New LC Flat Pads - Change in Cutting / Finishing Order?

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damonb10

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Could someone help correct me if I'm wrong here? I believe the LC Flat pads were in a different order for cutting/finishing than what they are now.

I thought it was (most aggressive to least): yellow, orange, green, white, blue, black. Now they appear to be listed in the following order of aggressiveness: yellow, orange, white, green, blue, black. It looks like white and green swapped places. Can any of you long-time detailers check your older references and see if that is true?

I ask this, because I ordered orange pads for whenever I needed more cutting power, white for most of my pads for just light 1 step polishing, and black for applying waxes and sealants. Now I'm wondering if I should've ordered green instead of white....
 
I really don't know how to answer for these "new" pads, but there have been green foams floating around for as long as I have been machine polishing that variously are slightly more or less agressive than the old reliable white. There used to be a "German" green foam that was supposed to be more aggressive than white, as well as a green foam that was about the same or less aggressive.

I wouldn't worry about using the white for what you want to do.
 
I’ve never seen Green flat foam pads.

The way I understood the order was:
Yellow[heavy cutting]
Orange[cutting]
White[polishing]
Black[finishing]
Blue[finessing]

What are green pads?
 
Eldorado2k said:
I’ve never seen Green flat foam pads.

The way I understood the order was:
Yellow[heavy cutting]
Orange[cutting]
White[polishing]
Black[finishing]
Blue[finessing]

What are green pads?
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It seems they have these green in their flat pad line up and their ccs line up. I swear I’ve never seen them before.



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Finick said:
ea2b0dd11684f8ecb33cb5fc34ef2ff1.jpg


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It seems they have these green in their flat pad line up and their ccs line up. I swear I’ve never seen them before.



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I’ve never seen them before either. And what the heck is a “heavy polishing pad”? Looks like they screwed it all up and have complicated things with 6 pads instead of 5. I won’t be buying anymore of those.
 
Eldorado2k said:
I’ve never seen them before either. And what the heck is a “heavy polishing pad”? Looks like they screwed it all up and have complicated things with 6 pads instead of 5. I won’t be buying anymore of those.
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I can only assume it’s a polishing pad that’s had one McDouble too many. 🧐


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Setec Astronomy said:
I really don't know how to answer for these "new" pads, but there have been green foams floating around for as long as I have been machine polishing that variously are slightly more or less agressive than the old reliable white. There used to be a "German" green foam that was supposed to be more aggressive than white, as well as a green foam that was about the same or less aggressive.

I wouldn't worry about using the white for what you want to do.
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You're right.

I generally use the B&S 5.5" flat foam pads, but poor LC is probably starting to feel like they just can't win. Everyone always complained about how LC and B&S didn't share the same universal pad colors, especially with the flat foam pads.

It seems that when LC revamped their lineup they decided to simplify it and make it easier for everyone by going with the exact same color skeem as the B&S flat pads to help reduce confusion. Now when you buy a flat pad from B&S or LC you don't have to try to remember which brands flat green foam pad is actually more aggressive than the white foam or which one is less aggressive.
 
A long time ago LC had two green pads in the CCS line.

One was a 60 ppi light cut/heavy polish, and one was an 80 ppi light polishing pad.

A few years back they switched the coarse green to pink, and now appears to be completely phased out.

I have a chart that placed the pink between the yellow and orange, but it was listed here between the orange and white.

A very similar foam to the coarse green/pink, can still be found as the green pad in the Buff and Shine line. However, It's listed as a polishing pad, lighter than the white, it consistently out cuts both the white and orange.
 
Confusing indeed.

Other than trying to figure out the Menzerna chart, this was the was most challenging thing for me when I was gearing up a couple seasons back. Lol
 
Some years ago I bought and tried some of the green pads and after using them found almost no difference to the whites...and for various applications. Since then I never bothered getting any more. The whites do everything I need a "green" pad to do.
 
I think they’ve taken a step in the wrong direction trying to get people to buy more unnecessary pads.. They had a good thing going and it was nice and easy to follow. But now they’ve got 1 step AIO pads, finishing pads, waxing pads, etc... TBO their new pad selection is sort of a turn off.
 
Well, this all brings me back to my original question, should I have bought the green pads instead of white? I was trying to cover the spectrum of cut, polish, and wax, which seemed to have been nicely covered with Orange, White, Black. Basically every other pad up the range. Now white is being shown as more aggressive than green...
 
damonb10 said:
Well, this all brings me back to my original question, should I have bought the green pads instead of white? I was trying to cover the spectrum of cut, polish, and wax, which seemed to have been nicely covered with Orange, White, Black. Basically every other pad up the range. Now white is being shown as more aggressive than green...
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Orange, White, and Black are the staples for most users.
 
If you go on the LC own website you are getting even more confused with the flat pad line. Since they have purple and red and pink also in flat pads for DAs. The difference I saw from them is that the yellow orange white pads are made of prepolymer foam and the others in non-reticulate foam. As I know the prepolymer/reticulate foam is they are more dence than the non-reticulate foam. The green pad if I remember correctly is used with AIO best and the white with paint cleaner.

Think you are covered with orange white black combo. And if you are doing some heavy compounding sometimes a mf cutting pad or a wool short haired pad would be a great choice.
 
Eldorado2k said:
Dang 9 colors?
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I really don’t know why companies do this kinda stuff.. I feel like 4 is the sweet spot.

Heavy cutting (or microfiber) -> light cutting -> polishing -> finishing

I guess it gets more complicated as you delve into doing it professionally, but can it really be by that much?

Is it really necessary to have 2-3 different variants of each pad?


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Finick said:
I guess it gets more complicated as you delve into doing it professionally, but can it really be by that much?


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It’s gets complicated if you’re a noob trying to buy pads for the 1st time. Can you imagine trying to choose, especially with everyone telling you u need a bunch of pads.
 
Eldorado2k said:
It’s gets complicated if you’re a noob trying to buy pads for the 1st time. Can you imagine trying to choose, especially with everyone telling you u need a bunch of pads.
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Absolutely. One of the reasons I bought my mt300 kit was because it came with so many dang pads that I was like “wow that has to be a great deal!”

Now I have a ton of 6” thick ccs lake country pads that are in the attic, and shame/regret I didn’t do more research at the time. Maybe I’ll cut them up and make them into a little foam pit

It’s part of the reason why I’ve just stuck with meguiars discs, the simplicity just really appeals to me, even if I miss out on something like a LC Orange pad.


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You guys are over thinking it, the green and white pads will get you the same results. I do agree on having a fewer pad system to all pad line ups, preferably like Meguiars, 3 pads and done. Cut,Polish,Finish.

From the LC and BnS lineup my favourites are Yellow,Orange,Green.
 
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