and eliminates every last trace of residue.

XMT Polishing Pad Cleaner eradicates the oily bond holding the fibers together so the wool bounces back to life once dry.

XMT Polishing Pad Cleaner is VOC compliant under the guidelines for an all purpose cleaner.

Pinnacle XMT Polishing Pad Cleaner brings foam and lambswool pads back to life with penetrating cleaning agents and degreasers.

Anyway...You are right Marc:

-This product is a great pad cleaner...Just use caution/correct-PPE




Bob

[RZJZA80]

Dawn Power Dissolver does the same thing and is cheaper

[bikeride4fun]

Great review....thanks.......

[otruba_843]

It smells EXACTLY like EXPO white board spray...hmmm

[Jrocket]

Dawn Power Dissolver does the same thing and is cheaper

I hear the dawn is very tough to completely get out and some residue from the soap is left behind..


but if it works for you then that's great

[Caleb@ImpeccableImage]

Great review as usual Mark. I'm currently using the DP polishing pad rejuvenator and it works great. I might just have to give this product a try when I run out.