Griots Orange 6.5" versus Black 6.5"

[Velozzity]

Ok so basically I am totally new to all this considering I just recently purchased my first newish car in many years and wanted to maintain the appearance. I recently bought (but have not picked up yet) a Griots 6" DA kit that comes with a 6.5" orange pad and a trial bottle of All in one sealant. Question is, on cars with relatively great paint condition, are the orange griots pads ok for use as a polish pad (with something like Meguiars ultimate polish etc) to be used every 3-6 months (still deciding how often this can really be done without screwing up the clear) or should I be aiming at the black pads, assuming I was to keep with the griots line. Reason is I feel as if I won't be able to finish the car with the one step with just the pad that comes with it and If it is too abrasive to be used more than once or twice every few years or just as a spot removal tool for more severe scratches, I have no business buying more orange pads. However the store I bought the DA from only stocks the Orange and the Red Pad, and I'm confused as If i should hold off and only use the orange pad for spot correction and order some Black (or white/Green LC pads) Griots or will buying like 2 more orange pads (for a total of 3) and then like 1 red pad be sufficient for doing only my personal car (2015 Honda Civic) for the forseeable future. I do have Ultimate compound for the harder corrections, but more worried about what to use for polish and finish step, pad wise.

[dlc95]

I like to have a small variety of cutting, polishing, and finishing pads.

At minimum I like four cutting and polishing each, and two finishing.

Typically orange cutting, white polishing, and black finishing from Lake Country is the gold standard.

[Velozzity]

So probably tomorrow I when I go to pick up my Da at Advance (bought it with a 50 dollar off coupon, for total of $109 for Da, Orange Pad, and 8 ounce bottle of one step sealant) I will pick up another orange pad and a red pad. I feel If i clean the orange pad midway through using the all in one I can get by with 2, and later will relegate them to only scratch or defect repair and not for the entire vehicle. I guess I will pick up one of the pick your own 6 pack and get 3 white and 3 black pads to start and If i feel they are not enough order more. The car is small and I think 3 each can get me by at least for the white and black ones. This is the first DA I have owned and when I purchased the vehicle I got my wax spreader out of storage and its permanently attached foam pad fell apart, so I had to replace it and ended up focusing on the griots from reading the forums here. It just seemed as If from the videos on Griots website that the average non pro user could get by with just getting a few orange pads and a few red ones and didn't really need the black one unless it was a special case hence the reason I asked about it.

[cleanmycorolla]

You're going to need more than 3 pads to do your car. You don't need black pads. They're mildly useless. Also I hope you do some more prep before you polish. Like clay, decon, etc...

[dlc95]

The orange griot's pads work for both compounding and polishing. Once they get wet with product, they soften up quite a bit, and thus finish well.

If you can, clean your pad after every section you polish, with some sort of soft nylon brush. You may also want to use a spare towel to rub across the face of the pad to soak up excess moisture as well.

If you do the six pack, consider two orange, two white, and two black.

[Mike Phillips]

Just a friendly tip....

Hit the [Enter] key or return key after a sentence or two and put some space between sentences instead of typing out large chunks of text.

Like this.


It makes it easier for the human eye to track from the end of one sentence to the beginning of the next sentence.

Making your text easier to read will get more people to read it. Making your text hard to read will make people either scan it or click away.

[Mike Phillips]

Example

What you wrote...

Ok so basically I am totally new to all this considering I just recently purchased my first newish car in many years and wanted to maintain the appearance. I recently bought (but have not picked up yet) a Griots 6" DA kit that comes with a 6.5" orange pad and a trial bottle of All in one sealant. Question is, on cars with relatively great paint condition, are the orange griots pads ok for use as a polish pad (with something like Meguiars ultimate polish etc) to be used every 3-6 months (still deciding how often this can really be done without screwing up the clear) or should I be aiming at the black pads, assuming I was to keep with the griots line. Reason is I feel as if I won't be able to finish the car with the one step with just the pad that comes with it and If it is too abrasive to be used more than once or twice every few years or just as a spot removal tool for more severe scratches, I have no business buying more orange pads. However the store I bought the DA from only stocks the Orange and the Red Pad, and I'm confused as If i should hold off and only use the orange pad for spot correction and order some Black (or white/Green LC pads) Griots or will buying like 2 more orange pads (for a total of 3) and then like 1 red pad be sufficient for doing only my personal car (2015 Honda Civic) for the forseeable future. I do have Ultimate compound for the harder corrections, but more worried about what to use for polish and finish step, pad wise.

Broke up...

Ok so basically I am totally new to all this considering I just recently purchased my first newish car in many years and wanted to maintain the appearance. I recently bought (but have not picked up yet) a Griots 6" DA kit that comes with a 6.5" orange pad and a trial bottle of All in one sealant.

Question is, on cars with relatively great paint condition, are the orange griots pads ok for use as a polish pad (with something like Meguiars ultimate polish etc) to be used every 3-6 months (still deciding how often this can really be done without screwing up the clear) or should I be aiming at the black pads, assuming I was to keep with the griots line.

Reason is I feel as if I won't be able to finish the car with the one step with just the pad that comes with it and If it is too abrasive to be used more than once or twice every few years or just as a spot removal tool for more severe scratches, I have no business buying more orange pads.

However the store I bought the DA from only stocks the Orange and the Red Pad, and I'm confused as If i should hold off and only use the orange pad for spot correction and order some Black (or white/Green LC pads) Griots or will buying like 2 more orange pads (for a total of 3) and then like 1 red pad be sufficient for doing only my personal car (2015 Honda Civic) for the forseeable future.

I do have Ultimate compound for the harder corrections, but more worried about what to use for polish and finish step, pad wise.

Again... just a friendly tip from someone that types and reads a lot.

[Mike Phillips]

The answer to your questions are,

First - After washing and drying your car, look at the paint in bright overhead sun to inspect for swirls and scratches. If you see swirls and scratches, then you're going to need the orange pad. I'm pretty sure Griot's refers to this as a "polishing" pad.

Their orange pad is in-between cutting and finishing.

Order of aggressiveness with the pads listed first being most aggressive would be,

Cutting
Polishing
Finishing
Waxing


And, there is no universal color code system to pads. Each manufacture uses their own color code system.


I would also do the baggie test to see if your paint needs to be clayed or not. Do this after washing and drying.


Then a general rule of thumb for either using a compound and a foam cutting or foam polishing pad to correct the paint would be one pad per panel. As you work around the car your foam pad will get soggy with the product that saturates into it.

Wet soggy pads don't work well. Dry clean pads work great.


A 2-door passenger car has 9 panels. So in a perfect world, you would want 9 pads.

If you were to use a pad for 2 panels, then you would need 4 to 5 pads.


Let your budget and the value of your time be your guide.

[Mike Phillips]

Here's a couple of articles with info or how to do stuff...


How many pads do I need to buff out my car?

The Baggie Test - How to inspect for above surface bonded contaminants

[Mike Phillips]

I shared the below yesterday in two threads, same info applies to where you're at in the detailing world.


A few more tips...



With the PC or Porter Cable you really need to be on the 6.0 speed setting to maintain pad rotation and it's only when the pad is rotation on a free spinning orbital polisher that you're are removing any substantial paint or in other words removing defects although there's a handful of detailing gurus in the world that claim jiggling or vibrating only will remove defects.


Read this and watch the short video...

Video: Mark your backing plate to make it easy to see pad rotation




Here's a quick video that show how and why to mark your backing plate to see and monitor pad rotation while doing any correction or polishing steps.






Then read this, it will share the most common mistakes people make AND how to remedy them...

DA Polisher Trouble Shooting Guide



Then watch this video, it will show you step-by-step what to do and how to do it...





And for more and more info on how to use a simple or entry level polisher check out these...



There's a LOT of machine polishing articles here,


DA Polisher Articles - Help for Newbies to Machine Polishing



Machine wax since you already have the machine... wrote this one just last week...


Is there a benefit to machine applying a wax or sealant versus applying by hand?


This one shows you how...

High speed machine waxing - Kissing the Finish Technique by Mike Phillips