Hmmm.... where did I post about this recently?
Washing waxes or paint sealant out of pads is usually hard and messy, just try this by hand one time and see what it feels like all over your hand.
A quality wax or paint sealant shouldn't be water soluble, if it is, then that means just like it will wash out of your pad easily, it will wash off of your car easily, so discovering that pads with wax or paint sealants are hard to clean is a good thing.... sort of...
I tell me once he was having a really had time getting the wax build-up out of the inside of his foam buffing pads and wanted to know how to fix the problem.
One idea I suggested was to cut down on the amount of wax he was using because if you're using a finishing wax or finishing sealant or finishing hybrid, you shouldn't be using so much product that your pads are becoming saturated in the first place.
Now when it comes to a cleaner/wax, or a cleaner/sealant, or a cleaner/hybrid, this can be a problem as repeatedly applying product t your pad and working on a vehicle will tend to saturate your pads.
This is the nature of the beast as if you're doing production detail work it's faster and easier to have a few extra pads to get the job done and then focus on cleaning the pads later after the job is over.
Suffice to say, getting waxes, sealants or hybrid protection product out of the inside of a foam buffing pad will never be as easy as watching TV or eating a piece of cake. You're going to have to find a cleaning solution that will dissolve, emulsify, break-down the product inside the pad and basically hand squeeze and squish it out under running water.
Pad washers are not going to work well for this and you're also going to create a transfer all the removed wax, sealant or hybrid product into your pad washer water.
I don't clean wax/sealant/hybrid pads in my pad washer, I pretty much use it for compounds and polishes.
For any lurkers reading this and wondering?
Why does he keep talking about waxes, sealants and hybrids?
Great question. The reason for this is because some detailing enthusiasts like to be very specific when referring to products in the "Paint Protection Category" so usually when I type I segment them.
See this article for all the categories and what they include...
How To Choose The Right Wax or Paint Sealant for your Detailing Project