Lake Country 1 Pad Polishing System

[James K]

Keep in mind when reading this that I am a hobbyist detailer.

Product: Lake Country 1-Pad Polsihing System

Product Description : From Autogeek.net - With 1-Pad buffing pads, you use a fresh, new pad every time you detail. You don't spend valuable time cleaning pads. Every 1-Pad buffing pad performs perfectly. When your detail is finished, throw the pads away. Nothing is more valuable than your time. The time you save by tossing used pads offsets the cost of the 1-Pad Polishing System.

Would you buy this again or recommend it to a friend: Yes

Initial Product Observations: The pads seemed very thin. I was actually owrried that they may break down to early. The backing plate had a nice flexibilty to it though.

I used this system on my Flex LK603VVB. My first thoughts were that these pads seemed very thin. I was worried about pressure being applied to them and the backplate pushing on the paint. However, with the cushioning of the back plates tri density foam, my worries were for nothing.

Here is a pic of the back plate with a little pressure applied to it to show the tri density foam.

The orange pad seemed to be lense dense to the touch then a regular orange LC pad. I was not sure how this would play in to the cutting ability.
Here are the pics of the orange pad and the a regular LC orange pad.
1Pad

LC Pad

The white pads seemed very similar in feel and texture to a regular pad. Sorry I did not have a new white pad to put a compare picture up with.

The grey pad was like the white in the fact that it felt very similar in composition to the regular black pad.

I liked the way the pads were curved and allowed me to move over the body work.

While working with these pads I noticed that were very easy to control and held up very well. It has very little velcro on the bac of the pad, and I was worried that the pad might slip. After I was done using them on my car, I ran the pad at a higher RPM and applied quite a bit of pressure to it on some plexiglass. I marked the pad and the backplate with Sharpie to see if it moved at all. It did not.

The cut of the pads seemed to be on par with regular pads, and I was able to finish the car nicely with th white pad and some Optimum Hyper Polish.

I have the pads soaking, and will be cleaning them. I know, this defeats the purpose of the 1 time use pad right? Not in my opinion. I am cleaning them to see how well they held up, in case anyone is worried about not being able to finish a car with one pad.

Pros: No cleaning, good cut, curved sruface makes it easy on edges and contours.

Cons: Could get expensive.

Final Observations and Summary: Since I have this sytem now, I will continue to use it. It worked great for me. I will only be using the orange and white pads though, as when I get in to the grey pads I like to move on to my PC. I am also considering the Cyan and Yellow to be my next purchase.

 

[mg6045]

fantastic review.,

my goodness, that pic of the curved pad makes me crave a similar pad for a DA or Random Orbital.

is there anway this could work on a DA ?

edit: upon another look at the pic, it seems the orbital throw of a DA would defeat the purpose of a smooth curved edge, as it would be jiggling back and forth on a curve like that.

 

[IID]

Thank You for the post (pictures).

I ordered the 1-Pad system (BP+3 pads) for correcting the contours of my TA so I can put on a coat of CQ or OC.My RamAir(WS6) hood has a few pronounced curves that I feel these pads will work great for.
Depending how they work on my TA,I may use them for customers that have vehicle profile's that these new 1-Pad would meet them needs.Which would be the only reason IMO to order them.

 

[James K]

No problem guys. I am honored that I got the opprotunity to do it.

IID, I LOVE the WS6! One of my favorite cars. Soo sexy. This pad did work great for the contours on my hood. The pics that I took are just before I started the hood, so the compound is not on the edge of the pad yet.

This picture shows the contour of my hood. While not as drastic as a WS6, it is still pretty contoured.

 

[IID]

Indeed it is.
I'm glad you liked the 1-Pad system.I should get mine tomorrow.
BTW,Beautiful snake!

No problem guys. I am honored that I got the opprotunity to do it.

IID, I LOVE the WS6! One of my favorite cars. Soo sexy. This pad did work great for the contours on my hood. The pics that I took are just before I started the hood, so the compound is not on the edge of the pad yet.

This picture shows the contour of my hood. While not as drastic as a WS6, it is still pretty contoured.

 

[James K]

Thanks man. Let us know what you think of the kit.

 

[rwisejr]

Thanks for sharing. Keep us posted as you continue to evaluate the system.

 

[rwright]

Thanks for the great review!

For those looking at this thread wondering if this will work on a DA, I will be testing this very soon. I re-sized a couple pics I just snapped to show what the system looks like on a DA:

 

[James K]

Interesting. I never thought about it on a DA. I wonder how that will change pad life.

Here is a continuation of the review.

The pads are washed. I washed them so I could show the wear of them after just ones use. IMO, they are quite worn. If you look at the outer rings of the pad, you can see the dimples are disappearing quite quickly. Mainly on the orange pad, but the white seemed to show significant wear as well.

Here is a picture of the back of the pads. Notice the plastic shell and small velcro patch.

If you look at the edge of this plastic shell, you will notice that it is starting to separate from the foam. While this does not matter on a pad you are throwing away, I just found it interesting.

With the wear that the orange pad is showing already, ad the fact that I did not need much pressure or speed to complete this detail, I am wondering if they would hold up for a larger vehicle like an SUV.

 

[James K]

I am going to give these a try again on another car on Saturday just to see how long they truly last and cut. While this does not matter on a single use pad, I am doing for my own curiosity.

 

[Setec Astronomy]

Did the dimples disappear because the foam was worn away? Or did they kind of "pop" out?

 

[James K]

It appears the foam wore away.

 

[C. Charles Hahn]

Wow.... that much wear after one use? I'll be curious if others see the same thing. That doesn't exactly make me want these if they do wear out that fast.

 

[Setec Astronomy]

Wow.... that much wear after one use? I'll be curious if others see the same thing. That doesn't exactly make me want these if they do wear out that fast.

Hey you're supposed to throw them out after one use!

 

[C. Charles Hahn]

Hey you're supposed to throw them out after one use!

I'm aware of that, but even a normal pad doesn't wear like that after one light use. By the time he got to the last panel he buffed, the cutting power would have already been significantly reduced from what he had on the first panel. Any semblance of affordability is totally gone from the system if it takes 2+ throw-away pads to complete one vehicle with consistent cut from the buffing equipment across all panels.


Not to mention I still think LC's marketing strategy and pricing structure for this system is bunk. Guess I'm the only one :dunno:

 

[TornadoRed]

I am going to give these a try again on another car on Saturday just to see how long they truly last and cut. While this does not matter on a single use pad, I am doing for my own curiosity.

Be careful in case the pad blows up.

 

[James K]

Be careful in case the pad blows up.

Good call. Thanks.

 

[bimmer325!]

cant wait for the DA review. I understand the logic of a disposable pad as to not contaminate products etc..but seems to me that ultimately it would be expensive to keep ordering pads. The thin pads and the flexable backing plate are winners in my opinion...but beyond that...we will have to wait and see.

 

[Setec Astronomy]

Any semblance of affordability is totally gone from the system if it takes 2+ throw-away pads to complete one vehicle with consistent cut from the buffing equipment across all panels.

I don't think affordability was the rationale behind this system. From Mike Phillips' first posting about this product: "The target market for this new pad system is for high-end detailers that tend to only use new clean pads for each detailing project they tackle." That sounds more like Paul Dalton or Todd Helme or Mike Phillips, not you or me.

Not to mention I still think LC's marketing strategy and pricing structure for this system is bunk. Guess I'm the only one :dunno:

No, I agree with you...I thnk a lot of us assumed when we heard these were "throwaway" pads that they would have to be "cheap", but I guess cheap is relative...It will be interesting to see if this becomes a successful system after the initial interest dies down, and/or whether the unique shape and BP flexibility wins over customers because it may be able to do things other systems can't.

 

[C. Charles Hahn]

I don't think affordability was the rationale behind this system. From Mike Phillips' first posting about this product: "The target market for this new pad system is for high-end detailers that tend to only use new clean pads for each detailing project they tackle." That sounds more like Paul Dalton or Todd Helme or Mike Phillips, not you or me.

So their target market is 5 people? Sounds like a compelling business case to me :idea:

I'm not arguing with you, and I know you're just playing devil's advocate (or would that be LC's advocate? :laughing: ), but it just seems ridiculous to me that they would create a system of one time use pads that seemingly can't even stand up to enough section passes to complete an entire vehicle before exhibiting signs of significant wear and reduced effectiveness. Especially when the operator specifically says he wasn't being very aggressive throughout the buffing process!

Having said that, I do seem to recall MP Cobra Fan saying before he got the pads in that this was his first time using a rotary buffer, so we can't be 100% sure technique didn't play some role in the way the pads wore. Judging by his results though I don't think that was an issue. We'll have to wait and see if others see similar behavior from the pad system, and I'm especially interested in seeing how they behave for rwright on his DA.

No, I agree with you...I thnk a lot of us assumed when we heard these were "throwaway" pads that they would have to be "cheap", but I guess cheap is relative...It will be interesting to see if this becomes a successful system after the initial interest dies down, and/or whether the unique shape and BP flexibility wins over customers because it may be able to do things other systems can't.

Indeed -- and that shape/flexibility is really the biggest draw the system still has for me at this point simply because I can see it coming in very handy for vehicles like Corvettes that have a lot of curved panels to them.

Past that, even "high end" detailers might find that the system isn't very cost effective for them if they end up going through multiple throw-away pads during each step of their buffing. I'm not sure if the guys you mention tend to switch to a fresh pad every panel or two already when using traditional pads, but with the amount of wear the 1-Pads seem to be exhibiting it would appear as though they'd almost have to change pads more often when using this system -- which with the pricing set as it is could actually increase their overhead costs when doing work for a client. I don't think even a guy like Paul Dalton would like seeing their profits eaten into as a result of using a different buffing system.

I too will be very interested to see how people respond to this system as the "new toy" phase wears off. Call it a hunch, but I bet we'll see LC dropping the pricing of the pads or working to revise the foam they use before too long, especially if many other people experience similar wear patterns to those shown in this thread.