I was reading Superbee's posts about how he uses milder wool pads as his regular go-to pads, and was intrigued. I like wool because it is easier to use in that it doesn't yank the buffer around so much, and it is much less likely to burn things like trim, rubber, etc on accidental contact. Also, at least in my experience, wool doesn't sling as much as a foam pad.
Generally the downside is it is quite aggressive and leaves a terrible finish. But it sounds like these milder pads address these shortcomings.
So I had the LC purple foamed wool pad, an Edge green and an Edge blue wool. They are all the 6" size, as I prefer these smaller pads. Unfortunately the purple foamed wool is very thin, so thin I couldn't use my
Meg's backing plate because the raised alignment peg in the plate would have stuck right through the pad and hit the paint. So I used the backing plate that came with my Hitachi rotary instead.
For my test, I took the trunk of my wife's '97 Regal. The car looks pretty good from a few feet back, but it's got 175k miles on it, is parked outside all the time, and she uses it pretty hard. There were numerous RIDS defects, some of which really probably needed wetsanding. In addition the clear was slightly oxidized as it isn't waxed all that often, and is prepped even less often.
I washed the trunklid with QEW (which actually ended up being quite handy), then clayed it and taped it in half. I wanted to just buff one side, so I could compare it to the other.
I started out with the purple foamed wool pad and
Meguiar's #84. I would not call this pad easy to use for a rotary novice like me. It fought me a little, especially as the trunk curved away and I didn't keep up with the angle so well. It wasn't super hard to use, but was a bit of a struggle for me. I was also struggling with the amount of product, I think I was using too much initially. The pad got too wet to spur, so I wiped it off with towels instead. This made it a bit easier to use.
I used the rotary first on 2.5 (~1400rpm) but soon found 3 (~1700rpm) more suitable. I used this setting from then on for each new pad/product combo.
The purple foamed wool for me left very noticeable holograming, it did not finish down well. However, it was fairly aggressive and removed many of the RIDS, and significantly reduced others. And to keep perspective, the pad was not any harder to use than a Meg's red foam cutting pad. I have a heck of a time controlling that pad also, the foamed wool was probably closer to my ability to control a yellow polishing foam pad, but with more cut.
I did have the problem with streaked/caked on residue though, which I also get with foam pads, and possibly because I used too much product. What I found exceptionally helpful though, was to rewash the panel with the QEW I still had. I let it sit on the residue and through many gentle passes with the sheepskin wash mitt, the residue came off. This is much better than trying to QD and towel it off, as that invariably leaves marring behind. I actually started doing this after every step, and found it quite helpful.
Next up I took the green Edge wool pad, and some Meg's #83. I was expecting it to be a bit of a handful too, but the pad just glided over the paint. It was incredibly easy to use, and finished down quite well, removing all the hazing and holograming left by the purple foamed wool pad.
I couldn't see any marring being left behind, but it could be my lighting sucks. I tried the overhead fluorescents and also a mechanics torch. But holograming doesn't necessarily need bright light, rather just sort of light at the right angle, to be visible.
This step was very easy to buff off, and I didn't have the sort of gummy areas where the pad got wobbly or anything.
The last step was the blue Edge wool pad and Meg's #82. I figured I'd just give it a try in case there was any holograming that I couldn't see, and also just to try out the pad. It worked and felt pretty much like the blue one. It was incredibly easy to use, the finish looked great, and didn't appear to have any marring.
I then removed the tape, and washed the whole trunk again. The difference in clarity of the surface was apparent because of the slight oxidation on the untouched half.
To rectify that, and also to try to remove any glaze effect that might be unfairly benefitting the polished side, I waxed the whole trunk with Klasse AIO. On the polished side I simply wiped it on, and on the unfinished side I worked it in to remove the slight oxidation.
Today in the sun, the polished side has less RIDS without a doubt. It also has some minor holograming/swirling though. If I were to do this on my 'vette or not as a test, I think I would finish with a PC or Cyclo just to be sure all holograms were removed.
Also, again to be fair or to quantify the results. I also get minor holograming/swirls when I use the rotary with foam polishing pads. I'm just not good enough with the rotary or the products to avoid this. However, the wool pads were substantially easier to use than foam pads on the rotary. So I'm definitely sold.
I do think I should have taken advantage of the 2-pack savings on the purple foamed wool pad though that autogeek had. The pad really doesn't seem very durable, I suspect its life is pretty short.
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