New To DA - Suggestion On Pads?

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KneeDragr

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New to DA - actually was going to try out the Griots for the first time this weekend until I got roped into a road trip. So there it sits in its shipping box by the door just like it has been for weeks, lol.

Im going to pick up the Optimum Compound II and Optimum Polish II BOGO after reading on this site how easy they are to work with.

There are a bunch of CCS pads on BOGO, can anyone make a suggestion on which ones I should get?

Im thinking for sure yellow cutting for the compound, white polishing for the polish. Or I am open to suggestions.

The 3 vehicles I plan to use the products on - 2006 Prius, 2008 Honda CR-V, 2010 Corvette, so its a pretty wide mix of paint hardness. The CR-V needs the most correction, and its got the softest paint.
 
The 6.5CCS pads will be fine and can do double duty if you have a rotary too.

However which DA did you pick up?

Since you haven't told us which DA you have I would have to suggest you pick up the Lake Country Hydro Tech 5.5 thin pads. The LC HT pads will cut down on the confusion on which pad you should use for what product since they only have three cuts with thos pads and they are known to finish down better than LC normal flats/CCS.

Lake Country Hydro-Tech 5.5 x 1.25 Inch Foam Pads, hydrotech foam buffing pads, Lake Country dual action foam pads

Another set of pads you might wanna look into are the LC Constant Pressure 5.5 flats. They have the same type of foam as the normal flats but they have interference blue pads that are supposed to keep pressure on all the surface area of the pads equal.

Lake Country Constant Pressure Technology 5.5 Inch Flat Pads, foam pads, buffing pads

Another pad I suggest is the Meguiar's 5" microfiber cutting and finishing disc. Superior ATM in cutting with the cutting disc compared to any pads out their ATM and being safe and also finishing up rather nicely with almost any compound/polish. Also the Finishing disc is a nice 2nd step after the cutting disc.

Meguiars DA Microfiber Cutting Discs, compounding discs, cutting pads
Meguiars DA Microfiber Finishing Discs, finishing pads, wax pads

Last suggestion, not sold by AG but the 3D cutting, polishing and finishing pads. IMO its the best when it comes to keeping pressure all accross the pad itself and rivils if not out right beats the Hydro Tech's in performance. PM me if you would like a link to these pads.
 
For pads most people say get 5.5" pads. I noticed the bogo pads are 6.5, i think few people buy them. larger pads are ok for rotatory that have lots of power. still with a DA it should work just find. send an email to see if you can subsuit for 5.5" pads, your DA will be able to spin better and you will get better correction. you can also try the thin hydro pads, i love mine.

How many cars do you plan on working on? Freinds and family?

2packs of surbuff pads. These are more aggressive than orange and finish down really well. Its like purple wool, but doesn't need another a medium compound pad to follow up. just surbuff to polish. the rule of thumb is to always work least aggressive to more aggressive.
4-6 orange pads - use with compound
4-6 white polish pads
2 wax pads, one red and one blue. so one will be for wax and the other sealant. doesn't matter which.

I like megs compound and polish. M105 and m205 the staples of paint correction. I have no experience with Optimum, and spray compound looks great, but it doesn't have as good of cut and you won't get as great of results on most cars. if you want an over the counter compound and polish get megs ultimate compound and ultimate polish(they are just one step down from m105/205, but much easier to work with. no dust). I great amazing results with megs products.

If it were my money I would get megs m105 and 205. Its almost the same price. You won't get as much product, but you will get better results.

Get some wax like collnite 845 and a dayton speed master brush if you got spoke wheels. and ONR, its a great way to wash cars!

Meguiars Mirror Glaze #105 Ultra-Cut Compound, polishing compound, ultra cut compound, paint compound, car polish
 
The Griot's has enough power to rotate 6.5" pads, actually both the Megs and the PC can do it just fine to as long as you use good technique and that means hold the pad flat to the surface.

If you have some major correction work to do go with thin, 5.5" pads or Surbuf pads.

If you're just doing general polishing and waxing then the 6.5" will work fine.

One thing about ANY pad is they always rotate best when they're fresh, that is "not" saturated with product. So no matter what pad type and size you're using if you see a fall-off in rotation performance try simply switching to a clean, dry pad and instantly you'll notice the pad is rotating great again!

Thus... more pads are better...

It's really nice to be able to switch to clean dry pad as you're working around any detailing project.

Also if you haven't already, take a read through this...


DA Polisher Articles - Help for Newbies to Machine Polishing


IF you run into any problems, take a read through this...

DA Polisher Trouble Shooting Guide



:)
 
I use 5.5" flat lc pads, buff and shine and Meg microfiber
 
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