I think I've changed my mind and am going to go with this kit along with some extra griots orange and black pads unless there is reason to stick with lake country ones? It's a little more economical buying it in the kit and I get the stuff to wash and re-use them this way.
Griot’s Garage Complete 6.5 inch Pad Kit
Anybody have anything against the griots pads or reason to not go this route?
First, welcome to AGO! :dblthumb2:
I had one of my typical long winded, hour long replies going last night and lost it. Don't feel like doing all that again. However, one thing that I was going to commend you on was BUYING A DOZEN PADS. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT get caught up in a "kit" that focuses that machine on 6½" pads! While it *will* turn them, you'll get less than optimal results. You REALLY need to work with 5½" pads, be that CCS or flat. Two reasons; One, they are cheaper. Two; they provide better results with a free spindle DA.
Your original list of 4 orange, 4 white, 2 black, 2 blue is a good starting point. The orange and white pads get used quite a lot, with quite a few different compounds.
OP: The reason that people are suggesting using 5½" pads is that they are
cheaper, spin up better, and work in tighter spaces/bigger curves than 6½" pads. You can't have too many pads.
Also, you can actually do good by getting 6 white pads. The reason for more white than anything else, is you can use white pads for both compounding and polishing. You can, (
for instance) start with Ultimate Compound on a white pad. Then once all your compounding is done (
and you have CLEAN pads) you may indeed be able to finish with Ultimate Polish on the same (
type of cut) pad that you used for compounding.
That aside, I *WOULD NOT* buy anything less than a dozen pads. You simply cannot compound an entire vehicle with 1 or 2 pads. The "kits" seem like they offer you something great, and allow you to get 1 of each pad, but you'll ALWAYS need more than FOUR pads when compounding (likely 5~6) and 3~4 when polishing. The only time 1 pad will work is when you're applying wax or sealant. In those instances you'd want a blue, red or gold one. (
The gold one is REALLY soft though.)
I WOULD NOT however suggest that you 'move on' at some point to Meguiar's 105 (
as a weekend warrior). It will cut like crazy, and is a great compound for getting that job done, but it's a BEAR to work with! If you really need a lot of cut, better off going for M101 as it'll work 3 times as long as 105. For polishing though, 205 is something that everybody needs (along with Ultimate Polish) as part of their arsenal.
OTOH, for a totally different type of product, (DAT versus SMAT) that will also cut through the swirls, and on hard paints will finish down (for many totally ready for your sealant/LSP) AND it'll work down literally forever without drying out..... is Menzerna FG400. :xyxthumbs:
As for figuring out what works on your paint. Typically Mustang paint hasn't been that soft, although Kona blue is pretty soft.
This is why I've always said to tape off the hood into 6 areas. Area 1 & 2 would use the same compound, same machine speed, arm speed, arm pressure, and SAME amount of section passes. (I'll typically just use 4 in the testing phase, although at the end it may take 6~7.)
The only difference between area 1 & 2 would be one with a heavy cut pad, the other with a lighter cut pad. In other words, Area 1 could be an orange pad, and Area 2 be a white pad.
Then for areas 3 & 4 it'd be switch to another compound, and again all things being the same other than 2 different pads.
Do ONLY 4 or 5 section passes (with a SMAT based compound like Meguiar's UC) and wipe clean, then check your progress. It may indeed be you need more passes, but you can't do 4 passes on one area then 8 on another and compare them. By doing only 4~5 passes you get an idea what is going on during the correction process. After that you may decide to go back with 3~4 more passes.
FWIW, the GG6 corrects JUST FINE with a maximum machine speed of 4.5 to 5 (with 5½" pads). So when you're doing your test spots keep that in mind. I'd set the machine to 4.5 on those first two test spots. Then if that worked OK, but you think you could get a little better, then on area 5 you might bump the machine speed up to 5 and instead of 4 section passes go ahead and do 6. Just keep your arm speed and pressure the same as you did in the beginning.
DO NOT work the product till it's dry! Also, with a SMAT product don't keep working and working and working thinking you're "working it down" like you would with a DAT product. (IE Menzerna) It's critical to understand that with a SMAT product they cut on the fourth pass just as good as they do on the first pass. The difference is that the longer you work them the greater the chance of the abrasive particles actually getting 'larger' due to spent product, abraded paint, dirt, etc. This is why you only work a SMAT product 4~5 passes and wipe the surface clean. You can always apply more (clean) product to a (cleaned on the fly) pad and do more section passes.
Finally for areas 5 & 6 it'd be some sort of method based on what happened in the first 4 test areas. That could be more pressure, (always use the same arm speed NO MATTER WHAT) combined with a little different machine speed, and even more section passes. Or it could just be yet another compound. Remembering not all compounds work on all paints, with all methods/techniques.
Thing is, the more test spots you do..... the better handle you'll have on what 'works' and what doesn't.
Finally; Microfiber towels, LOTS AND LOTS of microfiber towels. Easily Microfiber Tech is your best option there as you can get quality towels for a FRACTION of the price that the same towel sells for on "detailing" sites. I'd say 20 or so 360GSM towels, maybe 10~12 530GSM units, and at least 3~4 of the Korean edgeless 500's (they are labeled 470's on the site but they are actually a bit over 500 GSM towels).
On Mother's Day we did a wash and quick polish then sealant application to my daughters Sportage, then we did a wash, decon, IRON-X and correction on a F350 followed by sealant application. I had about 8~10 dirty towels before we started. After we finished I had 2 Cobra Guzzlers that needed washing, 47 of the 360 GSM (or less) towels in one load, and 28 of the 530 GSM and 500 GSM edgeless Koreans in another load. You can NEVER have too many towels!
