Prepping Your Pad

N

nymickey

New member
Joined
Jan 2, 2018
Messages
10
Reaction score
0
I bought the SPTA 5pc. 5.5 inch pads off of Amazon.

I just want to polish my car for the 1st time using the HF Bauer da.

The pads seem pretty coarse, so do I need to "prime" the pad before using it?
If so, how do you do that?
 
You bought the assortment with the 5 different colors? How bad is the car? Which pad did you intend to start with? You will probably (definitely?) need more than one pad for a whole car, unless you clean the pad along the way.

Priming is simply wetting the pad with a small amount of polish so that you aren't dry buffing. Some people will also "prime" the pad by spraying some detail spray or rinseless wash on the pad.
 
I was going to use the Blue (T40 - Polish) pad with Meguiar's M205 Mirror Glaze Ultra Finishing Polish.
I am a TOTAL newbie and will be using my da for the 1st time.
I have bad arthritis to go along with a bad back, so I thought I could use the blue pad to apply it and then use the Red (T20 - Finish Polish) to buff it off but from what I was told, I have no choice but to buff it by hand with a microfiber cloth (Argggggh !!! )

​

​

 
The residue should come off easily, especially if you dampened the microfiber with rinseless.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BLM
Typical newb mistake is to use too much product, and since 205 is a SMAT product, you don't have to work it specifically to break it down, so you should be able to leave it wet...what I'm saying is, don't use too much product, don't work it until it's dry, and the wipeoff should be easy.
 
Also you have to o keep the pad clean. Not familiar with your polisher but if it is not a direct drive you can just dip the pad ( still attached to the polisher ) into a bucket with a gallon or two of rinseless wash in it and work the submerged pad with your fingers. Then keeping the polisher in the bucket and the pad just above the rinseless run the polisher for 5-10 seconds to remove the excess rinseless from the pad.
This will leave the pad slightly damp which is a good thing. I'd clean the pad after every 2-4 minutes of working the polish.
If the polisher is direct drive you will have to remove the pad to clean it.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Why is that?
Click to expand...
Well if it is a direct drive one cant spin the backing plate/pad by hand.
In a non direct drive that is how i would clean the pad. By rotating the backing plate/pad while submerged and compressing the pad with my fingers.
Maybe others would do it differently but that is my self taught pad cleaning method. Its quicker and easier than removing the pad.
 
BLM said:
Well if it is a direct drive one cant spin the backing plate/pad by hand.
In a non direct drive that is how i would clean the pad. By rotating the backing plate/pad while submerged and compressing the pad with my fingers.
Maybe others would do it differently but that is my self taught pad cleaning method. Its quicker and easier than removing the pad.
Click to expand...
Oh, I missed the part where you were spinning the pad by hand.
 
My 2 cents, look up mike phillips on here or anywhere on the interweb. He has so many videos on how to do what you ae trying to do.

Imo do not waste your time with the idea of wetting your pad with a spray of any kind. When a pad get soaked then it is less effective at doing its job.

4 pea sized drops is a good baseline.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top