Prototype Lake Country Hydro-tech pads - Testing, Results and Reviews

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O.C.Detailing said:
We clean with either pure luke warm water if we can, or, if necessary, we use a 10:1 APC and rinse with luke warm water until the pads are squeezing out clean water.
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How often (after how many sections) are you cleaning before washing? I take it that you apply a few more drops of product and keep polishing right?
 
Okay since I was there for a little bit and was not working on the car I can provide a pretty good description. I got there when the outside temp was hovering around 32 with heavy snow. Inside temp was probably 48 or so and Adam was half way through the driver door and John was on the right rear door. When I got there Adam showed me the pad and the dimple had started to form but it was no where near as deep as it was before I left. I can justify that the one time Adam's cyan was washed it was done with LUKE warm water only. It was then spun dry using "The Cheap Rotary" (oh emm gee, I went there) and put infront of a halogen flipping often and making sure it didn't get near warm. I can also justify that the pad was not hot, in fact it was barely warm after each panel (it just felt like it because it was so friggin cold), AND the backing plate was perfectly normal, no unusual wear, high temp, nothing. On top of all of this, the cyan had lost a ton of density throughout the entire pad (outside wasn't so bad, but the center was like a gray or red CCS) on the Griot's and not so much but still a lot on the Flex.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVED the way these pads corrected and cannot wait until they get the kinks worked out. But at ten bucks a pop, I can't afford pad failures.

As a side note, just incase you don't watch the video, from what I have gathered from youtube and instructionals on here Adam is doing nothing wrong. Some would say textbook but I don't know, I'm what they call a n00b.
Hope this helps,
Jonathan
 
lol Thanks a lot Jonathan. Anything else you can think of, please add it when you think of it. I really want to find a way to make these pads a viable option with my polisher, just not at the expense of not being able to use my machine to it's fullest extent (meaning at full speed).
 
Can't think of anything else other than what is explained by the pictures other than just how dense these things are. Cyan is like a brick that someone might like to sleep on and tangerine was comparible to an orange CCS.
 
I'm finding it hard to believe that moisture and steam have much to do with that pads failure. Please remember, the pad started to show concave BEFORE it was ever rinsed out with water. Now the heat build up may be a factor, but not moisture.

I think it's also worth adding, because the Flex is a forced rotation machine, we have often noticed that the panel of a car being worked on will become more warm to the touch after using my Flex than after using the Griot's. So it seems to me that I would be generating the most heat, doesn't it?

For the record, I didn't clean my pad until I was done with my half of the car. There was very little build-up of product on the pad which you can see in the pic.

I still think he got a bum pad.
 
With the pad being so dense it is very easy for the pad to be hot enough when damp to cause some steam.
 
The pad didn't have any liquid other than product in it when it started to dimple in the center. I only rinsed it once during the entire half of the car and I rinsed in luke warm water and got it almost bone dry by putting it under a halogen light for a few seconds on each side as we only received 2 of each pad for testing. THe pad was almost completely dry though. The center was very slightly damp, but not wet.
 
VR8 said:
I'm finding it hard to believe that moisture and steam have much to do with that pads failure. Please remember, the pad started to show concave BEFORE it was ever rinsed out with water. Now the heat build up may be a factor, but not moisture.

I think it's also worth adding, because the Flex is a forced rotation machine, we have often noticed that the panel of a car being worked on will become more warm to the touch after using my Flex than after using the Griot's. So it seems to me that I would be generating the most heat, doesn't it?

For the record, I didn't clean my pad until I was done with my half of the car. There was very little build-up of product on the pad which you can see in the pic.

I still think he got a bum pad.
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Do we have two Jonathan's here? I was referring to the heat from the shaft to the plate and not the heat from the pad on the paint. Like my 3m backing plate, the heat from the spindle (machine) made the backing plate hot which in turn burned the back of the pad which caused the center to concave. Wheww I hope you got that. Unlike the Flex the Griot's backing plate has direct contact to the spindle.
 
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John is VR8. Jonathan is JMP09FG2. Just to clear that issue up. ;)
 
BTW Adam, what backing plate are you using on the Griot? When I changed to the new Meg's backing plate I never had that problem again.
 
I"m using the one that came with my Griot's. I'm going to try switching to the 5" BP and 5.5" pads to see how that goes.
 
Hmmm, I have two each of the Hydro's which I'm yet to open. After seeing the problems others have had I am reluctant to use them. I saw you posted that you had some prototypes and in waiting for this (assumed) review I hoped for better performance from them. I'm on a three sided fence between just trying them, exchanging them for standard flat pads or waiting for a resolution and exchanging for the new version (If I do, I'd prefer to return them unused/NIB). Thanks for the review, still not sure what to do with mine though.
 
Rsurfer said:
Do we have two Jonathan's here? I was referring to the heat from the shaft to the plate and not the heat from the pad on the paint. Like my 3m backing plate, the heat from the spindle (machine) made the backing plate hot which in turn burned the back of the pad which caused the center to concave. Wheww I hope you got that. Unlike the Flex the Griot's backing plate has direct contact to the spindle.
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Yes I am JONathan and VR8 is JOHN.
Also to answer your question, when Adam took the pad off to wash it we felt everything. The backing pate wasn't even remotely hot on the velcro side and on the machine side it was the same temperature as the room (maybe a little warmer,but not much). The pad was the same way, other than the very noticable amount of density loss.

And A4:

I am kind of in the same boat. Last night I had both a cyan and tangerine sitting in my cart to be ordered then. I sat there and asked myself "Do I really want to spend $20 on two pads???" I think once they get the kinks worked out the answer to that question will be YES.
 
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Rsurfer said:
Do we have two Jonathan's here? I was referring to the heat from the shaft to the plate and not the heat from the pad on the paint. Like my 3m backing plate, the heat from the spindle (machine) made the backing plate hot which in turn burned the back of the pad which caused the center to concave. Wheww I hope you got that. Unlike the Flex the Griot's backing plate has direct contact to the spindle.
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I followed your point Rsurfer, my comment was, "Now the heat build up may be a factor, but not moisture." My idea was to clarify that Adam's pad showed a concave center before any moisture was introduced to the pad, other than product itself. Asphalt Rocket may have a valid point about steam in the pad, but when it's brand new out of the bag, I can't see it.
 
Excellent write up. Here are my thoughts from reading and watching. I may get slammed by a few people here, but I can only speak regarding the foam. The Cyan foam is a non-reticulated foam, meaning, air does not pass through it. A reticulated foam, air can pass through it, helping keep the pad cool. With that being said, whenever you "polish" something, you are doing an action. Is everyone in agreement with this so far?
 
With that being said, now you added chemicals into the pad, and putting pressure on the pad, and the fastest speed on a DA type machine. With no air passing thorough it, the pad holds the chemicals in it, the two actions of a dual action polisher, and pressure in the mix the heat has to go somewhere...
 
The Pad Man said:
With that being said, now you added chemicals into the pad, and putting pressure on the pad, and the fastest speed on a DA type machine. With no air passing thorough it, the pad holds the chemicals in it, the two actions of a dual action polisher, and pressure in the mix the heat has to go somewhere...
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So can you make an educated guess for me??? Do you not see these issues with a less powerful PC (the original PC7424) or with a rotary? I have not heard about any issues with a rotary and these issues seem to be related to the more powerful, newer DA's. TIA
 
The heat has a tendancy to travel through the pad. Since the heat cannot escape, it starts to soften the center of the pad, causing it to possibly dish out. These pads work great on a rotary. I have the Griots, PC, PCXP, Megs g110v2 polisher that I do my testing on and have never had a problem.
 
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