Uro-Fiber pads Q

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L Gunnar D

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I may be revealing my own ignorance and opening myself for ridicule, but here goes anyway: Is it true that the Buff & Shine Uro-Fiber pads are just as good for heavy cutting as for finishing just by manipulating the compound/polish? I.e. use a coarse compound first, clean the pad and finish off (or switch to a virgin pad) with a mild polish?

I'm sure I've read it somewhere, but can't for the life of me find back to it.Any help would be much appreciated.

I'm not even sure this is the right forum to post this is, so anyone with the credentials feel free to move to the correct forum.

Thanks,
Lars
 
L Gunnar D said:
I may be revealing my own ignorance and opening myself for ridicule, but here goes anyway: Is it true that the Buff & Shine Uro-Fiber pads are just as good for heavy cutting as for finishing just by manipulating the compound/polish? I.e. use a coarse compound first, clean the pad and finish off (or switch to a virgin pad) with a mild polish?

I'm sure I've read it somewhere, but can't for the life of me find back to it.Any help would be much appreciated.

I'm not even sure this is the right forum to post this is, so anyone with the credentials feel free to move to the correct forum.

Thanks,
Lars
Click to expand...


Hi Lars,

First if I caught any forum member posting anything that ridiculing or demeaning anyone for asking an honest question I would deal with them as we don't allow this on our forum. This forum was like that when I came to Autogeek back in 2009 and it took a while but finally a correction took place and it's been fun and friendly ever since.

Second, I share my experience and let others share their experience.

Fibers are a form of abrasive. Each fiber that makes up ANY fiber pad CAN cut the paint. That doesn't mean it WILL cut the paint but the potential exists. Thus when using ANY fiber pad the potential exists to leave micro-marring. Whether or not you leave micro-marring when using a micro-fiber pad with an orbital polish depends upon,

1: The paint - is it soft and easily scratched or marred

2: The abrasive technology being used - I type the words abrasive technology and the word touched probably more than any other words and that's because I'm always answeinr questions on defects in paint and defects in paint are greatly affected by abrasive technology and how paint is touched.


3: A combination of both of the above.


4: Technique


The Buff and Shine microfiber pads are very good for pads in the "Fiber pad category" but no matter what pad you use when buffing out a car, as long as you start by doing a TEST SPOT to one area you should know whether or not you can both cut and polish with a microfiber pads and get great results in the end.

If you're not seeing any micro-marring after both cutting and polishing with microfiber pads in your test spot then you should be able to duplicate the test spot procedure to the rest of the car and still not see any micro-marring.

If you're seeing micro-marring after the polishing step then you'll need to do some testing to find out if it's the pad, the product or technique.

If you're seeing micro-marring when cutting that's okay because you can usually clean it up by switching to foam to finish out. Assuming you're using great abrasive technology.


Good protocol is always doing a test spot to any car you've never worked on and make sure the pads, products, tools and techniques you plan on using over the entire car will work to make one small area look GREAT. If not, you'll be glad you did a test spot and then you can tweak your process until your test spot proves perfect.


:)
 
I agree with Mike.

I recently had a sitation where even a dedicated microfiber finishing combo (Meguiar's D301 + DMF5 pad) was causing pretty serious marring.

I'd recommend to have an assortment of quality foam pads in the event you have finishing troubles.

To Mike's point regarding abrasive quality, I might add my own caveat, abrasive orientation might play a role on the final finish as well. That same vehicle with one of my favorite non-diminishing abrasive finishing polishes was also marring the paint. I had to switch to a product that I find more universally applicable to a wide variety of paint types (Menzerna PF2500 on this case).
 
Hey, thanks a lot guys. That was more than I had hoped for! I will try the test spot technique tomorrow and report back my findings.
 
L Gunnar D said:
I may be revealing my own ignorance and opening myself for ridicule, but here goes anyway: Is it true that the Buff & Shine Uro-Fiber pads are just as good for heavy cutting as for finishing just by manipulating the compound/polish? I.e. use a coarse compound first, clean the pad and finish off (or switch to a virgin pad) with a mild polish?

I'm sure I've read it somewhere, but can't for the life of me find back to it.Any help would be much appreciated.

I'm not even sure this is the right forum to post this is, so anyone with the credentials feel free to move to the correct forum.

Thanks,
Lars
Click to expand...

Uro-fiber pads work great for heavy correction although I would give a slight edge in cutting ability to meguiars MF pads and Lake Country HDO Microfiber pads. I think many guys (including myself) have started using Uro-fiber pads for 1-step corrections on normal and harder paints. When paired with mild compounds like Boss Correcting Cream, Scholl Concepts S20 Black, Sonax cut & finish, & HD Adapt OR with cleaner waxes like HD Speed, Boss Finishing Sealant, D166, & blackfire one step the uro-fiber pad generally finishes better than the other two microfiber pads I mentioned.


Comparing other MF cutting pads:
IMO the soft foam interface and longer fibers on the Boss microfiber makes it the most user friendly microfiber pad on the market. It performs the best on concave surfaces and runs very cool which provides a really nice user experience. On the downside, the foam interface is IMO the least tolerable to pressure and long buffing sessions. These pads need to be switched out every panel if you want them to last.

Meg's Microfiber cutting pads are a staple of the industry. They cut more than the boss Microfiber and the uro-fiber pads and they finish incredibly well for the cut they provide. Unfortunately, velcro backing isn't great especially for long-throw polishers, the open-cell foam interface is slightly more durable than the Boss Microfiber but these pads require the user to constantly rotate pads to allow the foam interface to cool. These microfiber pads EASILY get the hottest and unfortunately they aren't made with a center cooling chamber like the others. If you are compounding a full sized sedan you will need to have at least 6 MF pads that you rotate constantly if you want them to last 7-8 cars. Otherwise these pads will only last 1-3 buffing sessions.

The Lake Country HDO Microfiber pad is a BEAST. It cuts as much if not more than the Meguiar's microfiber. I consider the HDO microfiber pad the best option for guys using a 12mm 15mm or 21mm long throw polishers and need a pad for performing HEAVY 2-step correction. These pads are incredibly durable if you switch them out after every few panels.


What makes the uro-fiber pad so versatile in my opinion is that it runs so cool and the fact that I could use 1 uro-fiber pad to cut or 1-step an entire vehicle. I would literally have to be completely reckless and serious TRY to destroy the uro-fiber pad. The open-cell foam interface is easily the best on the market by a long shot. Like Mike mentioned, with softer more scratch sensitive paints even dedicated microfiber finishing pads can leave some micro-marring. I personally do not consider the uro-fiber a "finishing pad" but I do think it cuts slightly less and finishes slightly better than either the Megs or LC HDO microfiber pads. The reduced heat also makes compounds and polishes easier to work with and in my experience the compounds are easier to buff of the surface with uro-fiber. Sorry for rambling, these pads are SO good I love having an excuse to sing there praise!
 
So here is what I ended up doing:

I made one test spot using the UroFiber pad and BOSS Fast Correcting Cream followed by a (new) UroFiber pad using CarPro Essence Polish. To my, admittedly, somewhat untrained eye I thought it looked quite good.

I then made another test spot using the same combination of a UroFiber pad and Boss Fast Correcting Cream, following up with a CarPro Gloss Pad and CarPro Essence. While I would have been quite happy with the way things turned out in the first test spot, not knowing any better, I was blown away by the second test spot. You (I) simply didn't know the meaning of slight haze and gleaming, perfect black until I saw the proof right there before me.

I'm not a total newbie when it comes to car polishing and paint correction, but only taking care of the two cars in my household there's a limit to how much experience I can get. Thanks to everybody who took time to respond and help me out. My wife's Hyundai now looks better than the day she drove it off the dealer's lot four years ago.
 
Great that you found thrue doing test spots the combo that gave the best finish. Many chase the scratches today and simply is satisfied with that. IMO it's the glossy and haze free finish that stands out after a correction. Some goes with a mf cutting pad and essence and call it done. And if you take look closer at the finish of it you see that it didnt cut enough and didnt finish down as good as it could been done. Some are satisfied with that but I think the way to go is haveing an opened mind and test different test spot and see what works the best for you. Sure it ads a 2 step polishing but if you that one time do correct the paint. Next time around with a good wash technique you often only need to go with an one step polishing there after.

Glad that you did as you did and found out what worked the best for you. The importance of doing test spots can not be repetedly enough. And that is the many skilled people here recommend doing so you can get it as good as you can.

Great work!
 
mwoywod said:
Uro-fiber pads work great for heavy correction although I would give a slight edge in cutting ability to meguiars MF pads and Lake Country HDO Microfiber pads. I think many guys (including myself) have started using Uro-fiber pads for 1-step corrections on normal and harder paints. When paired with mild compounds like Boss Correcting Cream, Scholl Concepts S20 Black, Sonax cut & finish, & HD Adapt OR with cleaner waxes like HD Speed, Boss Finishing Sealant, D166, & blackfire one step the uro-fiber pad generally finishes better than the other two microfiber pads I mentioned.


Comparing other MF cutting pads:
IMO the soft foam interface and longer fibers on the Boss microfiber makes it the most user friendly microfiber pad on the market. It performs the best on concave surfaces and runs very cool which provides a really nice user experience. On the downside, the foam interface is IMO the least tolerable to pressure and long buffing sessions. These pads need to be switched out every panel if you want them to last.

Meg's Microfiber cutting pads are a staple of the industry. They cut more than the boss Microfiber and the uro-fiber pads and they finish incredibly well for the cut they provide. Unfortunately, velcro backing isn't great especially for long-throw polishers, the open-cell foam interface is slightly more durable than the Boss Microfiber but these pads require the user to constantly rotate pads to allow the foam interface to cool. These microfiber pads EASILY get the hottest and unfortunately they aren't made with a center cooling chamber like the others. If you are compounding a full sized sedan you will need to have at least 6 MF pads that you rotate constantly if you want them to last 7-8 cars. Otherwise these pads will only last 1-3 buffing sessions.

The Lake Country HDO Microfiber pad is a BEAST. It cuts as much if not more than the Meguiar's microfiber. I consider the HDO microfiber pad the best option for guys using a 12mm 15mm or 21mm long throw polishers and need a pad for performing HEAVY 2-step correction. These pads are incredibly durable if you switch them out after every few panels.


What makes the uro-fiber pad so versatile in my opinion is that it runs so cool and the fact that I could use 1 uro-fiber pad to cut or 1-step an entire vehicle. I would literally have to be completely reckless and serious TRY to destroy the uro-fiber pad. The open-cell foam interface is easily the best on the market by a long shot. Like Mike mentioned, with softer more scratch sensitive paints even dedicated microfiber finishing pads can leave some micro-marring. I personally do not consider the uro-fiber a "finishing pad" but I do think it cuts slightly less and finishes slightly better than either the Megs or LC HDO microfiber pads. The reduced heat also makes compounds and polishes easier to work with and in my experience the compounds are easier to buff of the surface with uro-fiber. Sorry for rambling, these pads are SO good I love having an excuse to sing there praise!
Click to expand...

Mwoy, thank you for that great explanation. You just saved me a lot of time, head ache and money.


Sent from my iPad using Autogeekonline mobile app
 
Scottie Brown said:
Mwoy, thank you for that great explanation. You just saved me a lot of time, head ache and money.


Sent from my iPad using Autogeekonline mobile app
Click to expand...


Ditto what was said! That just saved me a ton of time trying to figure out which to go with!

Do have a question---I see Buff and Shine has both the 5" and 6" pads at the store. Which pad fits Rupes 15 mark II? (I could never get that millimeter thing right!) The 6"???

Tom
 
mwoywod said:
Uro-fiber pads ...
Click to expand...
(I didn't want to quote the entire thing, so just snipped it)

Dude. wow. I'm saving that massive reply to my notebook!!! Thanks for taking the time to write all that out.
 
The uro fiber's are nice pads. Agree with mwoywood on them as well as the HDO microfiber pads.

TMQ said:
Ditto what was said! That just saved me a ton of time trying to figure out which to go with!

Do have a question---I see Buff and Shine has both the 5" and 6" pads at the store. Which pad fits Rupes 15 mark II? (I could never get that millimeter thing right!) The 6"???

Tom
Click to expand...

15 = 5"

21 = 6"
 
TMQ said:
Ditto what was said! That just saved me a ton of time trying to figure out which to go with!

Do have a question---I see Buff and Shine has both the 5" and 6" pads at the store. Which pad fits Rupes 15 mark II? (I could never get that millimeter thing right!) The 6"???

Tom
Click to expand...

5"

I'm using one right now I'm my 15mk2 :)

xbd4QYm.jpg
 
5" is 125mm

6" is 150mm

But rupes get it little confuseing with that their 6" pads are on their 5" backing plate and 7" ( 180mm ) pads on their 6" backing plate. 1" is about 25mm
 
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