How can I clean my lake country foam pads?

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AliMusa

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I know there's products specifically made for cleaning foam pads but at the moment, I'd rather not spend any more money. Are there any everyday products that can be used to clean these pads? I do have simple green and an air compressor but I'm not entirely sure if those are good enough and what the correct process to clean the pads with them are. If anyone could please help, it would be greatly appreciated.
 
You can soak them in a bucket with diluted all purpose cleaner (dilute per manufacturer recommendations for general cleaning), after they have soaked for a while and the product has had a chance to be softened/broken down a bit, hold the pad in your hands and massage the pads with your thumbs to work the product out of the pad, then run the pad under clean warm water and continue to massage the product out of the pad, ring it out and let air dry... repeat for all pads.

It can be a little tedious if the pads are really dirty, so take your time and get them clean.
 
People will probably cringe at me but I just throw the pads in the washer and dryer.

No issues at the moment.
 
It is an all purpose cleaner, is it not?

I have never used the stuff.
 
Before I decided to buy my pad cleaner and conditioner I just soaked with dial dish wash soap. I know that it is looked down upon to use that but when your budget is tight I felt that this was adequate enough for my previous throw away pads. Honestly I would recommend that you just drop the what 9 bucks for a 16 oz thing of foam pad cleaner and conditioner and to help out even more go to your local autozone and by a set of their detailing brushes. Use the nylon brush to help scrub out the product from the pad.
 
AliMusa said:
So would simple green suffice?
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Be careful with Simple Green, it has 2-butoxyethanol which when absorbed through the skin can cause mutations to red blood cells. Jury is still out on whether this stuff is truly "non-toxic" as the manufacturer claims but there are definitely better choices on the market.
 
I use a pad cleaner now. Before I would wash with all purpose cleaner in hot water and would constantly rinse them out and store with Velcro side up on a ventilated shelf
 
I also use a pad cleaner but before that I used dish soap. It wasn't worth it. The thing with dish soap is you have to rinse very well. You don't want dish soap in your pads when you go to use them again so keep squeezing them throroughly to wring them out each time you add water. Make certain it runs clear until you don't see any bubbles then rinse them some more. I only used dish soap on the waxing pads because it's the hardest to remove. Imagine using the pad again with some expensive LSP and residual soap in the pad breaking down your LSP..... I don't think it's worth it.

The polish comes out of pads much easier. I would highly recommend you use car wash soap instead of dish soap period if you don't use pad cleaner. When you lay them out to dry put the velcro side up. Use the least aggressive method to clean your pads. A mild Ph neutral soap that's mixed in a bucket is preferrable to soap shot right on the pad itself. Car soap is better but I have to say that dish soap costs money, car wash soap costs money, so you may as well spend some on pad cleaner because a tub of it lasts a looooooong time. I'm pretty frugal when it comes to purchasing, and I haven't done the numbers on how much each costs, but it can't be worth the chance of leaving dish soap in the pad and having it affect your last applied product and then putting in the labor and double the product in a few weeks instead of it lasting 6 months because of that soap. I'd rather use something mild that leaves a little polish or wax in the pad than use something harsh and not get it all rinsed out.
 
I use regular strength Simple Green but probably any decent APC will work - $10/gallon. I spray the pads well as soon as I pull them off and let them "soak" in a clean bucket until I'm done polishing. I do not fill a bucket with any solution as that promotes de-lamination. I use an old litter box but anything similar will suffice and place a grit guard inside. Re-attach the pad to my Flex and set the speed to #4. Only using the weight of the machine, turn the DA on for about one minute and guide it over the surface of the grit guard - do not bear down as you can damage the foam with to much pressure. Rinse with luke warm water and your done. The poor man's pad cleaner - works great and it's not messy believe it or not. I do wear nitrile gloves because I don't like handling the APC. Rinse the grit guard off and let the pads dry face down.
 
I actually have a 5 gallon bucket full of pads now. Warm water + Dawn or Snappy Pad Wash stuff if I have any. Let it sit overnight and then wash them out in the sink.

Hate it.
 
So I'm a little confused. Can I use Dawn soap or not? Also, does using vinegar help at all? If so, how can I implement the vinegar into it?
 
Just a suggestion...any pad you use for "synthetic wax," just clean as best you can and mark it for 'wax only' (or something like that). Reason I say this, synthetic products don't/won't be removed completely.

Of course, that is why we are going to 'sealers', longevity.

Bill
 
Simple green works great. I spray the pads and let them sit a few minutes and as I run them under water I add Dawn. If the pads aren't extremely saturated with polish jus use dawn.
I wick them in old towels and they can be used pretty much immediately.
 
Rsurfer said:
Cut it 1:1 works great.
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Sorry but I'm terrible at understanding dilution ratios. How much of each would I need? Also, would I just put all three pads in at once in the same bucket?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using AG Online
 
I have used Dawn with success. My favorite is pad cleaner from XMT but, after a few squirts my finger slides off the pump part of the sprayer then I'm spraying my finger. (read whoever thought the type of prayer for the bottle is a knucklehead)
 
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