Need help with polishing white car

I may have trouble with the smaller sections though, especially with the 6.5" pads. Any advise what I can do? Polish it by hand instead?
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A few thoughts:
1) Look for smaller pads for your polisher.. if not available, considering getting a smaller back plate for a drill and like 4 inch pads, with a caveat that this will act liek a rotary and you will need to be VERY careful.. practice on a car you don't care about or a practice panel.. this also helps with RIDS.

2) Consider moving to a flex 3401 vrg (forced rotation polisher). Is has some of the action of a rotary (~400 rpm) and a DA (OPM)... this will speed up correction and get some defects you can't get with your current DA.

3) Wetsanding is likely not indicated given your current polisher (and perhaps experience level) As you gain experience you will eventually want to move to a rotary polisher (big caveat is you can burn through your clear coat if reckless with it.. causing you to need an expensive repaint, so use at your own risk, and try to use on an old beater or practice panels first). Your Menzerna polishes work VERY well with rotary polishers. You will most likely need a rotary to remove anything above 2000-2500 grit.
If wetsanding a paint thickness gauge is also likely in order.

Regards,
Mike
 
OUCH! And I only got 3 panels left to do. :(

Orange Pad 1


I use this pad as per normal and had been ok for the last two days. Ripped it from the Concours Polisher and ouch, the back side was gone with the foam basically shrink.

The likely cause was from the polisher which seem to overheat a lot. And yes, I have been using it on max setting since it is the only one that works.

Orange Pad 2


This is another orange pad which is being dried right now. At first, I was wondering why the foam had deformed, but I believe it has suffered heat damage as well and is likely to go if I use it again. :(



The velco side of the backing plate. :( Having a hard time getting rid of it.

Do RA Polisher overheat and damage the pads like these? Or is it because my polisher was faulty in the first place? A lot of the times the pads to feel quite warm every time I finished a particular section.

Note I do make sure there is enough products on the pad before I start the polishing. It has been working fine and was washed properly. (dish washing detergent, then spin dried with the polisher)

Looks like I'm stuck with the white pads for the remaining panels.

gencoupe3dot8, thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, I'm not willing to invest more into these equipment at this time. I don't plan to move into the rotary polisher. In fact, I plan to outsource future polishing because it is just too tiring and takes way too much time.
 
Pads must be thoroughly dry before using. Spin dry is not sufficient.
 
those pads look really thick so to get them to transfer enough motion to the paint, you likely had to compress them pretty hard. I also don't like those dimples b/c it means you have less foam working on the paint.

Thin is in!

If you want to try again in the future, consider Lake Country 5.5 inch flat pads which are only 7/8 in thick. Using the clean on the fly technique, I use only 2 pads per polishing step. Haven't buffed a whole lot of cars yet but my pads look brand new (except for the whites which got stained by some cobra indigo's) after about 5-6 uses each.
 
How would it affect the durability of the pad if it is still wet?

And yes, I may have compress them too hard because if I don't, the polisher wouldn't be "stable" when it's on max speed. It would just wiggle too much making passes a bit difficult to control.

I also have been using clean on the fly technique, but I wash them every night since I've been working over the weekdays night after work to polish my car.
 
Temjin said:
How would it affect the durability of the pad if it is still wet?

And yes, I may have compress them too hard because if I don't, the polisher wouldn't be "stable" when it's on max speed. It would just wiggle too much making passes a bit difficult to control.

I also have been using clean on the fly technique, but I wash them every night since I've been working over the weekdays night after work to polish my car.
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You need to let pads dry for 2-3 days. I am not exactly sure how the moisture affect pads - it causes them to heat up and separates the velcro. I also believe (assuming you have the right amount of product) that is what is making them grabby and hard to control. Does this happen with a new pad?
 
dougaross said:
You need to let pads dry for 2-3 days. I am not exactly sure how the moisture affect pads - it causes them to heat up and separates the velcro. I also believe (assuming you have the right amount of product) that is what is making them grabby and hard to control. Does this happen with a new pad?
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That long? What I did was to spin it as dry as possible and then soak the rest of the moisture out via the clean on the fly technique. This managed to get the pad pretty dry.

I should have the right products. And what makes it grabby and hard to control is probably my polisher being on max setting all the time.

My second pad is gone too. Deformed and velco partially ripped apart. (slowly removed it from the polisher, but still damaged it)

One of my white pad show deformation as well. :( I better stop using this polisher for now.
 
A few more thoughts:
1) There is NO WAY the DA should be melting your pads. You have a DEFECTIVE unit and need to send it back to wherever you bought in from for a replacement!

2) Pad drying/cleaning - you can use very little moisture by using a cleaning brush on the pad as it spins, this should get most of the polish off for - on the fly... you can also spray with diluted APC and dab into an absorbent MF towel. If you have a dehumidifier hang your pads near it to speed up the drying process. Some people even throw them in a dryer, on low heat.. I allow mine to air dry. Spin drying on a DA is not recommended as it can cause velcro separation if the pads are soaked.

3) Your pads are shredding due to the heat - pure and simple. See 1) for replacement of the unit.

4) My suggestion regarding the Flex 3401 vrg was due to the fact the the Flex is a quality unit made in Germany.... and also that it speeds up your polish time... but is much safer than a rotary buffer...

I understand your frustration and not wanting to spend more money... of course that is your choice... but there is a sense of accomplishment from doing it yourself that can never be replicated... :xyxthumbs:
 
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