Can you get a mirror finish with orange cutting pad?

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pman626

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I'm pretty new to DA polishing.

I bought the blue pad from harbor freight, and with Megs ultimate compound, I was able to polish up the dull clear coat on my car which sits in the sun all day.

My blue pad is chewed up by the backing plate. So I need a new pad.

I think the blue pad is a little soft.

Can I get the same smooth finish with the firmer orange cutting pad with lighter pressure?
 
I really can't comment on the blue pad from Harbor Freight, sorry.

A Lake Country Orange foam pad is a light cutting pad and you'd be very surprised how fine a finish can be achieved when using it along with the right product. Read through the following information which explains the difference in pads and their usage..


Foam Pads


Yellow Cutting Foam - Use this pad to apply compounds or polishes to remove severe oxidation, swirls, and scratches. It is the most aggressive and should only be used on oxidized and older finishes. Always follow this pad with an orange or white pad and a fine polish to refine the paint until it is smooth.

Orange Light Cutting Foam - Firm, high density foam for scratch and defect removal. Use this pad with polishes and swirl removers. It’s an all-around pad that will work on most light to moderate imperfections.

White Polishing Foam - Less dense foam formula for the application of waxes, micro-fine polishes and sealants. This pad has very light cutting power so it’s perfect for pre-wax cleaners.

Gray Finishing Foam Pad - Composition is firm enough to withstand added pressure during final finishing to remove buffer swirls. It has no cut and will apply thin, even coats of waxes, sealants, and glazes.

Blue Finessing Foam – Pad has soft composition for applying glaze, finishing polish, sealants, and liquid waxes. Flat pad provides full contact with paint surface to minimize the pressure applied by the user.[FONT=&quot]
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I believe the HF orange pad is like the orange light cutting foam.

HF advertises the orange pad as "no mar finish".
 
pman626 said:
I'm pretty new to DA polishing.

I bought the blue pad from harbor freight, and with Megs ultimate compound, I was able to polish up the dull clear coat on my car which sits in the sun all day.

My blue pad is chewed up by the backing plate. So I need a new pad.

I think the blue pad is a little soft.

Can I get the same smooth finish with the firmer orange cutting pad with lighter pressure?
Click to expand...

Yes, but let me say that with my limited experience the prep before you polish with any pad/product is super important in getting what you are wanting I do the following:

  1. Wash
  2. Baggie test
  3. Ironx (again up to you)
  4. Clay clay clay
  5. Wipe clean
  6. Baggie test- making sure metal is smooth as possible- which is where your shine comes from
  7. Polish
  8. Wax/Seal- your choice
  9. Step back and admire
 
Absolutely! This was done with orange pads and Sonax PF.


 
pman626 said:
My blue pad is chewed up by the backing plate. So I need a new pad.
QUOTE]

The HF backing plate is too large for the velcro on the HF pads. So you need a quality 5" backing plate which will then allow you to use quality 5.5" pads like the LC flat pads. And you need at least 4 pads for each step in your polishing process. Example: 4 orange for heavier defect removal, 4 white for polishing and a couple of blue or black or red for applying LSPs.

If you're trying to do an entire car with one or two pads the heat build up will cause the Velcro detach from the foam. (The problem you mention in your other post.) You also need to "clean the pad on the fly" to keep spent polish and removed paint from building up in the pad thus causing over saturation, more heat and separating Velcro.
Click to expand...
 
pman626 said:
I bought the blue pad from harbor freight, and with Megs ultimate compound
Click to expand...

The Harbor Freight DA is very good (with the grease mod), but the backing plate/pads are not.

ski2 said:
The HF backing plate is too large for the velcro on the HF pads. So you need a quality 5" backing plate which will then allow you to use quality 5.5" pads like the LC flat pads.
Click to expand...

^^This. I got the Chemical Guys HexLogic Pads/backing plate, but any quality bp/pads will do.
 
Yes, depending on the paint. I use an Orange Uber pad with my Rupes 15 and Sonax Perfect finish with killer results.

HUMP
 
Yes you can definitely get a mirror finish with an orange pad, but use a white pad after for even better results.

These pics were with an orange pad and M105. I couldn't believe the shine and reflection that I got out of it. But in the right light and angle you could definitely see that it needed further steps.

IMG_20140405_141529_268_zpsf56881ea.jpg


IMG_20140405_151817_446_zpsf14f8668.jpg
 
pman626 said:
I'm pretty new to DA polishing.

I bought the blue pad from harbor freight, and with Megs ultimate compound, I was able to polish up the dull clear coat on my car which sits in the sun all day.

My blue pad is chewed up by the backing plate. So I need a new pad.

I think the blue pad is a little soft.

Can I get the same smooth finish with the firmer orange cutting pad with lighter pressure?
Click to expand...


One new pad? I would be looking for new pads. To get that mirror finish you desire, multiple clean pads will be needed! I wouldn't use less than 6 for a one step polishing process. Bobby G listed some great articles!
 
Agree with everybody else. Used an orange pad with Megs Ultimate Compound and the finish was amazing!

By far the best advice though (which I DID NOT do because I missed it somehow) is to get MULTIPLE PADS of the same color. I used one pad and when I finished I took the pad off and the velcro back of my brand new bad was burned off into a big hard ball of melted velcro. That pad was trashed.

So...

Multiple pads, condition them and clean them on the fly!
 
Yep. I used a Lake Country orange pad with Meguiars Ultimate Polish and it came out great!
 
Yeah it just depends on the paint and polish or compound used. So you need a new backing plate or cut the HF backing plate so none of the pad protrudes further than the Velcro part of the HF pads. The HF pads aren't terrible I don't use them professionally but they do work. They are pretty inexpensive and easy to obtain.
 
yeah, I already trimmed the backing plate down to 5". The problem is still the velcro fabric, so I need to glue a bigger piece of felt on the pads.

Good thing felt is super cheap.
 
Vortech5.0 said:
Yes you can definitely get a mirror finish with an orange pad, but use a white pad after for even better results.

These pics were with an orange pad and M105. I couldn't believe the shine and reflection that I got out of it. But in the right light and angle you could definitely see that it needed further steps.
Click to expand...


That looks amazing! Is that original paint on a fox body? My buddy had a 1993 GT with original red paint and 30,000 miles, but it was swirled to hell... always wanted to do some paint correction with him on it. He was always worried about messing up the paint though.
 
I used a Lake Country orange pad on my PC buffer with Megs 205. It took out the swirls left by the rotary buffer but seems to have created its own swirls. The paint looks fantastic inside but out in bright sunlight it looks bad. I'm new to this type of polishing also,so I think I just need to experiment with some pads and polishes.
 
If you want a "Mirror Finish" get your hands on a gray finishing pad and Meguiar's 205 or Optimum Fine Polish, this is used only if you don't have a lot of defects.
The Optimum I'm starting to really like, you can work it to death and won't dry up on you, still though my front runner is the 205 overall.

As Bobby said buy some good pads, it makes a difference and as one said prep is everything.

You can use the Meguiar's Ultimate Compound being you already have some, depending on how bad the defects are I'd use a 5.5" flat orange Lake Country pad and the gray for step two for the polishing.
 
Depending on paint hardness and polish, absolutely!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
From what I believe I could see at that time...
Yes...I have.

Bob
 
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