Hi Mark,
Let me share something with you I learned working construction...then I'll share something I discovered just the other day and realized I should have known better. It may shed some light on heat transfer from moisture in a product that you may not have been aware of.
Construction workers who work on a asphalt paving crew sometimes get their feet really hot walking on that fresh hot asphalt. The first thing you teach a new guy is; when his feet gets so hot that he can no longer stand on the fresh asphalt simply walk off of it onto the side of the road and let them cool off, or take the boots off and take a break. Many times these new workers, in a hurry to cool their feet off want to step in a puddle of water (that may be left by the finish roller), and the heat is immediately transfered into their feet and often times causing serious burns to the bottom of the feet. Unless you're aware of what will happen, turning to water to cool off the feet is a natural thought process.
Second thing...
Just the other day I had clayed the hood of my car late in the evening. The idea was to get up the next morning and put a 1 step on it. Well, some things came up and I didn't get to the hood until about 2pm. By this time the sun was beating down hard on the dark blue hood and some dust had gathered on it. I decided that before waxing I should spray on some quick detailer just to remove the light dust....real light dust. I touched the hood with my bare hand and it was pretty warm to the touch so I knew I'd have to work fast as the detail spray would surely dry quickly. I could, however, leave my hand on the hood without burning my hand to bad. I didn't really think too much about it. So I commenced to spraying my micro fiber heavily with detail spray (I should have know what was about to happen) then I sprayed some on the hood and went to wiping. Keep in mind I saturated the micro fiber real well. By about the third wipe the heat had transfered through the micro fiber and burned by hand so bad that I had to run cold water on it for several minutes. Scared the bageebees out of me even though my pain tolerance is high. Of course, my wife didn't understand this concept so I demonstrated it again to her (with much more caution of course), and she said she would have never dreamed that the heat would transfer that quick.
It should be obvious by now from my example, and from what you experienced on that car, that the moisture allows the heat to transfer at a high rate of speed which is what caused your problem. Several factors come into play to create this. The sun of course, a dark color, and outside temperature. The first and last of course alone can cause the problem. Throw in a dark color and it's makings for disaster.
I'm not trying to come across as a know-it-all because I'm sure you've detailed more cars than I have. However, it's a simple thing really, and we usually realize it after the fact when it's too late. I've seen guys blister their feet (to the point of a medical emergency), and I've now burned my hands, but burning my hands shouldn't have happened because I knew better.
Moral of the story, shade is your friend when working on paint because any moisture will magnify the heat ten fold (drying the product much too fast), and tranfer the heat at lightspeed.
My problem is that with my bad luck if I tried a canopy a big wind would come along and it would be a disaster on someones car. I like the idea, but I'd need to take some major precautions to prevent such disaster.
Does this happen with all pads and polishes?
