Lake Country Waffle Pro Pads INTERACTIVE Review

[AutowerxDetailing]

I was getting everything ready to really test out these new Waffle Pro Pads from Lake Country and I started thinking... Why not let YOU decide how to test these puppies out?

Here is the plan: I have a small assortment of compounds, polishes and tools. You ask me the questions, I will deliver the answers with photo or video proof of the results.

Example: How do these pads work with a rotary polisher at a particular speed? How squishy are the blue pads compared to the black pads? You ask the questions and I will find out and update this thread accordingly!

To kick things off let's review some basic information about these new pads.

Lake Country Waffle Pro Foam Pads, buffing pads, compounding pads, polishing pads

Lake Country Waffle Pro Foam Pads have a convoluted "waffle" design that allows air flow between the pad and the paint. This increased air flow prevents heat buildup and skipping. The work surface stays cooler and the pad glides over the paint more easily. Lake Country Waffle Pro Pads are available in multiple sizes and foam compositions to suit all your detailing needs.

The Lake Country Waffle Pro pads are available in the following colors:

White Compounding - The white pad is dense and firm. Use this pad with an aggressive compound to remove serious paint defects such as sanding scratches, deep scratches, oxidation, and weathered paint.

Orange Heavy Polishing - The orange pad offers excellent versatility. Use this pad with a polishing compound or medium grade polish depending on the level of polishing action you want to achieve. It will remove severe compounding haze, deep swirl marks, and weathered paint.

Black Finishing - Use the black pad with medium grade polish to remove light swirl marks and light compounding haze. Use this pad with a finishing polish to create a high-gloss, swirl-free shine.

Blue Finessing - The blue pad is exceptionally soft. Use it with a finishing polish to create intense gloss.

The Lake Country Waffle Pro 6.5 Inch Foam Pads can be used with dual action polishers or rotary machines. Use a 5 or 6 inch backing plate with hook and loop fasteners. Each pad has hook and loop backing securely adhered to the foam, making pad changes quick and easy.

Let the interactive review begin!! :buffing:

 

[AutowerxDetailing]

Here are some pictures of the Waffle Pro pads in comparison to some of the other pads I have. As you can see 6.5" really isn't that much larger than 5.5" pads and will work with the same 4 3/4" rotary and 5" DA backing plates I already have.

Some have noted that on a DA polisher 6.5" pads will sort of bog it down, I have not noticed that with these pads. The airflow the waffle design creates sort of allows the pads to glide over the surface you are polishing. On a rotary the pads are a dream come true. You get little to no pad skipping like you get sometimes with flat or CCS pads. The "gliding action" is amplified the higher the RPM. You can feel a noticeable difference between the 1000-1200 threshold where the airflow really starts to balance the movement of the pad.

The Waffle Pro lineup.

5.5" CCS on top of 6.5" Waffle Pro.

That's about how much total surface area you gain between a 5.5" and 6.5" pad.

Thickness comparison CCS, HT, & Waffle Pro.

HT crimson 5.5" on LC 4 3/4" rotary backing plate.

CCS gray 5.5" on same backing plate.

Waffle Pro blue on same backing plate.

 

[Buckskincolt]

Did you think they corrected slower due to less pad in contact with the surface?

 

[AutowerxDetailing]

I recently did some heavy paint restoration on a '70 Chevelle that had been wet sanded by the previous owner but they could not buff it out afterward. It looked like they tried polishing it back by hand or something...

I used yellow 5.5" CCS pads M105 and my 849X rotary for almost the entire car. On tight spots and curved areas I used 4" white waffle pro pads. I noticed only a slight difference in cutting ability to the yellow CCS pads. It felt more like using an orange CCS but without the pad skipping over curved panels.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...elle-paint-correction-autowerx-detailing.html

 

[SR99]

Hmmm...I'm not sure about the airflow argument. Looking at them it almost seems more like there would be trapped air pockets and less foam conatacting the surface therefore less resistance on the motor.

Here's a thought...can you mount them to a Flex (or whatever), and set them on a glass tabletop and take a photo from underneath? You might need a second person so the Flex can be held at light then at heavy pressure while taking the picture. Might need to put a thin layer of some compound on the glass so the contact area of the pad shows up better in the photo (edit: I guess a very sloped windshield could work, lacking a glass tabletop, but it doesn't give the full effect of the weight of the buffer compressing the foam the way a horizontal table top would))

Well hey! you asked for test suggestions ;o).

I'm thinking that will show there isn't much of an airflow path, just less foam contact area (sort of like those old tire commercials where they drove over soaked glass and filmed underneath to show hydroplaning) at light pressure, probably more contact area with heavier pressure.

It would seem to make sense, if the above is true, that an equivalent waffle pad would take slightly longer to correct a given defect at a given rpm, but you could probably compensate for it by increasing the rpm compared to what you'd use with a flat pad.

 

[AutowerxDetailing]

Awesome idea!!!

Here ya go:

Orange 6.5" Waffle Pro with a few drops of M205. Barely any pressure, basically just the weight of the polisher (Dewalt 849X).

Now with about 10lbs of pressure.

In action @ 600rpm. I didn't want to go any faster because I had to use trigger lock and only one hand to get these shots...

You can see that there are more dimples on the pad while it is spinning meaning that there is airflow beneath the pad doing exactly as the manufacture claims.

 

[SR99]

Cool! Thanks for doing that.
Would you say you'd need to put way more than normal working pressure to flatten the foam cones (for lack of better term--they don't look like any waffle I've ever had ;o)) completely? Is it a denser foam than the solid/flat pads you have to compare to?

 

[Buckskincolt]

Thanks for the Review Nicholas! I'll be in for some of these when they offer them in the 5.5" size. Awesome work!

 

[AutowerxDetailing]

Cool! Thanks for doing that.
Would you say you'd need to put way more than normal working pressure to flatten the foam cones (for lack of better term--they don't look like any waffle I've ever had ;o)) completely? Is it a denser foam than the solid/flat pads you have to compare to?

Good question. The foam feels very similar to CCS foam specially the orange and gray pads. The orange feels to have the most firmness, even more so than the white pads.

How I feel about the density of the pads isn't good enough for me though. Science to the rescue!!!

I took a few 10 lbs weights that I never lift and set them on top of each pad to see how much they compressed. I was going to measure the results but my measuring device kept falling over. You can plainly see how firm each type of foam is in the following pictures though.

Oddly enough, the waffle pro pads, even the soft colors (which feel less dense) held their own against the added downward pressure very well. I suspect it is the cone shaped waffle that created the extra support in the pads; much like how bridges are constructed using triangles since they seem to hold the most weight of any available shape.

The measuring tool.

White waffle pro with no pressure.

White waffle pro with 10lbs of pressure.

White waffle pro with 20lbs of pressure.

Orange waffle pro with no pressure.

Orange waffle pro with 10lbs of pressure.

Orange waffle pro with 20 lbs of pressure.

Blue waffle pro with no pressure

Blue waffle pro with 10lbs of pressure.

Blue waffle pro with 20lbs of pressure. I really thought this one would get crushed because it feels so soft... the power of the waffle!

Black waffle pro with no pressure.

Black waffle pro with 10lbs of pressure.

Black waffle pro with 20lbs of pressure. LOL crushed.

Cyan HT with 10lbs of pressure

Cyan HT with 20lbs of pressure.

Tangerine HT with 10lbs of pressure.

Tangerine HT with 20lbs of pressure.

Crimson HT with 10lbs of pressure.

Crimson HT with 20lbs of pressure.

Yellow CCS with no pressure.

Yellow CCS with 10lbs of pressure.

Yellow CCS with 20lbs of pressure. Crushed!

Gray CCS with no pressure.

Gray CCS with 10lbs of pressure.

Gray CCS with 20lbs of pressure. I put my key under the weights to show that there is still a tiny bit of room but the pad is completely compressed.

Again. The gray CCS and black waffle pro FEEL exactly the same in terms of foam density. The way they BEHAVE is entirely different though due to the waffle foam vs flat foam construction.

 

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Got a question for you. How does the waffle pads behave when using them in the pad washer?

 

[AutowerxDetailing]

Got a question for you. How does the waffle pads behave when using them in the pad washer?

That is a great question... and I wish I knew. I unfortunately don't have a pad washer to test. I normally wash all my pads by hand after letting them soak in the left over wash bucket. Then when I get home I spray some APC+ and scrub them with a tooth brush.

I can say that I initially thought it would be more difficult to clean inside all the little dimples from the waffle pattern. What I have noticed is that it takes about just as long to clean a normal flat pad.

 

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

I will have to bring my pad washer to work and use it on our 3M pads. I use the 3M line of polishes and pads at work so I will try it out here. I just dont have anything ready to cut and buff at the moment.

 

[dad07]

Great Idea and cool thread! Subscribed.