Do you get better shine out of a lamb's wool pad or foam, how do they fare ?

Chip Douglas · 10-22-03, 10:30

Hi all, earlier tonight i was at a local bodyshop as my dad wanted me to take his car there to have it rustproofed. As i was waiting in his office, the shopowner which i'Ve known for a while came to me in order to compliment me on how good the car looked(it was my father's thunderbird), and then we started talking polishing/buffing. I asked him if he prefered foam over wool, and he said he prefered wool ( synthetic wool he said, as he told me 100% wool pads tend to come loose and fly off every which way. Also as i already knew he told me wool pads can ruin a finish quite rapidly from the heat it brings about. One thing i forgot to ask him, is :

does one get better shine/finish thru the use of wool pads, or are they just a matter of preference ? I think when he started out only wool pads existed, so maybe he likes them better cause he was shown back then how to work with wool.

As for me, i've never used wool pads, so i can't speak from experience...........all i know is wool pads generate mcuh heat and it's easy to mess up a paint finish with them......the guy actuallly told me about honda paint finish that are pretty easy to mess up using wool.

Let me know........ill hit the hay now......nite all

Accumulator · 10-23-03, 09:33

*I* would only use wool if/when I needed to be extra aggressive. Plenty of old-timers I've met (usually at bodyshops) use wool pads of varying softness, but IMO they're too aggressive for frequent use. I can't IMAGINE not needing a foam pad afterwards to remove the wool's (micro?)marring anyway. Sounds like another good question for Mike Phillips

4DSC · 10-27-03, 10:44

Umm... I'm not Mr. Phillips, but I agree that pretty much everyone here would use a fine grade of FOAM pad for getting the finest finish and would only use wool for more cutting action. Synthetic wool, by the way, is on the more aggressive side of the scale...

BUMP!

Chip Douglas · 10-28-03, 09:57

that's a bit what i expected, as the one who talked to me about wool pad is somewhat of an old timer........that being said don't you worry, i'll stick with foam pads

TOGWT · 10-28-03, 10:19

Back in the day that's all that was available, so you learned how to use them. But I compare the difference between wool and foam pads on a PC to a hand applied polish like Simonize and a modern wax.

Someone said, "We have the technology" [so lets use it]

Experience unshared; is knowledge wasted…/

justadumbarchitect