Lake Country ThinPro Foam Buffing Pads exclusively at Autogeek

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Mike Phillips

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Lake Country ThinPro Foam Buffing Pads exclusively at Autogeek


What can I say?

Thin is in!


For comparison

The Meguiar's thin foam discs on the left and the Lake Country thin foam pads on the right.

Meguiar's foam discs measures 11/16 of an inch thin or 17.5mm thin if you prefer the metric system.

The Lake Country ThinPro pads officially measure in at 11/16" or 17.5mm as stated by David Patterson at Lake Country.

As you can see by the below picture the Lake Country ThinPro look to be a tick thinner than the Meguiar's foam discs. This minute difference could be created by the thickness of the Velcro, or even adhesive or a natural bow to the pads after being boxed and stored. Big picture is the trend for foam buffing pads for free spinning random orbital polishers has for the pad to get thinner and thinner and the new offering from Lake Country validates this trend and now you have two brands to choose from.

By stacking 3 pads from each brand next to each other the small difference becomes more visible.

Thin_Pro_pads_001.jpg



Fact is you really don't want or need to get any thinner than these pads as there is something to be said for having some level of mass or material between the paint and your backing plate. If pads were to be come any thinner it might be neccassary to use them with a foam interface pad and then you've moved away from the entire idea of using thin foam pads.



More comparisons

Lake Country 5.5" foam flat pads on the left and Lake Country ThinPro foam pads on the right.

Thin_Pro_pads_002.jpg




Pad options...

Meguiar's offers three foam discs, cutting (maroon), polishing (yellow), finishing or machine waxing (black)

ThinPro foam pads are available in 5 flavors, see the graphic below for specifics.

Thin_Pro_pads_003.jpg



Thin_Pro_pads_004.jpg




ThinPro pads are available in 5.5" diameter and 6.5" pads.


On Autogeek.com

Lake Country ThinPro Foam Pad System 5.5 inch

Lake Country ThinPro Foam Pad System 6.5 inch


If you want to stick with the original thin foam pads because they offer a little more cushion and safety for people new to machine polishing, here's the link to the 5.5" Flat Pads

Lake Country 5.5" Foam Flat pads - 7/8" thin


:)
 
Thanks Mike, cant wait to try these. Also a big thanks to AutoGeek and Lake Country for these thin pads, will reduce pad stall significantly and finally an aggressive (grey) foam pad for hard clear coats. Now to bring the extreme grey cutting foam to the Hybrid range so I can use it on my Flex 3401. :)
 
I've been using the LC 5.5 flat pads(orange/white/blue) on the PC 7424 XP. Would this new pad give me better/faster results? Looks like a winner for sure!

Thanks in advance,
 
I ordered some of these, as well as the HD orbital pads.

Mike, have you compared the two?
 
Mike, which machine would these provide the most effectiveness and comfort?
 
So glad that they are available now. Was given a test batch awhile back and loved them! Have used them with my 3401, Makita rotary and Griots G21.
 
I ordered some of these a few weeks ago. The grey pad is an excellent defect killer on a long throw machine. I'll definitely be keeping these in my detailing arsenal.
 
Curious that these pads do not have a cooling hole like the Rupes or Buff & Shine Low-Pro pads??

Mike, how do these compare with the new B&S pads??
 
I've been using the LC 5.5 flat pads(orange/white/blue) on the PC 7424 XP.

Would this new pad give me better/faster results?

Looks like a winner for sure!

Thanks in advance,

To your question above in bold, the answer is "yes".

Thin pads rotate better when dry and wet on random orbital polishers that are NOT gear driven.

For example the Porter Cable 7424 XP, the Griot's 6" DA and the Meguiar's MT300

NOTE: I do not use thin pads on tools like the RUPES polishers first because I use the RUPES polishers as a "system".

I explain this in my new RUPES how-to book. Also, before using any NON RUPES pad on a RUPES tool you should do the "Air Test" to make sure the pad is compatible. The RUPES paint polishing system is an engineered system, not a rag-tag mixture of stuff.


Also, thin pad are for free spinning polishers. In my experience thin pads are a NON issue for rotary buffers and in fact a thicker pad buffs smoother on all DIRECT drive tools.

YMMV :D



I ordered some of these, as well as the HD orbital pads.

Mike, have you compared the two?

Not yet.


Mike, which machine would these provide the most effectiveness and comfort?


Tools like these,

Porter Cable 7424 XP, the Griot's 6" DA and the Meguiar's MT300


Tools that use a free spinning spindle bearing. See my article here,


The Free Floating Spindle Bearing Assembly - The Story Behind The Story...

FreeRotatingSpingleAssembley004.jpg




:)
 
Lake Country and Autogeek product teams, if you are reading this, please note that multi-pad combo packs like you can get for the flat pads are great. Rarely do I even need just one pad, and the combo packs bring down the price per pad a bit.

I need to replace some of my flat pads which are starting to wear out. I might have to pick up a couple to test them out.
 
EDIT: Just read your reply above, Mike. :)


I'm not sure I see any benefit to these "thin" pads other than when using an 8mm free spinning DA. Pads do look nice, though. :dblthumb2:
 
Lake Country and Autogeek product teams, if you are reading this,


please note that multi-pad combo packs like you can get for the flat pads are great.

Rarely do I even need just one pad, and the combo packs bring down the price per pad a bit.

I need to replace some of my flat pads which are starting to wear out. I might have to pick up a couple to test them out.


I'll make sure Nick sees this...


:dblthumb2:
 
NOTE: I do not use thin pads on tools like the RUPES polishers first because I use the RUPES polishers as a "system".

I explain this in my new RUPES how-to book. Also, before using any NON RUPES pad on a RUPES tool you should do the "Air Test" to make sure the pad is compatible. The RUPES paint polishing system is an engineered system, not a rag-tag mixture of stuff.


I totally understand Mikes point of view here, but most, well many of us use Rupes tools with other pads and products besides the Rupes system. I have tried both the Lake Country Hydrotech pads as well as the new Meguiars flat pads with my Rupes. I had no issue with either. Its still an amazing tool not being used with their system.

I guess we will find out how these pads work on a long throw machine, but for sure they will be great with the traditional da's!
 
I'm not sure I see any benefit to these "thin" pads other than when using an 8mm free spinning DA.

Saw your edit. :xyxthumbs:


But just to note...

These pads came in at the same time Bob Eichelburg came to Autogeek with the first Flex XCF 7 in the United States for me to test out on a swirled-out 1969 Dodge Hemi Dart.

watermark.php


And the 6.5" pads and the Flex XCF 7 are a match made in heaven. And this was totally by coincidence.

In fact, here's what I wrote in my review of the new XCF 7



Mike Phillips said:
And just in time... the new ThinPro Pads

These fit and work PERFECT with the new Flex XFE 7

watermark.php



I would have never used a thick pad on the new Flex XCF 7 as thin pads always work better on free spinning tools.

So the timing was perfect.

And for everyone that uses a PC, Griot's, old Meguiar's G11v2, first generation PC's and the Meguiar's MT300 (plus all the other versions of the Porter Cable), these new thin pads are perfect.

The Meguiar's thin foam discs are great pads and before they were introduced at SEMA 2014 Jason Rose had sent me a collection and that's how I was able to create this write-up last year,

Over 100 pics of these pads in action.

NEW! Meguiar’s Foam Buffing Discs

watermark.php



And the thin Meguiar's foam discs are top notch pads.

The Lake Country versions are also great pads as they use the Hybrid foam formulas and you have more choices in level of cut or lack of cut.

Win/Win for everyone.


Years ago I coined the term

Thin is in


And now thin pads are a reality.


Cool.

:cool:
 
Ordering a dozen of them initially to test, if all goes well will order more.
 
There are lots of us still using the PCs. Fantastic, and they're cheaper than the new Megs thin pads.
 
There are lots of us still using the PCs. Fantastic, and they're cheaper than the new Megs thin pads.

I prefer to use my GG before any other polisher, but a fair amount of the time it doesn't have the balls for heavy defects, or takes too many passes.
 
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