Pad Cleaning

[pwaug]

That looks cool. Curious does that cause any issues at all with the pad structure or weaken the backing?

I haven`t had any issues and Swanicyouth has been using his much longer with no issues.

[Mass. Wine Guy]

I ain`t a buyin` no air compressor. Soap and water with air drying will do.

[512detail]

512Detail- I`ve been known to let mine sit around uncleaned for a while too Never really an issue, yet.

I haven`t cleaned the pads from the last cosmic hellcat OR the audi yet

[RaydiantDetail]

I haven`t cleaned the pads from the last cosmic hellcat OR the audi yet

Lol I can`t do that. It would bother me. I usually wash mine right after I`m finished or if I`m finished the cutting stage I`ll wash them to take a break before the polishing. But definitely wouldn`t be able to keep them uncleaned over many days or weeks.

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[Justins00ss]

So for actual cleaning I use some warm water and apply a bit of dawn dish soap to the pad. This breaks down any polish really well then I rinse them. After that they go in the washing machine.

For on the fly cleaning while polishing I blow the pad out with compressed air and keep on going.

[Dan]

Some day I`ll buy a dedicated Pad Cleaning Product, for now I`m using up my APCs and old Power Dissolver for that.

I can`t believe they discontinued Power Disolver. That stuff was awesome for caked on pad funk. Megs degreaser does OK, but not nearly as good. I used to leave my pads a mess, who wants to worry about cleaning pads after you spend 6-8 hours polishing, right?

Now I just throw them into the wash bucket and let them sit until I`m ready. It seems to hold them in in their current state almost indefinately. The water will get moldy though!

[512detail]

Lol I can`t do that. It would bother me. I usually wash mine right after I`m finished or if I`m finished the cutting stage I`ll wash them to take a break before the polishing. But definitely wouldn`t be able to keep them uncleaned over many days or weeks.

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well I immediately do my soak and wash in the machine but I have yet to do the actual scrubbing of the pads

[Mass. Wine Guy]

I like the Dawn dish liquid and water approach. If you put them in the washing machine, can you use normal detergent?

[pwaug]

For really difficult pads to clean like after using FK1000p I`ve been using LA Awesome (from the $ Store) since they discontinued Power Dissolver, but recently I tried McKees Pad Cleaner. To my surprise the McKees smells very similar LA Awesome. Hmmm!

[Mass. Wine Guy]

So you wash the pads in the washer with the LA Awesome oxy powder? Do you clean them prior to this in any way?

[upon3]

As soon as mine come off of the DA, I soak it with a degreaser like 8:1 Simple Green, then drop it into a 1 gallon bucket filled with water. They soak while I finish the project I am working on. I try to never let them completely dry with product in them, if possible. Once I`m done with that day`s work, I will work each one with my fingers to massage any product still in them, then rinse with the hose sprayer. It removes pretty much everything in the pads, and I don`t need to abuse them in the washer (or abuse the wash machine). I fling the excess water out by hand by snapping the pad toward the ground or will chuck them into the HF rotary on high speed and let physics do the work. They all get laid out backing-down onto a wire shelf I have in the garage just for drying purposes.

For pads with sealants or waxes, I`ll let them sit for a half-hour in a tray of Paint Prep or wax & grease remover and then rinse the same way as above.

It`s the least amount of labor I have found for the best results and the least amount of mess to clean up when I`m done. And, so far, this method hasn`t beat up the pads at all.



doug

[Accumulator]

I never got great results putting foam pads in the washing machine. Even if they did get clean, they didn`t rinse out all that well...just not the same as squeezing them out/etc. under running water.

I never use powdered detergents as I have this (perhaps irrational) fear that something won`t fully dissolve and will remain in the pad/towel/whatever and cause marring later.

upon3- Noting that I use APCs on mine, what`s the rationale behind using a *degreaser* for pad cleaning? NOT arguing (nor hating on Simple Green), just curious as I think of degreasers as emulsifiers (rather than surfactants) and that`s not how I`d lean when it comes to this particular task.

[Accumulator]

Oh, and just FWIW, when I`ve failed to get every last bit of FK1000P out of an applicator, it *never* caused any problems other than easy-to-deal with dusting. Didn`t mar the paint or cause issues with the application going on at the time. I do try to get it all out with my APC/Dawn/etc. but I no longer sweat it all that much.

[upon3]

upon3- Noting that I use APCs on mine, what`s the rationale behind using a *degreaser* for pad cleaning? NOT arguing (nor hating on Simple Green), just curious as I think of degreasers as emulsifiers (rather than surfactants) and that`s not how I`d lean when it comes to this particular task.

It`s just what I have found that takes most everything out while sitting in an unattended bucket of water. APCs worked ok, but a diluted Simple Green or Super Clean has proven to get out most of the things I am trying to get out of pads. It works, so until I find something better...

[pwaug]

So you wash the pads in the washer with the LA Awesome oxy powder? Do you clean them prior to this in any way?

Immediately after use I soak them in a bucket with a water/APC mix then squeeze out the water, spray with LA Awesome, then spray clean in the Ghetto Pad Washer.