Pad Cleaning Tool/Brush

[David Fermani]

Is everyone spurring their pad atleast once on each panel? I think it's on of the most vital steps in producing a swirl free finish.

[BlackElantraGT]

Does the spur remove any of the actual foam itself? I wish I had gotten that instead of the conditioning brush.

[Sergei]

I use the Meg Interior Detail Brush on foam pads:

[CleanFreak2]

So is the big yellow brush ok to use with the foam pads? It won't hurt them? This way you don't have to wash them when they start to cake up right? I go through a lot of pads because when they cake up I put on another pad.

[JuneBug]

I've got the yellow brush, works great on my 6.5" LC pads, doesn't hurt them at all - oh, I'm using a Makita rotary and it's pretty easy to clean, just turn it over, crank it to 1500 rpm and run the brush from the center to the outside edge.

[BlackElantraGT]

If you have Meguiar's 6.5" foam pads, the yellow brush will chew it up, at least on mine it did. And this was using a PC.

I'm gonna have to switch to LC pads next time I order pads.

[Juztang]

I've always used the yellow brush with my LC pads and haven't had a problem.

[Eliot Ness]

Originally Posted by BlackElantraGT

If you have Meguiar's 6.5" foam pads, the yellow brush will chew it up, at least on mine it did. And this was using a PC.........

I haven't used that brush on a Meg's pad, but try using a terry towel on them instead.

After reading some of the other replies you might also want to try the blue fingernail brush that comes with the bottle of Gojo orange pumice hand cleaner. It's soft enough that I doubt it would hurt a Meg's pad, but it might not be stiff enough to clean very well either. If it doesn't work you can still use the hand cleaner.

[artikxscout]

Originally Posted by Eliot Ness

Not Optimum specific, but for cleaning pads I use one of three different cleaners, and sometimes a combo of 2 or 3 of them.

The first thing I like to do is soak them in a bucket of warm/hot water with Snappy Pad Cleaner (the DP version looks like the same stuff) while I'm putting other stuff away.... I'll go back and squeeze them a couple of times to get the cleaner worked into the pad. If they still have some product in them when I rinse them out I'll go inside and squirt some Dawn or APC on them, work it in well with my fingers (or a brush), and then rinse them with hot water until them come clean (and repeat if needed). Sometimes a product will leave a slight stain, but I've always been able to get 95% of my pads clean.

I was even able to get some Collinite 476 out of a 4" pad last week using hot water in the sink with some Dawn. I did throw some pads into a washer once with some APC and they came out very clean, but it left a residue on the washer tub I had to clean off before the wife discovered it.

yeah that's exactly what did, hot water, + dawn, even more dawn on the 2nd time, and it didn't do much to the Optimum polish. I need something optimum specific, or else i'm going to have to use my finger nails to scrap off the polish. It really sucks! I'll post up a new post.

[jgriesinger]

I find the brush works extremely well for me, at the cost of limiting the pad life.

I now have a small army of pads at my disposal. During polishing I will usually just swap them out after almost every panel. Now my pads seem to last alot longer now that I don't brush them continuously throught the polishing process.

-Jeremy

[RogueM3]

So it looks like people have mixed experiences with the yellow brush, dependent on the pad upon which it is used. I generally use Wolfgang pads or Meguiars Pads, and think I might order the brush with my next AG order. For now, Ill use the fingernail brush that came with a jug of Gojo I have in the shop!

Thanks guys.

[Accumulator]

Eliot Ness- That fingernail brush is a great idea