Guys, I really appreciate all the info. I'm glad I signed up for the forums.
The lowest grit (as in roughest) I would use would be 1500. I try to stick to 2000, but sometimes that doesn't cut enough.
I did by the CCS 7.5" pads. However, this last post confused me a bit. I thought the orange pad was for cutting, then white, then gray. Is this incorrect?
I believe I will go with the Meguier's D151 and see what results I get. If necessary I'll move to the 105 and 205.
Yes yellow, orange, pink, and even white (with the right compound) have enough cut to remove 1500 grit sanding marks. (Well yellow of course has more cut and will naturally remove them, but often you'll need to go back with a lighter pad because it leaves it's own haze / micromarring.)
105 will remove them, but you'll have to go back over it with a lighter compound afterwards. As much as I like 105, if I had to use it then not want to go back with a polish and needing a heavy cut, Menzerna 400 would work. Not saying it'll finish out LSP ready all the time but it'll finish better than 105 for SURE! I don't work with it so hopefully someone else will chime in here. I have worked with 1500 and 2000 both of which will remove 2000 grit, likely better. I bet 1000 will remove it, and I actually have some just haven't tried removing sanding marks with it yet.
Regardless, always try with the lightest pad first, if that's not enough then move to more cut. The white pad will remove 1500 grit with a heavy cut compound, short of that pink, then orange and you can move to a lighter cut compound. (This of course is with a DA, meaning a rotary will do more work with a lighter pad.)
I to have the utmost respect for PDR work that you guys do, that is an amazing skill dude!
Back in the early 90's when it hadn't even been heard of here in the states the owner of my wife's company owned a Ford - Lincoln Mercury dealership in Ashville. He ended up with 200+ hail damaged vehicles then bought 140 of them from the insurance company. (Well he let them pay a lesser settlement and kept them.) PDR had started in Australia and was just coming here to the states, it was 91 I think. So he found a company out of state and offered a deal where they could train on over 100 vehicles, indoors, at their own leisure and in return he got a highly discounted rate.
The craft was in its infancy then. Especially compared to these days. He ended up giving them a couple dozen to practice on first, getting most, but not all dents out. Then he really tested them. Only the most expensive units did he want everything done perfect. All were big stuff, F150's, 250's, 350's and loaded Crown Vic's. There was one black Crown Vic with those huge flat, black panels that I couldn't believe they made whole again. It had well over 200 dents, some looked like a baseball bat had been unleashed upon it in anger and the sunroof, front and back glass and left side glass was all busted. But when they finished it, you would have never known.
Two solid weeks the two company guys plus sometimes as many as 4 trainees worked on it. They pulled everything but the carpet and front seats out. I remember being amazed at how they worked it out, I even sat there for a couple of hours one day just watching and learning.
My Dad ended up buying an Escort from the bunch for my little brother, one that didn't have all the dents removed. For $500 they would have repaired it, but he didn't care, neither did my little brother. BOY WHAT AN UGLY COLOR! It was a weird pinkish, purple metallic color.... YUUUUUKKKKK. He drove that puppy for 120,000+ miles probably washing it twice, put tires on it once, maybe changing the oil 3 or 4 times until the motor locked up!
