Polishing with wet (damp actually) pads?

S

superstring

New member
One thing that has always bothered me about polishing via machine is spreading the polish initially on the pad. If you use just a little polish, as most experienced users seem to agree is the way to go, it'll spread out eventually and cover the pad, but what about in the mean time? Maybe I'm being unnecessarily paranoid, but it seems to me that, for a short time, you'll be polishing with a semi-dry pad.



So I'm wondering if you couldn't soak the pad in water, wring it out, spot a little polish on it and use it that way. There would also be a added benefit that the polish wouldn't tend to penetrate the pad as much as when using a dry pad (I think :nervous: ). Note that I'm not talking about "misting" the pad :)



I know that it may depend somewhat on the polish as to how well this would work. The polishes I own are from Menzerna and Meguiar's.



Anyone have any thoughts about this before I go and make a mess by trying it myself??!
 
A lot of people seem to like "misting" the pad. I dont recall reading too much about people soaking it and ringing it out. What I do usually is put more polish than I need on the pad for the first panel or so. Then once the pad has absorbed some polish, I go back to my usual size small drops. If you're going to try the soaking method you describe, I would make sure that it is only SLIGHTLY wet. I can see you creating a serious mess if it's TOO damp.
 
I was forced to do the damp pad last weekend. I polished some Friday night and forgot to seal the pads. Saturday morning the pads were filled with dry polish and I had no choice but to wash one out to use it. I threw it in the dryer to dry some but it was still damp when I started using it.



In short, I hated it. The polish became really "liquidy" because it was being mixed with the water from the damp pad. It never did completetly break down (M80), and was streaky to remove because of the added water in the mixture. After a couple panels I guess the heat dryed it out and it was fine, but I didn't like it damp. It was a pain and I'll make sure to wash the pads the night before next time.
 
I use Optimum polish most times so it is usually not a problem. I am also using the CCS pads (rotary), and they seem to absorb the polish much more efficiently. I usually just put a small dime-nickel size dab directly on the panel. I then use the polisher (off) to spread the polish around the entire panel. Once I feel it is spread sufficiently, I start to polish. The issues I had with polish drying too quickly where usually solvent based polishes.
 
There are foam pad conditioners made for this and a lot of people just mist water. I'll condition just about all of my pads once before using.
 
Damp pads sling like a mother and tend to make the polish gum up. The best way to prevent semi-dry buffing is to take the amount of polish you usually use to prime the pad and turn it into tiny dots (like 10 or 15 of them), then just touch the pad to the paint and rub it once, and it'll be primed.
 
Danase said:
There are foam pad conditioners made for this and a lot of people just mist water. I'll condition just about all of my pads once before using.
Click to expand...



Is the conditioner equally effective with all polish brands and types? Anyone else have experience with this product?
 
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