Anyone use bonnets on their PC LSP?

[twopu]

I us mf to remove LSP for years but I`m hearing from several people that they love using a bonnet on their pc. Any thoughts? What type of bonnet would you use and what pad?

[JasonD]

Any clean pad will do, and only use a mf bonnet. They are available from pretty much all vendors that carry mf towels and/or foam pads.



If you want to see what it will be like before buying, just use a mf towel. Place the towel on the car, then sit the pc right in the center of it, and turn it on. Be careful that you don`t drop the towel on the ground though.

[scooterguitar]

How come most peopel say not to use a bonnet?

[Accumulator]

Heh heh, why do some people say *whatever* they say :nixweiss



I use MF bonnets to buff LSPs all the time. Both plush style (mainly for carnaubas) and suede style (mainly for sealants). I use them over cutting pads as I like a) the thickness, b) the firmness, and c) the way the cutting pads really hold onto the bonnets and thus keep them from slipping around ineffectually.



I do *not* really like using MF bonnets over wool pads, as the wool tends to compress too much for my taste and it can leave wool strands in the MF, which I sure wouldn`t want touching my just LSPed paint.

[InfamousDX]

I use the MF bonnets for LSPs all the time also. Never had a problem... for me it`s just what I`m feeling like doing at hte time being.

[twopu]

Any difference between the Cobra http://autogeek.net/mb1010.html

and the special purchase MF http://autogeek.net/microfiber-bonnet.html

[Brian_Brice]

do you think the results differ from buffing off by hand as opposed to using your pc? obviously its easier with pc but im curious if there is a pro con aside from difficulty.

[Accumulator]

twopu- The Cobra bonnets I have (older, might not be the same) aren`t soft enough to use on *my* cars, but they work OK on vehicles I`m not that particular about. They appeared to leave slight micromarring on the Jag (soft ss paint) and I might be overy cautious.. I haven`t tried the others you linked to. I wouldn`t try to save money, I`d try to get the best; who wants to mar the paint at that last step of a detail?



VaSuperShine- I`d be hard-pressed to find any true, real-world differences that I can point to and say "there, see how it`s better". But I find the motions of moving a PC/Cyclo over a car easier/more pleasant than the motions of removing product by hand (*especially* the Cyclo!) and I can`t help but think there oughta be some advantage to having all those orbits-per-minute compared to what I do by hand. Maybe it burnishes the surface better, I dunno...



I started doing it with bonnets when I had shoulder problems that precluded doing it by hand; jobs that I simply couldn`t do were a piece of cake by machine. After the shoulders were OK again, I kept doing it by machine as I simply *like* it that much better.

[Brian_Brice]

yeah i agree accume, alot of times i just have more unused mfs than i do pads or bonnets, the path of least resistance isnt a bad thing in our business, and removing sg can definitely be a pain without a machine so i think ill stock up on bonnets, thanks for your time and info.

[maecrispy]

I too am an MF bonnet user for removal. I remove hard to reach areas by hand and then use bonnets to remove the large horizontal and vertical areas. I find it leaves a glossier shine and is faster and less tiring than doing everything by hand.



Accumulator`s absolutely correct in that using a polishing/cutting pad is best for bonnet removal. The softer finishing pads are too mushy. The pads will slip around and the bonnets won`t have quite as much bite.



The only time I don`t use bonnets for removal are for products that dust up a lot (SSR`s, Prime, etc...) The pads just load up too fast and you have to switch out bonnets too often. It becomes counter-productive to waste so much time switching out bonnets. Anything requiring more than two bonnets and I remove by hand.

[Accumulator]

I I remove hard to reach areas by hand and then use bonnets to remove the large horizontal and vertical areas. .



Here`s a flip-side approach you might want to try: I do the initial removal by machine, taking note of the areas I can`t access. When I`m finished I pull the bonnets off and use the unsoiled-areas (like where they went over the sides of the pad) to do the tight spots. Then I go over everything with a fresh MF.



It`s sorta like cutting a lawn with a riding mower and doing the tight spots with a push mower (or a using a push mower and a string trimmer)- which one to do first :nixweiss

[maecrispy]

Here`s a flip-side approach you might want to try: I do the initial removal by machine, taking note of the areas I can`t access. When I`m finished I pull the bonnets off and use the unsoiled-areas (like where they went over the sides of the pad) to do the tight spots. Then I go over everything with a fresh MF.



That could work. :)



I think the key is to develop a routine that works and then practice it until it becomes second nature. Otherwise, especially with some LSP`s that go on so thin I can hardly see it, I`ll always be wondering `did I go over that spot?` Then I`ll end up going over some spots twice and missing others.