On the Fly Pad Cleaning

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jernal024

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Hey Mike (et. all),

Can you or someone post a video showing the technique for on the fly cleaning?

If would also be helpful to know when to stop doing OTF cleaning and swith to a new pad.

Thanks!
 
Hi jernal024,

Sorry for the late reply, with Detail Fest coming up there's a lot of behind the scenes projects going on and that means less time to spend working on the forum.

First, cleaning your pad on the fly is really only for a DA Polisher like,

  • Porter Cable
  • Meguiar's
  • Griot's Garage

There's a way to do this with a rotary buffer too, but it doesn't work with the Cyclo or the Flex 3401


It works best to have a small, 100% cotton, terry cloth towel with a large nap, the nap is the little cotton loops. My local gym offers fairly nice once right when you walk in the door for $2.00 so I'm always grabbing a few for using in the garage and at the gym.

Basically you take and place the towel across your hand and then take bring your hand and pad together and turn the polisher on and smoosh the towel against the pad and move it around a little and it will pull off quite a bit of the built-up residue.

I'll see if we can shoot a short video clip on this tomorrow or Saturday.


Read though this thread until then...

How to clean your foam pad on the fly

:)
 
Thanks Mike,

About how many times do you typically do OTF cleanings before it's necessary to switch to a new pad?
 
If I am understanding correct, this method will not work for a Flex 3401? If so, is there an OTF method that will work for it?
 
Mike, I will really appreciate a short video clip of how is the trick of on the fly pad cleaning...I really can´t get the exact method...may be because I can´t follow you all the terms used because english is not my mother tongue so a video will be very helpful. Thanks!
 
Nissaner said:
If I am understanding correct, this method will not work for a Flex 3401? If so, is there an OTF method that will work for it?
Click to expand...

Which method are your referring to? if you are talking about the one with a terry cloth towel its hard to do it just as mike has posted I have found but what I do is fold the towel and have a section about the width of two fingers. Press down on the pad with two finger and the towel. I have found that that works well. It pulls spend product off the pad keeping your pad from getting saturated too quick
 
Anyone has a video showing this method? I will really appreciate it. Thanks in advance!
 
PAR Detailing said:
Which method are your referring to? if you are talking about the one with a terry cloth towel its hard to do it just as mike has posted I have found but what I do is fold the towel and have a section about the width of two fingers. Press down on the pad with two finger and the towel. I have found that that works well. It pulls spend product off the pad keeping your pad from getting saturated too quick
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. Do you do this with the polisher running? If so how fast?
 
jernal024 said:
How often do you do OTF? ever other section?
Click to expand...

I dont have a set time that I do it but ya about every other section is about right. It really depends on how the pad is. I like to do it more often than not though

Jon
 
With me, it also depends on what product I'm using jernal. If Meg's #105 is on the pad (very dry & dusty) I'd prefer using a brush to clean the pad after every section or two.

yhst-41771694353694_2104_17109834


If I'm using something like Meg's Paint Reconditioning Cream, the microfiber towel or terry towel works great. It's more likely that this product will gum up on the pad. Oh, and to keep from twisting your fingers off unexpectedly, keep the Flex at speed 3 or 4 while your cleaning on the fly (at least until you're comfortable with it).
 
VR8 said:
With me, it also depends on what product I'm using jernal. If Meg's #105 is on the pad (very dry & dusty) I'd prefer using a brush to clean the pad after every section or two.

yhst-41771694353694_2104_17109834


If I'm using something like Meg's Paint Reconditioning Cream, the microfiber towel or terry towel works great. It's more likely that this product will gum up on the pad. Oh, and to keep from twisting your fingers off unexpectedly, keep the Flex at speed 3 or 4 while your cleaning on the fly (at least until you're comfortable with it).
Click to expand...

Cool, Can I use a medium bristle toothbrush to get the same effect with 105?

Also, I noticed when doing an OTF cleaning with the WG Twins that there was still a good deal of product under the surface of the pad. Should the aim be to just clean the top of the pad and use less product going forward? or, should it be to get deep in there and remove as much product as possible?

Thanks
 
jernal024 said:
Cool, Can I use a medium bristle toothbrush to get the same effect with 105?

Also, I noticed when doing an OTF cleaning with the WG Twins that there was still a good deal of product under the surface of the pad. Should the aim be to just clean the top of the pad and use less product going forward? or, should it be to get deep in there and remove as much product as possible?

Thanks
Click to expand...

These brushes are unusually stiff. I don't think you could get a toothbrush to do the job.

I think the purpose of "on the fly" cleaning is to prevent the pad from getting saturated under the surface.
 
Mike, how about that video?
I'd love to see how to clean a pad with a towel.
 
Couldn't we use the Bucket Pad Washer and then just alternate between 2 Pads?

One Pad in use, while the other one dries in the Sun ?
 
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