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

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This is a very interesting thread. I read the forums all of the time to get ideas and try to help people out with better products. With the Hydro pads, I interrupted production here to make some prototypes and sent them out for testing and received the results. I understand that not every pad is for every person, and from a manufacturing standpoint, with the individual characteristics of each foam, it does face some challenges. Since the DA type tools have increased on the market, the "tearing" action the machine does on the pads is my obstacle. Rotary is not problem, but when using a foam pad, loaded with product, pressure, a foam that doesnt breath, something had to give. I am more than happy to change the style upon request. Being a fellow detailer, I understand the obstacles. I would not use something on my vehicle if I was not comfortable. When I introduced these pads, the foam performance is amazing, I put them through rigorous tests, and they have held up. I am open to ideas from fellow detailers and together lets design something that works for everyone.
 
David, I won't drop to the childish level you just have and break down your entire rant to prove a point, because believe me, if you knew me, I could. My point is made. I can only hope enough people read this post and become informed consumers before they purchase the HT pads.
 
The Pad Man said:
This is a very interesting thread. I read the forums all of the time to get ideas and try to help people out with better products. With the Hydro pads, I interrupted production here to make some prototypes and sent them out for testing and received the results. I understand that not every pad is for every person, and from a manufacturing standpoint, with the individual characteristics of each foam, it does face some challenges. Since the DA type tools have increased on the market, the "tearing" action the machine does on the pads is my obstacle. Rotary is not problem, but when using a foam pad, loaded with product, pressure, a foam that doesnt breath, something had to give. I am more than happy to change the style upon request. Being a fellow detailer, I understand the obstacles. I would not use something on my vehicle if I was not comfortable. When I introduced these pads, the foam performance is amazing, I put them through rigorous tests, and they have held up. I am open to ideas from fellow detailers and together lets design something that works for everyone.
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Don't take what I posted the wrong way Eric. I think the correction and finishing power of the HT pads is amazing, but there are a lot of people who've had issues with these pads, not just myself. Mr. Fermani has always taken it upon himself to belittle this problem and places blame on us. I mean, let's be honest, how many threads do you see about CCS pads failing like this? I haven't seen any and my habits in relation to pad care haven't changed except I actually do clean my pads quite often when I'm polishing out a car. I usually cycle through 3 pads on my half (cleaning the pad and setting them out to dry before grabbing a clean one) of a car, but I didn't have that option when I only had one Cyan and one Tangerine to test with.

It appears to me that the backing separation and tearing issues may be resolved, but I've only used the cyan pad on 1/2 of a car. It's been 2 days since I've placed the pad on a grit guard to dry. I'll see if the backing is still attached the next time I put it on my Griot's. I am anticipating no issues with the backing, I hope.
 
The only thing that bothers me about this thread, is that prior to this, I was never notified about a defective product. I stand behind my product and was never heard anything, until it was posted on the forum.
 
Well this thread was all it took for me to not purchase the HT pads. Zero reason when there are tried and true pads out there. Why take a risk, even if it's a 10% chance of failure...that's money i cant get back. I'll stick with my CCS.
 
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The Pad Man said:
A DA type polisher does have its limits compared to a rotary.
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Agree.

What I've noticed ever since the online detailing world discovered the Porter Cable Dual Action Polisher is that the trend is to push the limits to what this tool can do.

Usually, people try to do a job that would be best accomplished with a rotary buffer but instead use a DA Polisher.


The Pad Man said:
Since the DA type tools have increased on the market, the "tearing" action the machine does on the pads is my obstacle.
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This is why sometimes I'll describe the action of a DA polisher as violent, because at the 5.0 and especially the 6.0 speed settings, there's a very violent action taking place to the foam. To put this action in simple terms,

Does the violent action help pads to get better and better?
or
Does the violent action cause the pads to get worse and worse?


Pretty easy to figure that one out.


The Pad Man said:
The only thing that bothers me about this thread, is that prior to this, I was never notified about a defective product. I stand behind my product and was never heard anything, until it was posted on the forum.
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For those of you that have never met Eric, let me speak on his behalf. I met met Eric at SEMA this year and he's as nice and polite in person as his posts on this forum demonstrate him to be.

In a perfect world, if you send someone samples to test out, unless the testers were instructed to post their results to a public forum no matter what they were, then the right thing to do would be to first contact the person that supplied the test samples just as a professional courtesy. In most cases your results or experience will still go to a forum but at least the person that supplied the free samples will receive a heads-up via a phone call or an e-mail versus a thread on a forum.

There's a learning curve to life so no harm done, but for anyone reading this, in the future if a company offers to send you free samples to test out, check with them and see what they want you to do as far as discussing your findings.

I would guess that most manufactures would like you to contact them if there are any problems because it could be the testing is to find problems and fix them before going public with the product. Bypassing this just hurts the manufacture that was actually in the process of perfecting a product, not releasing a product that wasn't ready for public consumption.

A responsible company like Lake Country will take any feedback they get, positive or negative and then let that feedback help steer the direction of a products development.

It's just a matter of following good protocols and courtesy to make free samples a win/win deal for everyone.

Again, there's a learning curve to life and a learning curve to working with manufactures, so no blame being cast in this reply, just an attempt to bring some balance and closure to this discussion.


Thank you Eric for chiming in on this thread and all the other things you do for this hobby as well as being a genuine car guy...


:dblthumb2:
 
I completely agree with you Mike. I was excited to be a part of this testing and just wanted to share the results with the rest of the detailing community. My apologies to Eric for dragging this into the public before consulting with him first.
 
Thanks Eric for getting to the cause of the problem. Like Dave I knew, it was technique and the pad not being cleaned constantly.
 
Mike.Phillips@Autogeek said:
In a perfect world, if you send someone samples to test out, unless the testers were instructed to post their results to a public forum no matter what they were, then the right thing to do would be to first contact the person that supplied the test samples just as a professional courtesy. In most cases your results or experience will still go to a forum but at least the person that supplied the free samples will receive a heads-up via a phone call or an e-mail versus a thread on a forum.

There's a learning curve to life so no harm done, but for anyone reading this, in the future if a company offers to send you free samples to test out, check with them and see what they want you to do as far as discussing your findings.

I would guess that most manufactures would like you to contact them if there are any problems because it could be the testing is to find problems and fix them before going public with the product. Bypassing this just hurts the manufacture that was actually in the process of perfecting a product, not releasing a product that wasn't ready for public consumption.
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Thanks for pointing that out Mike. Like the old saying goes “Never look a gift horse in the mouth”.


SgtDeckard said:
Well this thread was all it took for me to not purchase the HT pads. Zero reason when there are tried and true pads out there. Why take a risk, even if it's a 10% chance of failure...that's money i cant get back. I'll stick with my CCS.
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These pads are “tried and true”. Don’t let a bad apple spoil the bunch. 10% is a figment of your imagination. 10% failure on any product means utter failure. These pads are a success and definately worth trying. Like anything, make sure to follow the manufacturer's guidelines as well as the people who have had success.

ASPHALT ROCKET said:
Like Dave I knew, it was technique and the pad not being cleaned constantly.
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Roger that Asphalt. Hopefully people will open their eyes to forward thinking parameters before making unjust accusations towards a product or process in the future.

Case in point, I think this sums it up to a tee:

we're all still learning in this profession and passion. None of us knows everything about everything and I'm sure you probably have some things I could pick up and use on a daily basis that would make my life easier.
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Even Sully is catching on :idea::
sullysdetailing said:
I have noticed with the HT pads, really any pads I use now, that it is better to clean the after each section you finish with the foam brush. By doing this i have notices the pads last longer and it take less time to correct
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After reading this thread, I just ordered 8 Cyan and 8 Tangerine. I will use 1 pad per every 2 panels. That should keep them in solid condition. They're truly great pads and they cover a whole lot of ground. Instead of having to buy yellow, orange and white, I only need Cyan and Orange. Threw in some black finishing pads as well. I think I'm set! :props::buffing:
 
07 z-oh-6 said:
After reading this thread, I just ordered 8 Cyan and 8 Tangerine. I will use 1 pad per every 2 panels. That should keep them in solid condition. They're truly great pads and they cover a whole lot of ground. Instead of having to buy yellow, orange and white, I only need Cyan and Orange. Threw in some black finishing pads as well. I think I'm set! :props::buffing:
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Please take the time after reading all what 7 pages of this post and give us another review of these pads and try to use the method Dave F suggests he is the paint correction man and the guru of the Da world.
 
ASPHALT ROCKET said:
Thanks Eric for getting to the cause of the problem. Like Dave I knew, it was technique and the pad not being cleaned constantly.
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David Fermani said:
These pads are “tried and true”. Don’t let a bad apple spoil the bunch.


Roger that Asphalt. Hopefully people will open their eyes to forward thinking parameters before making unjust accusations towards a product or process in the future.
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Okay, so who wants to take the last jab? Geez. Good time to close the thread.
 
VR8 said:
Okay, so who wants to take the last jab? Geez. Good time to close the thread.
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I see your not helping the thread by posting that 2 cents. Also if you look at post#19 i was the one who posted about steam caused by the water and heat.Don't have to blame Asphalt rocket
 
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I just used these pads yesterday, I cleaned the pad after every panel of the car but I didnt change them out as often as David does. After a while it got saturated but cleaning them after every panel really makes a difference. The before and afters of this car were night and day. The cyan pad really does finish down to about a white. Using compound and a cyan pad really does correct great and finish down almost ready for lsp. I have three of each HT and I will now buy 5 more of each because they are so great.

I dont know if this was the review you were looking for harley since I didnt use Davids method to a T as he explained it here but what I did worked great. Like I said in another post, I had no backing velcro or tearing issues and it corrected like a champ!

Peace,
Jon
 
Harleyguy said:
Please take the time after reading all what 7 pages of this post and give us another review of these pads and try to use the method Dave F suggests he is the paint correction man and the guru of the Da world.
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Will do....
 
Its like a darker smokey grayish if that makes any sense. I dont know how to really describe it
 
VR8 said:
Okay, so who wants to take the last jab? Geez. Good time to close the thread.
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It's not about taking the last jab, it's about people with vast experience and knowledge trying to help out and then you want to try and think you know everything. In the end we were actually helping you out.
 
David Being on the Forums, testing AG products, taking Mike classes, and just detailing everyday you realize that sometimes something as simple as cleaning your pad. Can make a huge difference.

When I first started about 6 years ago and I got a Porter Cable, I had 6 pads 2 orange 2 white 2 blue all CCS Lake Country pads. I didn't know about cleaning pads after every use and every couple of panels I didn’t know about the foam brush, so I was working on this Black S500 and I couldn't figure out why it wasn’t correcting 100% so I figured it was the pad. Since the only store around that carried the LC pad was 30 minutes away I had to leave the job buy the pads and then drive back to finish. After that day I cleaned my pads after every pass and it has prolonged the life of my pads 2 or 3 times longer
 
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