Products and pads

[RX-Chris]

First off, I`ve been reading these forums for a few months now and decided to finally register. I`ve always been a freak about keeping my cars clean (wash every 3 days and wax bi-weekly) and then I found this site.



I received my PC for Christmas and ordered up some LC pads (white, grey, and orange). Yesterday I decided it was time to put them to use. I don`t have a huge arsenal so I went with what I have.



I started with Megs #9 on the grey pad on speed 5 and worked that into the hood for about 30 minutes and it didn`t quite remove all of the swirls. I continued on at speed 6 for the rest of the car which took me a good 3 hours. When I finished I went to pull the pad off and noticed that it had started splitting on the edges of the velcro backing almost all the way through. I`m guessing because I used too much pressure but any input on this would be great.



I then applied a coat of Megs #26 on the white pad on speed 3.5. and removed that (much easier than the #9). Overall, it looks pretty good but not perfect. I don`t want to see any swirls or fine scratches. I`m going to top it with a coat of NXT today.



The car is only 4 months old and the dealer gave it a massive swirl bath upon delivery which is what I`m trying to correct. Anyways, on to the questions...



Since the #9 didn`t give me the results I was looking for on the grey pad, would it be ok to use the orange pad or should I just order up some Poorboys SSR 2 or 2.5 and work that in with the grey pad? The car is a 04 Black Mazda RX-8 (no metallic). Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I`ll get some pics up shortly.



-Chris

[imported_UnsanePyro]

Well, I just recently got a PC also, and ran into a similar problem as you, with swirls not being removed. I upped the abbrasiveness of what I was using, with a little bit of sucess, but then decided to up the pad, which worked quite well for me.



As for the pad splitting, I would probably guess as you have, that you were using too much pressure. From what I`ve read the amount of pressure should be enough to slow the speed down just a little, then back off just enough so that it spins without slowing down.



Good luck!

[OJ_GTI]

Hi Chris,



Welcome to Autopia.



First off, the LC pads you have in order of aggresiveness (least to most) are grey, white, orange. The orange is for cutting - scratches and deep swirls. White is for polishing - light swirls and polishing. Grey is a finishing pad - sealants etc.



Therefore you should have used the orange or white pad first, then another white, then grey.



I don`t use Meguiars products so maybe somebody else can chime in here on those...



Good luck!

[OJ_GTI]

Using the grey pad with an aggressive polish and pressure may have been the reason it split.

[RX-Chris]

Oh man. Now I feel like a *******. No wonder the grey pad started splitting. Its not meant for that kind of work. Now I`m wondering if I wasted 6 hours when I could have removed everything. Oh well, I guess it could have been worse.



Thanks.

[spotpad]

I agree with OG_GTI. I checked out my LC white and grey pads and found that the only difference between the two are color and firmness.



So it seems that the white pad is really meant to apply the pressure for you because it doesn`t sag as much under the weight of the PC or rotary.



I was wondering if I could get away with just using the grey finishing pad and upping the abrasiveness only by using a more aggressive polish.



Your little experiment is similar to what I was thinking of doing except that I wouldn`t have put any pressure at all.