One pad for entire car?

T

TGates

Active member
I am going to be using IP/FPII on my GTO when the polishes arrive early next week and have a question regarding pad useage.



First of all, I'm not sure whether I can get away with using a polishing pad with the IP. My car has wash induced marring... no serious swirls, so I'd hate to take a cutting pad to it. Does anyone know if IP works well with a polishing pad?



My next question is this. Say I'm working on my car with the IP. I only have two cutting pads, and two polishing pads. If I can use both polishes with the polishing pad, will I be able to do the whole car with IP on one pad and FPII on the other? How do you know when the pad needs cleaned, and how do you clean it half way through a detail?
 
IP will work with a polishing pad, just not to its greatest effectiveness. But it will get the job done.



You can tell when your pad needs to be cleaned by just looking at it. If you see alot of dried up polish on the pad, your either going to have to wet clean it (in the sink w/ soapy water) or brush it out with a pad sparring tool brush thingy. Using the soapy water will take 10 minutes to clean the pad. take it off, put it into the hot water/soap solution. massage the pad for a minute or two the get the polish out, rinse thoroughly with clean water, wring the pad to get most of the water out, then stick it on the PC @ speed 3 for 30-60 seconds and you'll be good to go.
 
If you choose a "medium" firmness polishing pad, it will work for both IP & FP without problem. No Question. While a cutting pad would have a little more cut, it will also not finish as well - after the IP has been worked a bit, it breaks down and essentially becomes a light, final polish. With a polishing pad, I can easily use IP for my final polishing step if I work the products long enough. A polishing pad is also easier to work with than a stiff, porous cutting pad.



Again, go with the Lake Country Variable Contact 6.5" white pads from pakshak or classic motoring accessories.



I recomend having two pads for each polishing step. You can get away with only one once you have more experience. When/if the pad starts to become caked on the pad, use a toothbrush to spur the pad - it will remove all the excess product perfectly! Once you get the pad wet, you will struggle with splatter.
 
If your pad gets wet from using too much polish, press a microfiber towel against the pad and turn the PC on. You might have to repeat it a couple of times, but it works quite well to dry the pad out.



Also, the FPII and a polishing pad might be sufficient to remove the marring on your paint. Give that a try before using the IP.
 
All your pads should be dedicated for use with only 1 product. You should not cross contaminate it with other products. It doesn't matter how clean the pad gets. A pad for compounding, a pad for cutting, a pad polishing etc. Only use each pad with the exact same product every time you use it. Just mark the back of each pad with the name of the product to identify it.
 
Be careful using that "spin dry" technique with the PC. My PCs tend to launch pads (unlike the Cyclos and the rotary).
 
David Fermani said:
All your pads should be dedicated for use with only 1 product. You should not cross contaminate it with other products. It doesn't matter how clean the pad gets. A pad for compounding, a pad for cutting, a pad polishing etc. Only use each pad with the exact same product every time you use it. Just mark the back of each pad with the name of the product to identify it.
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IME that is a little overboard. I use polishing pads with everything from compound to finish polishes and have never noticed and compound sticking around after a pad is rinsed and spun. YMMV



As far as the PC launching pads during a spin cycle try drying the back of the pad with a towel first and also start at speed 1 until it gets going then up it to 3-4.
 
[quote name='MichaelM']IME that is a little overboard. I use polishing pads with everything from compound to finish polishes and have never noticed and compound sticking around after a pad is rinsed and spun. YMMV



There's no way that all the resins in a pad that was used for compounding will ever dissipate from it. It will definatetly interfere with glazing and leave micro swirls.
 
MichaelM said:
As far as the PC launching pads during a spin cycle try drying the back of the pad with a towel first and also start at speed 1 until it gets going then up it to 3-4.
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Yeah, I did it that way (had them mighty dry from squeezing in a towel and then wiping the velcro some more) and still had them detach when I turned up the speed. Could've been from worn velcro but whatever the cause it usually happened at a bad time :o So now I hesitate to recommend that people do it at all. The real lesson I learned from it was to buy a plastic tub and spin my pads in *that*. Even if they do take off, they'll at least stay in the tub. But with the PC I just get out another pad or spin it on the rotary.



As for the mixing products on a pad, I don't mind using a *more* aggressive product on a used pad. I just relabel it with the harsher product. But no, I'd never use a harsh compound, clean the pad, and then try to use a finishing polish on it, just too risky. Compared to time and paint thickness, pads are another of those renewable resources so I don't risk being penny-wise-pound-foolish.
 
Also, when I said "once the pads are wet it become difficult to control splatter" I was referring to washing them out and then reusing them. I did not mean wet with product. I prefer to let all my pads soak and wash them out at the end of the day and let them air dry - damp pads seem to splatter more product at high RPMs.
 
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