Need long lasting 3 inch foam pads

tuscarora dave

tuscarora dave

Active member
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
5,408
Reaction score
12
Hi everyone and a Happy Holidays to all members and staff!!

It's been quite a while since I've posted to the forum.
I've been working diligently to grow my Handicap accessible vehicle repair and service business, balance in a personal life, be a great dog owner, son, brother etc. etc. Doesn't seem to leave much time for interacting on the forums..

Many years ago I ordered up some Griot's Garage 3 inch orange foam pads, and to my disbelief... I'm still using them but they are about to fly apart finally. It's simply incredible how much use I got out of these little pads. I realize however, that things do change. The industry has changed immensely since I was last a contributing member of this forum. I feel kind of like a newbie when it comes to products, pads, polishers etc.

Don't get me wrong though.... I still have mad skills and continue from time to time to produce some absolutely stunning paint corrections... But in all reality my detailing duties are still mainly reconditioning and maintaining commercial vehicles, which doesn't require the OCD Detailer's mind set at all.

Anyway.... on to my question...
Do any of you, or have any of you continued to use these 3" orange pads from Griot's Garage? Do they still hold up well? I'm thinking overall pad integrity with an emphasis on the bond between the velcro backing and the foam of the pad. I'm mainly asking about the 3" orange pads...

please offer up anything you may have to shed light on whether the quality remains or if they have fallen to the way of cheap mass produced failures. Thanks in advance for any info you can share on these "Little Giants" as I have called them over the years.

Additionally....

What seems to be the toughest 5.5" microfiber pads nowadays?

I had about a dozen or so of the Lake Country 5.5" UltraFiber pads, the thin ones for DA use. Once I got past the learning curve of MF pads and stopped overheating and self destructing these pads due to poor technique, I find these to be a real joy to work with and find the integrity of these pads to be top notch and am amazed at how long these pads have served me.. but just as with anything... they won't last forever.

It's time to re-buy or to try something new and stronger.

So the question here is... "What's your favorite 5.5" thin microfiber pads, and why do you consider them your favorites?

Again... Thanks in advance for any insight offered, and a huge HELLO to all of those who know me!! And of course friendly holiday wishes to all!!
 
Hi Dave,

I have also used the GG 3" pads and found them to be durable. The 3" size seems to be underserved in foam pads. Are you using them on the little Griot's machine? Or something else? Because there are some 4" pads now that fit on a 3" backing plate, like these: Rupes 100mm (4 Inch) Foam Pads but you'll never spin them with the little Griot's.

As far as the MF pads, I've also had good luck with the LC pads, but also with the Meguiar's. I haven't bought any MF pads for a while so I can't speak to what the current Meg's pads are like (I know they've improved them since I bought mine).

Good to see you posting and sounds like things are going well for you.
 
3 inch and 4 inch buffing pad options at Autogeek


Griot's 3" foam pads
Griots Garage 3 Inch Orange Polishing Foam Pad 3 Pack

Griots Garage 3 Inch Black Finishing Pad, Set of 3

Griots Garage 3 Inch Mini Red Wax Pad 3 Pack



Flex 3" foam pads
The Flex 3" foam pads work great with rotary or DA style pads, it's the taper that makes small pads work.

FLEX PE8 Rotary Foam Pads – 1, 2, 3 Inch Diameter

The 3" Flex pad will fit on this DA backing plate

3" backing plate



Buff and Shine 4" pads
Buff and Shine offers a Mini Spot Buffing Kit. The kit includes a rotary buffer backing plate with an adapter to fit the rotary buffer backing plate to a DA polisher.

Buff and Shine Mini Spot Buffing Kit


The foam pads and wool pads in this kit will fit on this 3" DA backing plate

3" backing plate




These LC pads fit the above 3" backing plate too...

Lake Country Hydro-Tech 3 x 1.25 Inch Foam Pads


Lake Country 3 Inch Flat Pads 6 Pack - Your Choice





If you can go 4" the Meguiar's 4" foam pads or the Cyclo 4" foam pads or the Buff and Shine 4" pads are great for that size category.

Meguiar's

Meguiars DA Compound Power Pads

Meguiars DA Polishing Power Pads

Meguiars DA Waxing Power Pads


Cyclo

Cyclo 4" pads


Buff and Shine

Buff and Shine 4" pads



RUPES
And the RUPES 4" foam pads are tapered and killer! I use the white pads for machine waxing.


Rupes 100 mm (4 Inch) Foam Pads


Lots of options!


:)
 
I use griots 3" pads and prefer them over Lake country 3" pads.

For mf pads I have 6.5" griots boss pads and some meguiars 6" pads. Which they are pretty damn choose to the same size, so I'd assume the meguiars 5" mf pads being very close to 5.5"

Both pads come in packs of 2
 
tuscarora dave said:
Do any of you, or have any of you continued to use these 3" orange pads from Griot's Garage? Do they still hold up well? I'm thinking overall pad integrity with an emphasis on the bond between the velcro backing and the foam of the pad. I'm mainly asking about the 3" orange pads...
Click to expand...

I bought a pack of GG orange pads 2 years ago and had the same problem on every pad with very few uses. I'd never put 'em on a rotary, just my GG D/A. I'd heard somewhere that Griot's made some changes recently to better their reliability, but I'm happy with my current small oranges from Buff & Shine. I'm just a weekender, so no production work, but these seem to have much more tolerance for hard use.

Bill
 
Just to note....

When working with small pads it's the taper design that makes a tapered pad work better than a cylindrical pad.

Why?

The taper means less support behind the face of the pad so the face will remain flat and even mushroom out. With no taper but 100 percent support to the face of the pad the foam will tend to collapse or twist in reducing the size of the footprint.


Just what I've noticed from use...


:)
 
Heard GREAT things about Buff and shine pads

Hi Dave
 
Nothing but good experiences with the Griot's Garage 3 inch pads. I've gotten some serious mileage out of those little guys. The Buff and Shine 3 inch grip pads are also fantastic in terms of performance and quality/durability. They work great as DA or rotary pads. Well priced too.
 
Hi Dave...

Happy Holidays to you as well.

Really great seeing you post again!
Sounds like your Life is going great! :props:

As to 3" buffing pads, I use:
-Griot's Garage 3" foam
-3M's Perfect-It 3" foam
-Flex's 3" foam
-Rupes' 4" foam



Bob
 
Mike.Phillips@Autogeek said:
Just to note....

When working with small pads it's the taper design that makes a tapered pad work better than a cylindrical pad.

Why?

The taper means less support behind the face of the pad so the face will remain flat and even mushroom out. With no taper but 100 percent support to the face of the pad the foam will tend to collapse or twist in reducing the size of the footprint.


Just what I've noticed from use...


:)
Click to expand...

:iagree:

I have B & S 4" LC 3" and Rupes small pads and the Rupes are most definitely my favorite. Easy to cut into tight areas with the tapered edge and they are nearly indestructible. The others I mentioned are quality pads too, but my preference leans towards the Rupes.
 
Lots of great feedback here!! I see the pleasant atmosphere of this forum is still alive and well, and I think that's fantastic!!

Thanks so far for all the posting and the waves back!!

I'll mainly be spinning the 3" foam pads on a 3" pneumatic rotary buffer to do headlight lenses. I do from time to time use them with an old school Matco Tools pneumatic dual action sander using a 3M 3 inch backing plate. I find 3M's backing plate attachment design (hook and loop) to hold pads way better than anything I've ever used, and the 3M units will withstand way more heat than anything I've ever used as well. I've melted down many DA backing plates but have never melted down a 3M backing plate. I've thought over the years that perhaps the 3M backing plate's performance in holding the pads is why I'm experiencing the durability that I've been seeing out of these pads. Hopefully this is true.

I used to buy a kit exactly like that B&S spot buff kit locally under a different brand name. While I'm not a fan of the foam pads in those kits, the wool pads have made me lots of money over the years. Thanks Mike!!
 
If you're using wool, there's the purple foamed and the new thin: Lake Country Foamed Wool Pads

Meg's also makes the MF pads in 3". I don't know if you're sanding, last headlights I did I sanded right up to 5000 grit and didn't need to compound, went right to polish.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
If you're using wool, there's the purple foamed and the new thin: Lake Country Foamed Wool Pads

Meg's also makes the MF pads in 3". I don't know if you're sanding, last headlights I did I sanded right up to 5000 grit and didn't need to compound, went right to polish.
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike.

I've done headlights a lot of different ways. Sanding to 400 grit and spraying clear at that point, sanding to 3000 grit and polishing, sanding to 1000 grit then compounding with super duty then 105/205 etc..

Lately I've been simply hitting them with my pneumatic rotary using these little orange GG 3" pads and Carpro CeriGlass glass polish. The few sets I've done so far using this method gave been just very yellowed but not all blotchy with missing sections of OEM protectant so they've cleared up to crystal and topped with DG Enviroshield ceramic coating. Going to push the limits real soon using the CeriGlass and 3" foam pads on a fairly bad (should be sanded) set of 2005 Chevy Uplander lenses.

Thanks for the replies. TD
 
tuscarora dave said:
Lots of great feedback here!! I see the pleasant atmosphere of this forum is still alive and well, and I think that's fantastic!!

Thanks so far for all the posting and the waves back!!

I'll mainly be spinning the 3" foam pads on a 3" pneumatic rotary buffer to do headlight lenses. I do from time to time use them with an old school Matco Tools pneumatic dual action sander using a 3M 3 inch backing plate. I find 3M's backing plate attachment design (hook and loop) to hold pads way better than anything I've ever used, and the 3M units will withstand way more heat than anything I've ever used as well. I've melted down many DA backing plates but have never melted down a 3M backing plate. I've thought over the years that perhaps the 3M backing plate's performance in holding the pads is why I'm experiencing the durability that I've been seeing out of these pads. Hopefully this is true.

I used to buy a kit exactly like that B&S spot buff kit locally under a different brand name. While I'm not a fan of the foam pads in those kits, the wool pads have made me lots of money over the years. Thanks Mike!!
Click to expand...

That's interesting about the backing plates.

I wonder if it's the design of the hooks. I remember seeing a vented 3M d/a plate at the local paint shop, and if I remember correctly it had "micro-hooks" like my Dynabrade, and Megs plates.

I use the 4" buff and shine, and LC Ultrafiber / Hydrotech pads for the am allergic areas.
 
I picked up about half a dozen of the vented DA backing plates for $5 a piece a long time ago and to my delight they have turned out to be the best plates I've ever used.. Right place right time I suppose. It's like the hooks are somehow molded right into the backing plate. Don't know how they do it but I'm glad they did it because these backing plates are seemingly indestructible. Worth every penny of the $30 regular price tag.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top