first time with wool...

[wannafbody]

I decided to break out of the mold and give a Makita twisted wool pad a shot. I devised what I thought was a safe plan of attack. I reached for a mixture of Mothers powerpolish and Megs #9(my MPP was thin so I thickened it up a bit) in order to prime the pad. This actually worked well at keeping the pad moist but did result in some initail sling. I then used a mix of OHC/MPP to cut the paint. I used my rotary at roughly 1000-1200 rpm to keep it safe. I didn`t have much of an issue with shedding until I allowed the pad to dry a bit too much. Then it started to shed. The wool pad really does a great job of smoothing the edges off etching. I didn`t remove all of it but I did make quite an improvement. It seemed to be much quicker and effective vs using a yellow cutting pad. I still need to do a final finishing polish to achieve a bit better gloss and remove some swirling. If you have serious etching issues wool can be a great tool in the hands of someone who uses some common sense and is careful. It wasn`t nearly as scary of an experience as some here think.

[SpoiledMan]

Wool does a *very* good job of taking care of "problem" paint. You could spend all day with foam trying to correct the paint of an hour or less with wool and be on to the polishing step. Wool pads also run much cooler than foam and are very easy to control.

[Accumulator]

wannafbody- Glad to hear this worked out so well for you. I keep thinking I need to try wool on some nasty project but I`ve yet to do it. Reading about how it worked so well for you gives me some more positive feedback to consider.

[imported_rydawg]

Wool does a *very* good job of taking care of "problem" paint. You could spend all day with foam trying to correct the paint of an hour or less with wool and be on to the polishing step. Wool pads also run much cooler than foam and are very easy to control.

Well said Spoiled man!



I think most people here the word "wool" they think body shop hack. The most important thing with wool and the #1 rule is you need the perfect and correct polish. Presta polishes and light cut compound are my #1 choices. The newer version of OP would be another good alternative. When using wool, use a very mild polish with little cut as possible. Now 3m compound on a wool would be a bad choice and would leave very deep marring and also buffer hop and skip and would dry up also.



Best way to put it would be:



Think of the wool pad doing the easy work. The polish is just a lubricant and you need something with great lubricants and the wool will take the defects out.

I have tried many many techniques over the years and wool with the right polish is way safer than a cutting foam and a harsh polish!



A foam pad will be needed to finish to a swirl free high gloss and the results will be spectacular.

Hope this helps!

Thanks

Ryan

[SpoiledMan]

Well said Spoiled man!



When using wool, use a very mild polish with little cut as possible.



Thanks Ryan!



I used wool and Powergloss to remove wet sanding marks(half a car) and was not only amazed at how fast it but and brought back the gloss but also how easy it was to finish afterwards. I still kick myself for not doing a picture documentation of that project.:(

[David Fermani]

The wool pad really does a great job of smoothing the edges off etching. I didn`t remove all of it but I did make quite an improvement. It seemed to be much quicker and effective vs using a yellow cutting pad. If you have serious etching issues wool can be a great tool in the hands of someone who uses some common sense and is careful. It wasn`t nearly as scary of an experience as some here think.



Glad you went to the "darkside" of buffing. Wool is much easier to work with than foam. You should look into some ultra fine polishing wool pads. They barely leave any swirls(if any) and they have a reasonable amount of cut too. Some people choose to finish down with them after using a heavier/cutting wool. After using them, you just need to final foam pad and you`re done.



Watch out - Wool pads are very addictive!!!

[imported_rydawg]

Powergloss is great stuff also, but should be used by a pro only!



A friend of mine painted a 69 Camaro by himself and it had orange peel worst than crushed stone. I went through 100 sheets of wetsand paper, 3 wool pads and Presta ultra cutting creme regular and 1500 polish and it came out like a showcar. Only charged $400 and Took 2 Days, but I got about 20 jobs off of it. I wish I would have pictures of that one. That was the most intense before and after ever. Foam would have never even budged and would have taken 2 weeks and still would have not come close.



Foam pads did finish off to an extreme glossy swirl free gloss though

[Junebug]

Hey, I have the Makita rotary too, mine came with the bag, backing plate and two wool pads. Thanks for testing the water for me, I just might try it next time I get a vehicle with heavy swirls. David - I know, I know, I was going to get some wool pads from your source, just don`t have ANY money to put into the biz right now - still waiting on that 300 dollar boat job that the customer keeps re-scheduling..

[David Fermani]

David - I know, I know, I was going to get some wool pads from your source, just don`t have ANY money to put into the biz right now - still waiting on that 300 dollar boat job that the customer keeps re-scheduling..



Don`t worry - Their not going anywhere.

wannafbody - what kind and type of wool pad did you end up using?

[imported_rydawg]

Glad you went to the "darkside" of buffing. Wool is much easier to work with than foam. You should look into some ultra fine polishing wool pads. They barely leave any swirls(if any) and they have a reasonable amount of cut too. Some people choose to finish down with them after using a heavier/cutting wool. After using them, you just need to final foam pad and you`re done.



Watch out - Wool pads are very addictive!!!



Hey David



What type (brand) wool pads do you use?

[Envious Eric]

David - I know you use automagic...but which ones again? and what backing plate for the rotary? Ned to order this stuff up....is there a local distributor in the 92708 area, i dont want to fill out all that stuff just to find a distributor!

[David Fermani]

I use the white (cutting) and yellow (polishing) ones from Auto Magic. I try to keep my wool pads simple. If you`re looking for distributor w/o all the paperwork, I have one for you. For certain jobs, I also like the black lambs wool pads from Micro Surface Finishing Products. Also, I have an Auto Quip thin backing plate on my rotary that`s been there for over 5 years w/o any problems.

[wannafbody]

Don`t worry - Their not going anywhere.

wannafbody - what kind and type of wool pad did you end up using?



I used a Makita wool pad that I bought at Lowes.

[captkirk2]

Love the "glide" of the wool pad. Havent used one in a while. I like the polishing pads from autoint.com, they are natual tanned wool. I want to try one out with ZPC next time I pull one out.

[dokhair]

I use the makita with wool and the automagic xp compound, it cleans up all the scratches very easily. The most important part is the final foam finish (ferecla G10 from england) amazing product to remove all the swirls not fill them for a couple washes.

The last thing is to top the finish with a very high quality wax that is very high in carnuaba to keep the finish. I use zaino if I want durabilty(polymer), but the World`s best wax if I going to concours event because of the depth and shine.