C. Charles Hahn
New member
- Aug 27, 2007
- 3,103
- 0
First off, a shout out and big THANK YOU to Chris and Luan Lamb @ Grit Guard for being gracious enough to send me this fantastic tool!
Background
When I first received the Universal Pad Washer (UPW) I read through the instructions and watched back the mini-class Chris did at Autogeek's Detail Fest so I would know how the tool is intended to be used. In both cases, it was recommended to fill the UPW with water until it reached about 1/4" over the top of the grit guard insert with the cups fully compressed.
Trial by Fire
I tried the UPW on a few foam pads I had, using my G110v2 to facilitate the cleaning efforts and while the unit certainly did do a great job of cleaning the pads, I must say the experience left me less than impressed. Water ended up getting EVERYWHERE -- all over me, all over the polisher, and all over the garage, even though I was operating the polisher on speed setting "1" and had the splash guard on the UPW fully closed and secured. The pads were also quite wet even after using the Grit Guard extension to "dry" them post-cleaning.
Dilemma
My initial reaction was that I wouldn't be likely to use the UPW very much if at all considering the absolute mess it made. However, since I knew many others out there were having better luck with their units and swore by them, I decided to experiment to see what I could do to reduce the amount of splash-back while still achieving thorough cleaning of the pad in use.
Solution
What I ultimately came up with was to lower the water level in the UPW to a level well below the manufacturer's recommendation. My setup was as follows:
1) Place the Grit Guard "Vortex Base" into the empty bucket, with the spring loaded cups, insert, and extension removed.
2) Note that at the top of the four protrusions where each cup will be seated, there is a line where the molding cast joins together (it shows up white in this photo, for reference)
3) Fill the bucket with water up to this casting line
4) Next, install the four spring loaded cups. Note that when depressed, the water level does not even rise to the top of the cups.
5) Also notice that the Grit Guard Insert does not become submerged when fully depressed.
This lower water level drastically reduced the amount of splatter which occurred during pad cleaning, and the spring loaded cups were still able to act as "jets" in their design-intended fashion to inject water and cleaning solution into the pad being cleaned. Even without the water/cleaning jets, the motion of the polisher itself seems to cause enough water to splash up onto the pad and machine that a higher level of water seems a bit unnecessary.
That said, I do see one potential caveat with my method which is that the Grit Guard insert may become caked with compound and other crud because it is not submerged under water during the cleaning procedure. I will have to monitor it as I use other pads with it and see if this becomes a problem or not, and address that if/when necessary. All I know is that it seems to have done an excellent job on the MF DA pads as well as a couple Meguiar’s W-8006 pads I cleaned with it.
Additional Thoughts
My one suggestion to the folks at Grit Guard would be that a seal of some sort around the insert might be a good idea to further help prevent extraneous splatter. As the insert is not sized to be an exact fit in the top of a 5 gallon bucket, it does have the opportunity for a bit of lateral movement from side to side while a polisher is running on top of it. Something to secure the insert in the center of the bucket without impeding its ability to be compressed into the water should help stabilize the tool during use and keep the vanes of the insert from "sloshing" as much water around as it does currently.
Results
That said, as you can see here while this Meguiar's DMC5 pad did still remain stained with the color of the compound that was being used, it is perfectly clean, dry, and ready to be buffed with again. Cleaning took a matter of 20 seconds at the very most.
Having used the UPW over the last few days extensively while buffing out a couple of cars, I can say that it has quickly become one of the best tools in my arsenal given the ability to clean pads on the fly, reducing the number of pad changes per job and improving the consistency of my results from section to section. For hobbyists and pros alike, the increased productivity this tool provides makes it an essential item in any detailer's arsenal.
Thanks for reading!
Background
When I first received the Universal Pad Washer (UPW) I read through the instructions and watched back the mini-class Chris did at Autogeek's Detail Fest so I would know how the tool is intended to be used. In both cases, it was recommended to fill the UPW with water until it reached about 1/4" over the top of the grit guard insert with the cups fully compressed.
Trial by Fire
I tried the UPW on a few foam pads I had, using my G110v2 to facilitate the cleaning efforts and while the unit certainly did do a great job of cleaning the pads, I must say the experience left me less than impressed. Water ended up getting EVERYWHERE -- all over me, all over the polisher, and all over the garage, even though I was operating the polisher on speed setting "1" and had the splash guard on the UPW fully closed and secured. The pads were also quite wet even after using the Grit Guard extension to "dry" them post-cleaning.
Dilemma
My initial reaction was that I wouldn't be likely to use the UPW very much if at all considering the absolute mess it made. However, since I knew many others out there were having better luck with their units and swore by them, I decided to experiment to see what I could do to reduce the amount of splash-back while still achieving thorough cleaning of the pad in use.
Solution
What I ultimately came up with was to lower the water level in the UPW to a level well below the manufacturer's recommendation. My setup was as follows:
1) Place the Grit Guard "Vortex Base" into the empty bucket, with the spring loaded cups, insert, and extension removed.
2) Note that at the top of the four protrusions where each cup will be seated, there is a line where the molding cast joins together (it shows up white in this photo, for reference)
3) Fill the bucket with water up to this casting line
4) Next, install the four spring loaded cups. Note that when depressed, the water level does not even rise to the top of the cups.
5) Also notice that the Grit Guard Insert does not become submerged when fully depressed.
This lower water level drastically reduced the amount of splatter which occurred during pad cleaning, and the spring loaded cups were still able to act as "jets" in their design-intended fashion to inject water and cleaning solution into the pad being cleaned. Even without the water/cleaning jets, the motion of the polisher itself seems to cause enough water to splash up onto the pad and machine that a higher level of water seems a bit unnecessary.
That said, I do see one potential caveat with my method which is that the Grit Guard insert may become caked with compound and other crud because it is not submerged under water during the cleaning procedure. I will have to monitor it as I use other pads with it and see if this becomes a problem or not, and address that if/when necessary. All I know is that it seems to have done an excellent job on the MF DA pads as well as a couple Meguiar’s W-8006 pads I cleaned with it.
Additional Thoughts
My one suggestion to the folks at Grit Guard would be that a seal of some sort around the insert might be a good idea to further help prevent extraneous splatter. As the insert is not sized to be an exact fit in the top of a 5 gallon bucket, it does have the opportunity for a bit of lateral movement from side to side while a polisher is running on top of it. Something to secure the insert in the center of the bucket without impeding its ability to be compressed into the water should help stabilize the tool during use and keep the vanes of the insert from "sloshing" as much water around as it does currently.
Results
That said, as you can see here while this Meguiar's DMC5 pad did still remain stained with the color of the compound that was being used, it is perfectly clean, dry, and ready to be buffed with again. Cleaning took a matter of 20 seconds at the very most.
Having used the UPW over the last few days extensively while buffing out a couple of cars, I can say that it has quickly become one of the best tools in my arsenal given the ability to clean pads on the fly, reducing the number of pad changes per job and improving the consistency of my results from section to section. For hobbyists and pros alike, the increased productivity this tool provides makes it an essential item in any detailer's arsenal.
Thanks for reading!
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