How many pads?

Something else to consider for the number of pads...

I waste maybe 2, 3 pads on test spots sometimes. I may do a few pad+compound/polish combos in dialing in what is going to work on this paint today. I don't like to cross contaminate and those pads with compounds or polishes I decide don't work end up in the soapy wash bucket to be cleaned later. It might be an orange pad and I will be using orange with another product for the job but not that one (or two).

You can never have too many pads but I never like not having enough.
 
Use a lot. Don't make the mistake I did and try and get by with three. Use a half-dozen at a minimum. If you don't have a half-dozen, wait until you do. And cleaning on the fly and scrubbing the pad in between - well that's a mess you don't need. Do a couple of sections, remove the pad, spray some pad cleaner on it and toss it in a bucket. Put a fresh pad on it and keep going.

I made two mistakes when I first polish/corrected. I used a white pad when I should have used orange and I didn't change out pads enough. I got very little correction. When I remedied those two mistakes, it was amazing. You know I invested in white pads, thinking I was gonna do the last polishing with it. But instead, I opted for an AIO and for that you need orange. I had no luck using white pads with AIO.

If I had to do it over again, I would invest in all Orange pads, plus black or blue pads to apply LSP. But if you are going to do multi-steps, I guess you need the white pads.
 
fightnews said:
The pads get gunked up doesnt matter how much you clean them in between passes.
Click to expand...

actually you can easily prevent that. a kick ass spur being one, a pad washer, and some great toothbrushes and towels. you can very easily stop your pads from being gummed up with crap.
 
I usually use two. After each pannel I clean the pad using the pad washer. I let the pad free spin at the maximum speed of the polisher for a few seconds to remove as much water as possible then swith to the other pad. By the time I finish the second pannel and clean that pad, the first one is ready for use on the next pannel. If you have more pads, the better, but you can definatelly get by with one or two if you have a pad washer. Without the pad washer, one pad per pannel... so you will need a lot of them.

Oh one thing, when you clean the pad, put it down on a microfiber towel with the hook and loop (velcro) facing up so that the remaining water doesn't gather on the interface between the foam and the hook and loop material... this could weaken the glue and cause durability issues. Also by puting it down that way, when you re-install it on the polisher, the remaining water in the pad should be collected at the bottom of the pad and you can spin it out before applying product on the pad.
 
I have 6 of each color LC flats that I use, but I find I can easily do my entire truck with 4.

But it's always nice to know I have 2 backups, just in case.
 
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