Lake Country HDO Foam Pads

mwoywod said:
Thanks for this post Mark. Really love the latest microfiber options from Lake Country and though I love the HDO microfiber pad I've been saving money by buying the standard Lake Country microfiber cutting pads and punching out the center cooling chamber myself. Other than the center hole and slightly beveled foam interface on the HDO microfiber pad I'm pretty sure they are virtually identical.

But, I've been really wanting to try the HDO foam pads. The B&S low pro green and orange cutting pads are far too stiff and they aren't very user friendly IMO. I do REALLY like the maroon low-pro pad and find that it cuts only slightly less than the maroon uro-tec but finishes much better.

Because of your experience with the Blue HDO foam pad being too stiff I'm confident I won't like it either. How firm is the orange HDO pad in your opinion? Is it as firm as the orange low-pro pads? If it's not as firm I'm thinking about trying it.

One HDO pad that I'm really interested in is the Black Polishing pad. Is it more similar in terms of softness to the uro-tec yellow pad or the uro-tec white white pad?
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I love the new LC MF cutting pads(including HDO).

The actual foam of the orange HDO pad is nowhere near as stiff as the low-pro orange. It's on the softer side. All HDO foam pads, as I'm sure you know, have a very hard interface between the foam and velcro. The HDO black foam pad uses the same foam as the regular LC flat black pad. I'm positive of this. Again, the blue HDO foam is definitely on the stiffer side. It's cuts and finishes great, but the panels better be pretty flat.

FWIW, IME, the yellow uro-tec foam is VERY similar to the Rupes yellow. The uro-tec is slighty thicker.
 
If LC could bring back the original blue cutting HD Orbital foam, I'd be all over them.
 
mwoywod said:
Thanks for this post Mark. Really love the latest microfiber options from Lake Country and though I love the HDO microfiber pad I've been saving money by buying the standard Lake Country microfiber cutting pads and punching out the center cooling chamber myself. Other than the center hole and slightly beveled foam interface on the HDO microfiber pad I'm pretty sure they are virtually identical.
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Do you like Lake Country mf better than Megs? Lake Country is more durable but i like Megs better. It is nicer feeling to use and i actually like the overhang so i can tilt the machine and go into concaves. Havent yet used HDO mf or uro-fiber.
 
Joel1979 said:
Do you like Lake Country mf better than Megs? Lake Country is more durable but i like Megs better. It is nicer feeling to use and i actually like the overhang so i can tilt the machine and go into concaves. Havent yet used HDO mf or uro-fiber.
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I didn't at first but now I absolutely do. The fibers are slightly longer/denser and they don't seem to matte down quite as badly for me personally when working on single stage paints. The foam interface and microfiber on the LC microfiber is just SO much higher in quality than megs microfiber pads. LC pads also run quite a bit cooler.

I definitely understand why guys would prefer the overhang of meg's MF cutting pads. I've been having issues with Uro-fiber 5" pads shrinking slightly and because they are exact fit pads they no longer fit onto my rupes 4 7/8" backing plates.

Meguiar's MF Cutting Pad- 5.5"
Lake Country MF Cutting Pad -5.25"
Uro-fiber MF Cutting Pad -5"

I honestly wish both meguiars and B&S would change their MF cutting pads to Lake Country's 5.25" size. This diameter is perfect IMO because even if it shrinks a little over time, it will still provides enough overhang that you won't have to worry about bumping/damaging adjacent panels with your backing plate like you possibly could with the 5" uro-fiber. I honestly think the only negative I've found with the uro-fiber is the "Exact fit" sizing. I definitely prefer the overhang of an LC or even the Megs MF pad.

Overall, I'd say the LC microfiber cutting pad is basically the premium version of Megs microfiber and I like that it runs cooler and last 20-30 polishing sessions before I've noticed a decrease in performance where Meg's microfiber pads generally only last between 5-7 polishing sessions before performance drops off for me.
 
Ok thanks for the great answer. Boss mf cuts little less and is onbar with uro-fiber? Btw hdo mf is 5.5, right? That might be my best bet.
 
Yes, I think the Boss MF and the uro-fiber are pretty close in cut. I'd probably give the edge to the uro-fiber for cut and finishing ability to Boss MF. HDO is 5.5 inch so I think that would be the best option for you. AG sells a 6-pack of HDO microfiber for $69.99 so even though they're clearly more expensive up front than Meg's, the LC MF is going to run cooler and last 5x longer.

Comparing MF cutting ability on a scale of 1-10

Meguiar's-10
Lake Country-10
Uro-Fiber-9
Boss MF-8.5

Comparing MF finishing ability on a scale of 1-10

Meguiar's-7
Lake Country-8
Uro-fiber-8.5
Boss Microfiber-9

These number are based purely on my experience with cut and finish of the MF pads I use
 
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