Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
- 51,004
- 7
I agree.
You'll get more life out of your pads overall by switching to a clean dry pad often versus trying to buff out an entire car/truck/suv using only one or two pads.
Thin pads rotate better than thick pads. That's why the trend for thin pads is the new norm. People want the correction power of a rotary buffer without the risks of using a rotary buffer or the holograms and burning issues. So there's a trade-off as nothing is free in this world.
Thin pads rotate better but there's less mass to dissipate any heat build up so the heat build up will be more focused and it will happen faster than with a thicker pad.
How hard one presses the polisher against the paint is also a huge factor too.
That's how it looked from the outside but as your pictures show... the violent oscillating action at high speed over time tells another story, a story that the pads were not doing fine.
You should just change because you know you should but also from this experience you will learn that thin pads become saturated with product after just a few section passes. Wet foam holds in heat better than dry foam and heat is the issue for any pad on any of these types of dual action polishers. Long stroke orbital polishers like the RUPES BigFoot 15 and 21 don't have the heat problem for pads like these short stroke dual action polishers but you also pay more for them upfront.
I'd have to disagree.
Wet foam hold heat in better than dry foam. Add TIME as in pressure over time plus liquid and violent oscillating action and any pad will suffer from exposure to the heat build up focused at the center of the backing plate.
Nope. Looks like and sounds like the machine is working perfectly and the pads are working as advertised.
I agree with all of the above.
When I started teaching classes for Meguiar's years ago Meguiar's taught placing a X pattern on the face of the pad.
I noticed the issue of pad saturation and started teaching people to place a circle of product around the outer edge of the pad.
My theory was that the product was going to migrate to the center of the pad on it's own so I wasn't going to help it. (help it by placing product in an X-pattern which would place fresh product in the center of the pad).
A few years later Kevin Brown shared pad priming with the idea being to apply product to the entire face of the pad and then apply a few small drops to the face of the pad.
Regardless as to how you apply the product to the pad the enemy is time and pressure because over time and with pressure the product is going to migrate to the center of the pad and build-up. Then it's going to get hot.
The heat is going to cause the adhesive between the velcro and the pad to break down. The heat is going to cause the adhesive between the Velcro and the backing plate to break down and if it's a uni-construction backing plate at some point the heat is going to have a negative effect on "something".
The heat is also going to have a negative effect on the pad material.
And all of this is simply the nature of the beast. Your car, truck or SUV has swirls, scratches, water spots and/or oxidation. You decide you don't want the swirls, scratches, water spots and/or oxidation you buy a polisher and the pads and products to go with it and buff out the paint.
The heat is going to always be an issue and the only good remedy at this time is to switch to a clean, dry pad often.
Like I stated earlier in this reply... by switching to a clean, dry pad often your pads will last longer overall. Conversely, by not switching to a clean, dry pad often your pads won't last very long.
It's not the tool manufacturers fault and it's not the pad manufacturers fault it's physics.
That's why I alway say... more pads is better. Let your budget be your guide and if you're BRAND NEW to machine polishing and you're reading this thread as a lurker or a member learn from the experience and pictures shared here and plan accordingly.
If you detail cars for money then at some level you should be building the cost of pad wear into your service charge.
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