Using 1 buffing pad for 6-8 sections (1 panel)

1. If you have compound it before you maybe get away with cleaning the pad after 2 sections. If polishing the first time I would brush of the pad between sections. After your first section look at the pad how much of dirt and used polish you have on it. And it don't take long to brush of the pad from used polish and clearcoat residue.

2. Do you mean that you kiss the paint to 2 sections and spread it and work 1 section and go direct to the second already kissed and spread section? I want to look at the pad after each section to see so it's not picked up something. And some polishes start to dry rather soon if not worked on. So I would not dubble section when polishing. And you can get to much of polish in the pad so it's saturate faster and becomes ineffective faster.

I think that it's best to take your time and not take short cuts. Will get you the best result from your hard work. When you get the routine in with a quick brush of the pad and a reload with polish after each section. The time it's take is not so much more than dubble kiss sections and leave out the brushing in between them. Just my thoughts about it.

SWETM said:

1. If polishing the first time I would brush of the pad between sections. After your first section look at the pad how much of dirt and used polish you have on it. And it don't take long to brush of the pad from used polish and clearcoat residue.

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I had read some article here once about "wiping on the go".. does that essentially do the same thing? In between every section you could wipe the pad off with a clean microfiber towel ? Then move on the to the next section

I never go more than 2 sections before brush cleaning and toweling dry my working pad. Like SWETM said, for me, there is a difference between polishing a few sections after compounding and 1 step polishing or cleaner waxes/sealants. What I mean is if I have already cut the paint first with something more aggressive I can go 2 sections before brushing and towelling the polishing pad. The cut down compound has "cleaned" and abraded the paint enough that the polish step isn't clogging up my pad too much other than spent product and a finer amount of paint. If compounding or cutting more aggressively I stop and clean/inspect my pads after every section.

I regularly use one pad for 6 sections of a hood, inspecting after each section and cleaning after each section...maybe cleaning after 2 sections worked of the six.

I never add product to an entire hood (via the kiss method or straight beads). I tried that technique after seeing it in some videos but don't like to move on without inspecting and/or cleaning my working pad. I do sometimes use Mike's "10 and 2" bead pickup method but don't apply beads to subsequent sections and just keep moving. I need to make sure I'm working clean and at least inspecting my pad progress.

Another thing I consider is that I don't add as much product to my pad for the next section as I do for the first section. Even though I have cleaned my pad on the fly after the first section, there is still some product (and unfortunately spent paint) in the pad. While I may have used 3-4 dime sized dabs at first I'll use 2 for the next section.

I want the pad and product to work at it's best. A clogged up pad can't do its best. I have so many pads I think nothing of retiring a working pad and grab a clean one.

Yes I think so. Some spinns the machine and take a mf towel and clean the pad. But be carefull when doing this. I prefer to use compressed air to blow out the pads with the machine on. I will see the pores in the foam pad so it's not clogged up. And since I have a long throw polisher I swap pads after 2 sections. To let them cool of and if they are to dirty or saturated I lay them in the bucket with water and some apc so they don't dry. And that the apc can break down the polish.
Maybe it's a little overboard but I like to work as clean as possible and let the polishes do there work without as much as residue as possible.
All comes down in what step you are at and what kind of abrasive you are working with. But the first step I'm very cautious to inspect the pad I working with. That's when things can go wrong if the pad is caugth up something. And I look at the polished section as I work so that I can see if I get any strange pattern on the panel. If so I lift the polisher direct and inspect what's going on.

SWETM said:

Yes I think so. Some spinns the machine and take a mf towel and clean the pad. But be carefull when doing this. I prefer to use compressed air to blow out the pads with the machine on.

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You clean pads with compressed air with the machine on? Why? That seems like it would be unnecessarily challenging + the compressed air spins the pad on its own with the polisher off the moment it hits it.

SWETM said:

1. If you have compound it before you maybe get away with cleaning the pad after 2 sections. If polishing the first time I would brush of the pad between sections. After your first section look at the pad how much of dirt and used polish you have on it. And it don't take long to brush of the pad from used polish and clearcoat residue.

2. Do you mean that you kiss the paint to 2 sections and spread it and work 1 section and go direct to the second already kissed and spread section? I want to look at the pad after each section to see so it's not picked up something. And some polishes start to dry rather soon if not worked on. So I would not dubble section when polishing. And you can get to much of polish in the pad so it's saturate faster and becomes ineffective faster.

I think that it's best to take your time and not take short cuts. Will get you the best result from your hard work. When you get the routine in with a quick brush of the pad and a reload with polish after each section. The time it's take is not so much more than dubble kiss sections and leave out the brushing in between them. Just my thoughts about it.

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Eldorado2k said:

You clean pads with compressed air with the machine on? Why? That seems like it would be unnecessarily challenging + the compressed air spins the pad on its own with the polisher off the moment it hits it.

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I start with blowing it out from the center of the pad and work my way to the end. IME it's gets cleaner with the machine on that way and I need to turn away from the car and when I do that I spinn the polisher up side down. Lay it on my leg start it and blow out the pad in a couple of seconds. If I'm inside I have a big trash bucket where I sink the polisher in and blow it out in there. So the residue is gathered in one place. This maybe it's not the most quickest way to do it. But think it's works ok. If I don't have access to compressed air I do the same thing with a brush and the machine on. Just works for me

To many variables.What compound or polish how much pressure paint condition.I can do any size car with no more than three pads.More is recommended but if it flys and works why not.

I brush after each section. After the pad is primed it doesn't take as much compound/polish for the next sections, depending on what you're using. Then after about three or four sections I'll do the microfiber towel process to try to pull out any excess polish or compound so the pad doesn't get saturated. But as someone mentioned there are a lot of variables so this process gets tweaked depending on the variables.

can you use a basic $1 nail brush for this ?

01AUDI said:

can you use a basic $1 nail brush for this ?

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It might work... For a while I was using this brush when it was new and it worked great.



It’s now a tire brush that I rarely use.

fightnews said:

Instead of breaking the hood up in the four sections like I normally do I did it in like 10 small ones

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You broke down that small *** hood on the Kia into 10 sections? That’s insane. Lol. If it worked, then right on.

fightnews said:

I don't know but I'm doing it now and it's like a life-changing experience. Maybe it only applies to this wax but now I can see why you really have to do small sections when your polishing

Instead of breaking the hood up in the four sections like I normally do I did it in like 10 small ones

Mike told me and typical Hood should be broken up in to nine sections in the other thread. I don't know if it was a typo Maybe

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If the hood slopes down in the front he may do like the first 4 or 5 inches of the hood all the way across as one section??

How did your pad look like after the hood?

It's just keep going the way you are if it's works for you. Often how big a section is depends how far your body reach. I hold my left hand at the top of the polisher. So I feel comfortable working more to my left than my right side. And so I don't have to change my foot stand. I often dry run the movement I feel comfortable with and find the position I think will work without being uncomfortable stretching positions. The ergonomics are important to save your strengt through out of the car.

Hope you have takeing before shots and then show us the after shots. Those gives me motivation to wanting to get the cars I care for done in the spring.

Good luck and take your time