how many pads do I need????

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costo

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Hey everyone

Just trying to see how many pads I need????? will be getting menzerna polishes and have wolfgang sealand and p21s wax. Will end up getting LC flat pads from doing a stack of reading, people seem to recomend them the most although the hydro tech also have been well mentioned but as a novice prob wont notice much difference.

prob end up getting LC flat 5.5
orange
white
black
and blue

I was going to just get one of each but reading some posts people are using 3-4 a car????? I was just going to wash them but would have thought 1 would be enough to do the car????

will aslo buy XMt pad care.

cheers in advance
 
One can never have enough pads. If your car is not too oxidized or marred you could get by with one each as most of us did when starting. But beware, pad buying can be addictive.
 
This question has been asked probably 100 times and is debatable. For me you need more pads for the heavy defect removal and less pads for each stage after. I usually use:

4-5 pads for cutting/compounding (yellow or orange)
3-4 pads for polishing (white, cyan HT, or Tangerine HT)
2-3 pads for finish polishing (Tangerine HT, Blue, or black)
1-2 for LSP (Crimson HT, Gold)

These numbers are what I use on most cars. On a small car like a Miata it would go down, on a bigger car or truck it would go up. That being said currently I have at least 100 pads on hand (some new some used). That is probably overkill, but I like to make sure that I will have what I need to finish a detail no matter what.

As far as what pads to use that is a different matter entirely.
 
Pads are like tools, guns, products, and cars.............you can never have enough..:props:

The number of pads required to detail a car is largely determined by the condition of the finish and whether or not you intend to do a multi-step paint correction or an all-in-one product.

Another factor to consider is washing them on the fly. This will minimize the number you'll need allowing you to continue without worrying about a fresh pad.

Paint correction will consume the most pads. 4 to 6 orange pads.
Polishing - 4 white
Fine Polishing - 4 Gray
Sealant - 2 Blue
Wax - 2 Red
 
costo said:
orange
white
black
and blue

I was going to just get one of each but reading some posts people are using 3-4 a car????? I was just going to wash them but would have thought 1 would be enough to do the car????
Click to expand...

Well, you've gotten recommendations from several perspectives, IMO if cost is the primary driver, I'd do 2 orange, 2 white, and 1 black.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
if cost is the primary driver, I'd do 2 orange, 2 white, and 1 black.
Click to expand...

I agree but would add another orange What Setec recommended is enough to get the job done without going broke.

You can then fill in the pads you dont already own on your Next order.
 
Thanks guys.

Will try the cleaning on the run too.

Think I will go 3-4 orange

2-3 white and black and maybe 1-2 blue.

Try and build up a the arsenal.

Also can I use the black or any other pads which are made for sealants etc to polish. Will this reduce the cutting of paint but be gentle on softer paints too????
 
Yeah I would get more white pads then orange unless your working on real messed up cars.
 
generally I offer no less than 2 of each color per car seen in one day.
 
The HT tangerine pads are equivalent to orange to gray. They work great with M105 & 205 or the Optimum Sprays. Dont forget SurBuff for deep defects. I recommend 2 SurBuff
2 Cyan
4 Tangerine
2 Crimson
This will do a large SUV with some margin for bad paint.
 
Once again thanks....

I am going to get a practice run on my mums work van which is in bad shape so that should give me plenty of time to get a hang of the whole process, products pads and working time. But I am actually looking forward to getting into it.

I am sure I will have a few more questions as I go but hope the trial run goes well.
 
how many pads do I need???? I ask myself this question enery time I click the check out button. I am a pad junkie. I'm about up to 300 pads.

I normally clean on the fly and just use one of each.
 
tuscarora dave said:
how many pads do I need???? I ask myself this question enery time I click the check out button. I am a pad junkie. I'm about up to 300 pads.

I normally clean on the fly and just use one of each.
Click to expand...

Wait a darn minnit...if you clean on the fly and only use one (of each grade) per detail...what the heck do you need 300 for??? And I thought I had too many pads...
 
Can you just go clean them with water / soap, etc... then dry them by spinning them in the rotary? Thats how i cleaned the only white pad that came with my makita lol so get one for each step and clean them?
 
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