Buff & Shine pads - help with selection

B

builthatch

New member
I am going to make the switch from LC to B&S but it's slightly confusing for a few reasons.


They have different colors for the 4" vs. the 5.5".


I looked at their chart and a rough cross is the 4" are in their "US" foam and the 5.5" are "euro"...but not exactly.


I am reading online that some people are saying the yellow finishes better than the orange and softer from a tactile standpoint...but orange is listed in both foams as being less aggressive. That is confusing!


So, while I could just order everything and get a feel for myself, I don't want to waste money on pads I won't use - I have done that before and they just sit around. It's throwing money away.


 


I want to simplify things and get a compound pad, polish pad and finishing pad for both 5.5" and 4".


 


In LC, I tend to use orange flat in both sizes, white/green flat (LC didn't have a green 4" when I bought my initial pads back in the day) and gray flat.


 


Any tips for me with ordering?


 


 
 
I switched from LC to B&S a couple years ago and haven't looked back.  I got sick of LC pads falling apart.  I really like the quality of the B&S pads.  That said, orange is my go-to pad.  On occasion, I use the yellow heavy cutting pads.  Despite them being a heavy cut pad, they are easy to work with and do a great job.  I'm selling the white polishing pads that I bought, mainly because I just don't use them.  I did just pick-up the light polishing green pads so I'm excited to try them out.


 


I can definitely recommend yellow & orange.  I'm sure their finishing pads are just as high of quality.
 
I've been a faithful B&S user for several years, across many different product lines.  Between the Orange/Yellow, I couldn't pick one over the other across various vehicles.  If I had just one vehicle then likely one may shine more than the other.  I tend to use the Yellow more, it cuts slightly more which is what I want with compounding.  For polishing, the green shines.  I load up on these.  I use green pads alot from obtaining less aggressive action with compounds, to obviously polishing, for all my AIO products (HD speed is sweet combo) and most of my finishing.  I do have some blue/black pads for finishing, but find I use these the least.  The green pad with most polishes finishes so well with a polish, that I tend to go directly with a LSP and always a sealant.  For sealants, I use a different product that has 0 absorbtion to use less LSP.


 


Off the top of my head, have roughly 4 - 5 Yellows, 2 - 3 Oranges, 12+ green, 2 -3 black & blues in my arsenal.  I haven't had on pad fail yet, but I only use a PC DA.
 
stormsearch said:
I've been a faithful B&S user for several years, across many different product lines.  Between the Orange/Yellow, I couldn't pick one over the other across various vehicles.  If I had just one vehicle then likely one may shine more than the other.  I tend to use the Yellow more, it cuts slightly more which is what I want with compounding.  For polishing, the green shines.  I load up on these.  I use green pads alot from obtaining less aggressive action with compounds, to obviously polishing, for all my AIO products (HD speed is sweet combo) and most of my finishing.  I do have some blue/black pads for finishing, but find I use these the least.  The green pad with most polishes finishes so well with a polish, that I tend to go directly with a LSP and always a sealant.  For sealants, I use a different product that has 0 absorbtion to use less LSP.


 


Off the top of my head, have roughly 4 - 5 Yellows, 2 - 3 Oranges, 12+ green, 2 -3 black & blues in my arsenal.  I haven't had on pad fail yet, but I only use a PC DA.
Click to expand...


 


thank you for your reply. i confirmed that the 5.5" were their "euro" foam and the 4" their "US" foam, but the basics were the same across the board so i ended up going with 6 orange, 6 green and 2 black in both sizes. glad to hear that the green is so handy. i was on the fence about yellow...and i used to be an LC yellow user...but since i started using Hyper compound a while back, i've never touched a yellow since. i know it's hard to compare company to company but i figured that would be a good indicator that i should stick with orange for the cutting. plus i'm honestly trying to keep things simpler from this point forward. i think the flexibility of the Hyper twins lends to that concept.
 
I forgot to mention that my B&S pads are the re-labeled Uber pads from DetailersDomain.  They are just a tad nicer, more refined than the standard B&S pads, but they are still B&S pads none-the-less.
 
mshu7 said:
I forgot to mention that my B&S pads are the re-labeled Uber pads from DetailersDomain.  They are just a tad nicer, more refined than the standard B&S pads, but they are still B&S pads none-the-less.
Click to expand...


 


yep! thanks, i figured as much. not digging the "more refined" price though, haha, so i went with the B&S.


so, today i received my B&S pads. they are really nice. in particular, the backing and the step down gap between the edge of the pad and the backing edge. i noticed a pin hole or two on the face of some of the pads but nothing to worry about.


my guess about the euro vs. US thing and the sizes was wrong, so, i'm still confused but whatever. on the bag, my 5.5" orange says Euro but the 5.5 green says US, lol. whatever.


the most interesting thing is that the only yellow pad i got was in 4", since in six years i never used my bigger yellow pads in LC, but there have been a few cases here and there where i whipped out a smaller yellow, so i got two smaller yellows. well, the B&S yellow 4" is softer than the orange 4"! it feels as if the pads should be switched in the aggressiveness chart but i spoke with a tech at the factory and he said the foam itself works to a specific spec so even though it feels a certain way, it still cuts more than the firmer orange pad.


weird, but whatever. he wouldn't lie to me and i definitely made sure he understood what i was saying.


but yeah, overall, i'm SUPER impressed with the apparent quality of these pads!
 
Where'd you end up ordering the B&S pads from?


 


I've got some 4" yellows as well and now that I think about it, I think that tech may be right.  I'll have to look at my yellows & oranges again tomorrow to compare now that you've mentioned it. 


 


Glad you like them.
 
thanks. i used ADS. it was a special summer sale on top of a pad sale so i had to take the plunge.


i actually read somewhere that someone thought the same thing about yellow and orange but figured what mattered most is how it works, not how it feels. but it is weird!
 
builthatch said:
thanks. i used ASD. it was a special summer sale on top of a pad sale so i had to take the plunge.


 
Click to expand...


Did you mean ADS (Auto Detailing Solutions)?  Sorry I didn't see this thread earlier.  You have to be careful with ADS as the flat B&S 5.5" pads they sell are not standard B&S pads--the ones ADS supplies do not have the recessed Velcro as on standard B&S pads unless ADS has changed what they offer.


 


A good source of B&S pads is Autoality.com--$30 for a five pack and shipping is free if your order is over $25 and under 5 lbs.   HD pads are also basically B&S pads.
 
pwaug said:
Did you mean ADS (Auto Detailing Solutions)?  Sorry I didn't see this thread earlier.  You have to be careful with ADS as the flat B&S 5.5" pads they sell are not standard B&S pads--the ones ADS supplies do not have the recessed Velcro as on standard B&S pads unless ADS has changed what they offer.


 


A good source of B&S pads is Autoality.com--$30 for a five pack and shipping is free if your order is over $25 and under 5 lbs.   HD pads are also basically B&S pads.
Click to expand...
builthatch said:
so, today i received my B&S pads. they are really nice. in particular, the backing and the step down gap between the edge of the pad and the backing edge. i noticed a pin hole or two on the face of some of the pads but nothing to worry about.

 
Click to expand...


yep, ADS, sorry! i don't know why i keep doing that.


 


all the pads have the recessed design.


 
 

Attachments

  • IMG-20140802-03431.jpg
    IMG-20140802-03431.jpg
    55.9 KB · Views: 11
I love B&S pads. I have around 4 yellow and 8 green. I feel this is all you really need because I'd use something like wool on a rotary if I need to get more aggressive than the yellow 5.5" on a DA and I don't have any cars where green on a DA with something like M205 or HD Polish won't finish down perfectly. I guess you could get one or two of the "wax applicator" pads, but I really don't ever use mine.
 
builthatch said:
yep, ADS, sorry! i don't know why i keep doing that.


 


all the pads have the recessed design.


 
Click to expand...


That's great news, but I buy my pads from Autoality now--can't beat the free shipping.   A couple of years ago I ordered a bunch of pads from ADS that had the Velcro running all the way to the edge.  Although they did take them back are replace with the recessed Velcro pads.
 
I use the orange and black pads a lot. The orange pad is great for one steps. IT does amazing things when used with CarPro's Reflect. It has A LOT of cut and finishes down with zero marring. 
 
builthatch said:
I am going to make the switch from LC to B&S but it's slightly confusing for a few reasons.


They have different colors for the 4" vs. the 5.5".


I looked at their chart and a rough cross is the 4" are in their "US" foam and the 5.5" are "euro"...but not exactly.


I am reading online that some people are saying the yellow finishes better than the orange and softer from a tactile standpoint...but orange is listed in both foams as being less aggressive. That is confusing!


So, while I could just order everything and get a feel for myself, I don't want to waste money on pads I won't use - I have done that before and they just sit around. It's throwing money away.


 


I want to simplify things and get a compound pad, polish pad and finishing pad for both 5.5" and 4".


 


In LC, I tend to use orange flat in both sizes, white/green flat (LC didn't have a green 4" when I bought my initial pads back in the day) and gray flat.


 


Any tips for me with ordering?
Click to expand...


 


 


Are you saying the 4" orange foam is different than the 5.5" orange foam?
 
The B&S 5.5" Orange pad is Euro PrePolymer Foam and the 4" Orange pad is Un Reticulated Polyester Foam.   They both seem to correct equally well IMO -- perhaps because the 4" is smaller with less mass for the DA to move.
 
pwaug said:
The B&S 5.5" Orange pad is Euro PrePolymer Foam and the 4" Orange pad is Un Reticulated Polyester Foam.   They both seem to correct equally well IMO -- perhaps because the 4" is smaller with less mass for the DA to move.\


 
Click to expand...


 


 


Thanks. That's a bit strange. 
 
i still think it defies logic that the yellow pad feels so much less aggro than the orange in every way, yet the factory confirms it cuts more. it's very strange!
 
I too dropped LC in favor of B&S. Last Saturday I discovered that the MF "polishing" pad (gray foam back) actually worked better than the MF cutting pad (orange foam backing). I was 1 stepping a 2005 dark gray Honda Accord, paint had light swirls and plenty of oxidation. I used D300 and made use of my air compressor to keep the pads clean between sections.


 


And..........finished down LSP ready!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top