tuffluck said:
yeah, heh. well, the problem i see with the 16 is that when i use it by hand and put a little on the pad, when i start smearing it on the car, there are blank, bare spots were no 16 will touch. maybe that has something to do with the stuff not being liquidated enough...
Yeah, that and just having to be more meticulous when you apply

If doing it by hand, you have to really watch what you're doing and catch any missed areas before moving on. Sometimes I think people try to rush this sort of thing a little too much.
..another thing i guess is that when you start using the 16, wherever on the car you apply it first is going to get the most of it since it's fresh off the pad.. .
If doing it by hand you can moderate the pressure a bit at first; you can do this to some extent by machine too, but with the machine you can just spread it out by going over the initial spot a few times. If you do the " i suppose i can smear a little on in different places with the pad before i actually turn the PC on to help keep the 16 uniform on all the parts of the car" approach, watch that you're not trying to do too large an area. That *will* work, but I'd rather work small areas. While a "padful" might do a hood and fender, I'd just do the hood with barely enough product and add a little more to do the fender. If you put less on the pad, you'll have to do smaller areas before adding more, but I think it'll go better.
I was thinking of this thread when I waxed the A8. I didn't have much on the Cyclo's pads; I was able to do half the hood, for instance before I needed to add product. It was so thin you could barely see it on there, and it was very uniform. Perhaps it was uniform because I spread it out quite a bit- sorta wide, long arcs at first, then I slow down and spread it out. I think of "working it into the paint", even though that really isn't what's happening.
I buffed a few areas off by hand, and it was easy as could be. Nice slick surface, plenty of wax on it.
And once again, my MF bonnets and CBT are vitually unused looking. I might put another coat on tomorrow, and if I do I'll just use the same bonnets and CBT. Sure doesn't take much product....