Had some problems when practicing last night

[Lance Mark]

I've got an old '08 GMC Sierra that I'm doing some practice last night.

First time around, I had issues with pressing too hard and stopping the wheel. Near the end of the the first correcting step, I started to get the hang of it. When I did the finishing glaze, i feel like I was getting the hang of it.

Last night, I tried another go at it.

First time around, I used the thinner pad. Second go, I used the thicker.

At first, it seemed to work just fine, but at one point, I noticed a wobble and the wheel threw the pad off of it.

I was thinking a 3" pad is a 3" pad. Did I get the wrong pads? The ones that came with were the thinner ones. I bought the thicker ones thinking they were the same thing. The thinner ones have a hole in center.

I noticed there was a bit of residue on the backing plate, could that have screwed with the hook and loop?

As well, when i used the thicker pad on speed 2 to spread it around, there was no difference in the shape of the pad, but when I turned up to 4-5, the pad started to expand and pancake out.

 

[Desertnate]

What type of tool are you using?

The only time I've thrown a pad is when using an old one and I got it too hot which caused the glue to fail and the pad separated from the velcro backing.

 

[98CayenneTA]

What tool are you using?
What pads are you taking about?
What products?

At the very least it sounds like you're letting the pads get WAY to saturated for them to lose there shape during use.

 

[Lance Mark]

What tool are you using?
What pads are you taking about?
What products?

At the very least it sounds like you're letting the pads get WAY to saturated for them to lose there shape during use.

I'm using a G8. Griot's pads. Wolfganing Total Swirl Remover

 

[Matador]

Sounds like you may have let the pad get too hot and then potentially melted the velcro on the pad. Happened to a lot in the beginning cause I didn't switch pads often enough.

When you tried putting that pad back on the machine, did you notice the 'velcro' not stick as strong as before? If so...you may have melted the back of it unfortunately and the pad is toast.

 

[Lance Mark]

Sounds like you may have let the pad get too hot and then potentially melted the velcro on the pad. Happened to a lot in the beginning cause I didn't switch pads often enough.

When you tried putting that pad back on the machine, did you notice the 'velcro' not stick as strong as before? If so...you may have melted the back of it unfortunately and the pad is toast.

yikes, i hope i didn't ruin the plate, I don't think I did, but I'll check it out, I have the 2" backing plate and I can check the texture of the velcro against each other

I think i had the pad too saturated with product

 

[Matador]

I dont think the plate would be ruined, just the velcro backing on the pad.

Hopefully it was just oversaturation on the pad though!

 

[Desertnate]

Just curious, you aren't trying to do the entire truck with the G8 are you?

How often do you swap out pads?

 

[Lance Mark]

Just curious, you aren't trying to do the entire truck with the G8 are you?

How often do you swap out pads?

thanks for looking out for me my friend, had I had aspirations to do the whole truck, my first test runs would have set me straight....definitely not the tool for a whole truck

I bought the G8 for my motorcycle

I have an old '08 GMC Sierra that I'm practicing on. I'm pretty green, yesterday was the second time I've even used a polisher. I had done one section about 18 x 18, cleaned the pad and started on a second section. That's when it happened. I think I had too much of the product.

The other day, I did the right quarter panel and it turned out pretty good for a first shot.

There were two things I did different this time.

When I primed the pad, i worked the product into the surface a bit by pushing on it with my thumb. And I used the thicker pad.

Once concern that I had was that the 3" pads I got were not meant for my machine.

 

[Bruno Soares]

Don't prime a foam pad. Use less product. Don't put that much pressure on it, let the tool do the work.

And definitely don't try to do an entire vehicle with a G8, that's going to be a PITA. Also, get many pads so you can swap them often, a wet pad gets hot fast and that is really bad for the foam. You end up with delaminated pads or pads that sink in the middle.

 

[Desertnate]

Just checking! It wasn't meant to be insulting, but just trying to ensure you understood whether the tool was appropriate for the job.

You mention doing the right quarter panel of the truck at a previous time. Did you do the whole panel with the same pad as the one that flew off? If you used a single pad for that job, even if it is only the front quarter panel on a truck, that is a pretty large area for a 3" polisher. The pad may have become hot enough it weakened the velcro.

If the velco on the pad is still in tact and it didn't come apart, I'm out of ideas beyond the possibility of a low quality pad and the velco just gave up. Which pads are you using?

 

[Rsurfer]

The first thing you need to do is put a Sharpie mark on your backing plate. Keep an eye on this mark when polishing..if the mark is not rotating your not correcting. Let up on the pressure or change your angle. With a little practice you won't have to concentrate on the mark.

 

[PaulMys]

I agree with all the boys about your pads being too saturated.

Like Bruno said, don't prime a foam pad. Just use enough liquid to get started, and then just a few drops afterward.

And Rsurfer is dead-on with his advice about letting up on the machine and/or changing your angle.

And finally, I cannot stress enough that having enough pads is the key to success. By the time a pad is clogged with product and getting too hot, you know that you have way overworked that pad.

You don't want 4-5 overworked pads in the cleaning bucket when you're done polishing. You want 12-16 lightly used pads in there.

It might sound like overkill, but if you wear out the 4 pads, you'll be replacing them often. The 16 pads will last you for years.

 

[Desertnate]

And finally, I cannot stress enough that having enough pads is the key to success. By the time a pad is clogged with product and getting too hot, you know that you have way overworked that pad.

You don't want 4-5 overworked pads in the cleaning bucket when you're done polishing. You want 12-16 lightly used pads in there.

It might sound like overkill, but if you wear out the 4 pads, you'll be replacing them often. The 16 pads will last you for years.

Great advice. I still struggle with this myself. Even though I rotate pads and clean them on the fly as I'm working, I'm sure I'm still using too few pads.

Good quality pads are key to success too. When I first started machine polishing I used Harbor Freight pads. Most would barely survive the job and some didn't make it all the way. Either the low grade backing plates would simply loose their grip or the pad itself would disintegrate as I worked. Moving to quality Lake Country pads not only improved the quality of the work, but they would survive the job and allowed me to build up an inventory of pads. This actually saves you money in the long run as good pads will last many years.

 

[Lance Mark]

I'd made some assumptions

I was assuming more product = more lubrication = cooler running

my problem was too much product, wrecked a couple of pads figuring it out

it was in this video where he gives contrary advice than what has been given here....he was the reason i primed the pad ......17 mins in, he says new pads need to be primed and he demos how to do it....he does the same thing with a fresh cutting pad at 25 1/2 mins in

mike says it's an art form

right now, my art looks like this

View attachment 72903

thanks for all the great points and suggestions

is there a rule of thumb for how long a pad should be used....fore example, maybe one pad does 1/2 a hood....or 3 or 4 16" x 16" areas?

i like the idea of building up an arsenal of pads....i'll do this when i decide which ones I really like.....when I painted, there were painters that would go all day with a crappy brush that was trashed 2 hrs into the day, i cleaned and changed brushes regularly....easier to work with, less likely to leave boogers and brush marks

 

[acuRAS82]

For reference: When doing a whole mid-size SUV with TSR and more traditional size pads (5.5”), I use at least 6-8 pads. Then I’ll use 2 or 3 of the 3” pads for the small areas (my SIV has a decent amount of small areas). The number of pads could vary depending on if I’m working long passes for a lot of correction (more pads used) or if I’m buzzing through eliminating only minor swirls (less pads). The amount of time each pad is in use and the amount of times you apply more polish should dictate how wet and hot the pad gets and therefore how often to replace. When in doubt, replace... it’ll only save the life of each pad.

The smaller ones will get more hot since they tend to rotate faster, easier, in my opinion. Thin pads also rotate faster, easier and being thin, there’s less foam to absorb heat and they also get saturated faster. So pay attention to the heat being generated by each different style of pad.

 

[Lance Mark]

For reference: When doing a whole mid-size SUV with TSR and more traditional size pads 5.5”), I use at least 6-8 pads. Then I’ll use 2 or 3 of the 3” pads for the small areas (my SIV has a decent amount of small areas). The number of pads could vary depending on if I’m working long passes for a lot of correction (more pads used) or if I’m buzzing through eliminating only minor swirls (less pads). The amount of time each pad is in use and the amount of times you apply more polish should dictate how wet and hot the pad gets and therefore how often to replace. When in doubt, replace... it’ll only save the life of each pad.

The smaller ones will get more hot since they tend to rotate faster, easier, in my opinion. Thin pads also rotate faster, easier and being thin, there’s less foam to absorb heat and they also get saturated faster. So pay attention to the heat being generated by each different style of pad.

but any time I feel the pad, it never really seems hot.....how are you paying attention?

 

[acuRAS82]

I'd made some assumptions

I was assuming more product = more lubrication = cooler running

my problem was too much product, wrecked a couple of pads figuring it out

it was in this video where he gives contrary advice than what has been given here....he was the reason i primed the pad ......17 mins in, he says new pads need to be primed and he demos how to do it....he does the same thing with a fresh cutting pad at 25 1/2 mins in

mike says it's an art form

right now, my art looks like this

View attachment 72903

thanks for all the great points and suggestions

is there a rule of thumb for how long a pad should be used....fore example, maybe one pad does 1/2 a hood....or 3 or 4 16" x 16" areas?

i like the idea of building up an arsenal of pads....i'll do this when i decide which ones I really like.....when I painted, there were painters that would go all day with a crappy brush that was trashed 2 hrs into the day, i cleaned and changed brushes regularly....easier to work with, less likely to leave boogers and brush marks

Lol, I like your art, to be honest. But I’m also a huge fan of my 5 year old’s works, so maybe it’s just preference.

I personally do prime each brand new pad with my finger like Mike says. But not a lot of polish is needed after that on each additional application. There may be times where more is needed for longer working time but then you should be switching out more.

Hopefully my last post gave you an idea of how often to switch out, but I would say a few doors is a good average.

 

[acuRAS82]

but any time I feel the pad, it never really seems hot.....how are you paying attention?

That’s interesting then because if it were heating up a lot you would feel heat at the bottom of the pad. It could just be poor Velcro attachment on the pad the flew off? Or were you going over an area with multiple bends-angles where the pad became dislodged due to the spinning at multiple angles causing part of the Velcro to become detached? This has happened to me when polishing wheels with a 3”.

 

[Lance Mark]

That’s interesting then because if it were heating up a lot you would feel heat at the bottom of the pad. It could just be poor Velcro attachment on the pad the flew off? Or were you going over an area with multiple bends-angles where the pad became dislodged due to the spinning at multiple angles causing part of the Velcro to become detached? This has happened to me when polishing wheels with a 3”.

little bit of some angles, this time around I was practicing on my truck's tail gate

I went at it again last night and it went way better, the thicker pads are not as easy to work with, i prefer the thinner with the hole in the center, at least for now