Is This Normal Foam Pad Wear? Advice Please!

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

I use both my G100 and my Flex 3401.

Cleaning pads on a DA style polisher with a nylon brush and the polisher turned on doesn't work, the force of the bristles to just one small area on the face of the pad is enough pressure to stop the pad from rotating, (therefore you're not cleaning the pad), or cause it to rotate sporadically. If you hold the bristles in the center of the pad it will rotate but as you move the bristles outward at some point the pressure from the bristles to an isolated area has more leverage than the Free Floating Spindle Bearing Assembly can overcome.

If I use a nylon brush to clean a foam pad on a PC style polisher it's with the tool turned off and I hold the back of the backing plate in a way that the pad cannot spin then I brush the pad.

My procedure to clean the pads on the fly with the foam reconditioning brush is to lay the tool against my thigh, put the brush against the face of the foam pad then turn on the machine so that the pad is rotating. I'm trying to mimic the cleaning one can do with a rotary.

What you describe is what I imagined you doing.

I also put pressure on the pad brush enough to make the pads compress to make sure I'm getting the dried/spent product in the face of the foam pad. When I do this, I see a lot of dust or dried out particles flying out off the face of the foam pad.

That's a lot of pressure and with the violent oscillating action you're going to shred your foam pads.

Am I doing it wrong by applying pressure on the brush? Should I put the brush on the face of the pad with minimal pressure?

Don't clean pads on a Flex 3401 with the tool running. Do it like I posted above, that is, if I use a nylon brush to clean a foam pad on a Flex 3401, it's with the tool turned off and I hold the back of the head of the polisher and then brush the pad.


If you want more life out of your pads, you cannot continue to use the technique you describe as it will tear up the foam. Again, I posted this above but here it is again...

The key culprit here is also the feature you undoubtedly love and that's the forced oscillating action.


Powerful but safe correction ability but a pain to clean the fast easy way like done when using a rotary buffer. This is one of the trade-offs you make for using the type of tool you prefer. Nothing wrong with it, just the characteristics of the tool and cleaning pads.


Could have used the spoken word and shown you all of the above if a lot better in person than using a keyboard... sorry...

 

[A4 1.8tqm]

I found that compressed air is highly effective at cleaning pads on the fly. Just blast the pad while it spins on low, plus it's non-destructive to your pads. Marc, if you have an air compressor, give it a try.

 

[sulla]

No flash...

That's normal wear-n-tear for compounding 3/4's of this vehicle and each section I compounded I compounded twice. One section pass to chop off all the topical paint and a second to do a really good job of compounding the paint because I like to be thorough.

So now that we conclude Grit Guard Pad washer is the best tool to clean pads.. The pad in above condition is it usable ? At what point will you decide it's unusable ?

 

[Ali Bouali]

So now that we conclude Grit Guard Pad washer is the best tool to clean pads.. The pad in above condition is it usable ? At what point will you decide it's unusable ?

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