What's everyone favorite medium polishing foam pad?

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noorth

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Hi folks, i enjoy trying new pads and polishes and i was just wondering what everyone likes for their favorite medium foam pad?

For some context so far i have used griots BOSS orange pad, carpro's orange pad, rupes yellow and lake country's SDO orange which is my favorite so far.

I'm thinking of trying the buff and shine yellow uro-tec and oberk yellow this year.

I use a 15mm free spinning DA from griots, first generation.

And what's your favorite medium polish? I've used 3D one, rupes DA fine and sonax perfect finish which is my favorite. I picked up Labocosmetica's leale this year which is another medium polish. People in the know will probably know all 4 of these have different specs. IE 3D is supposed to remove up to 1500 grit, perfect finish 2000, rupes 3000(according to carpro-us, not rupes, it made quick work with 1 year old water spots on my roof last year and a moderate scratch on my bumper) and leale 2500...for some context i work on 2 asian cars and i might even work on my nephews subaru this year.
 
I've used a few I'm pretty happy with. When using my trusty old Harbor Freight DA for many years, Lake Country white Flat and ThinPro pads were my weapon of choice. I used them interchangeably depending on the shape of the surface I was polishing. I think they would work great on any "normal" short throw polisher like a Porter Cable, HF, or maybe even the short throw Griots.

Since upgrading my polisher to a Griots G15, I've started using Rupes yellow. They are now my new favorite. Just enough flex to accommodate curved surfaces and the beveled edges are great for getting into tight areas. The foam is soft enough to do a one-step polish on medium and hard paints. Haven't tried them on anything really soft yet. That's coming this summer....
 
I love those Orange HDO foam pads, especially the large 6.5”

But recently I decided to go back in time and buy several Lake Country Orange Flat Foam Pads because they just flat out work even though I know they’re a bit more aggressive and not quite as ergonomic.

I dunno I guess $15 per pad is borderline hard to justify sometimes especially with how fast they add up. Suddenly your order is like $100+ and all that arrives is a tiny box.lol.

Compared to the HDO’s the 5” flat foam pads are a bargain.

As far as polish I need to get another quart of M205 soon. I picked up a quart of M210 but I haven’t grown to love it and I’m not sure if I can even say I like it.

I did pick up a quart of Megs D300 yesterday. That was absolutely needed.
 
My favorite medium pads are the Rupes Yellow Wool pads. Griot’s Fast Correcting Cream is what I reach for most so I’d say their regular Correcting Cream for a medium polish.

Wool has a slightly didn’t work process than straight foam pads so it likely would take a little time to adjust using them as compared to standard foam pads.
 
Speaking of pads, what are you all using if you wanted to hand-polish something? I don't have a small tool and my car has some tight areas above the door handles that I figured I could just quickly do by hand...but I have no idea what to use.
 
Buff and Shine Dark Blue Uro-Tec are my go-to's! They have a little more bite than the yellow and are a little more dense, so they hold up to deeper buffing cycles well. In most cases, they finish just as well as the yellows too. Mike Philips had said on here before that he's experienced some "bowling-in" on these pads (just the blue) but IME I haven't seen that at all, and I've pushed these pretty hard on my forced-rotation Makita polisher.
 
dgage said:
My favorite medium pads are the Rupes Yellow Wool pads. Griot’s Fast Correcting Cream is what I reach for most so I’d say their regular Correcting Cream for a medium polish.

Wool has a slightly didn’t work process than straight foam pads so it likely would take a little time to adjust using them as compared to standard foam pads.
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I've been tempted to try these out. I feel like wool pads have a nice and smooth action on the paint. When you say the work process is different, how do you mean? Do you use downward pressure with these, what kind of speeds, etc? How do you find they finish out? I'm always hesitant to use wool because I'm mainly doing single step corrections.
 
crg001 said:
I've been tempted to try these out. I feel like wool pads have a nice and smooth action on the paint. When you say the work process is different, how do you mean? Do you use downward pressure with these, what kind of speeds, etc? How do you find they finish out? I'm always hesitant to use wool because I'm mainly doing single step corrections.
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You can’t work wool as long or the fibers get matted up so fewer passes before having to clean the pads out. So maybe 1-2 passes vs 2-3 with foam. But if you use an air compressor to blow the pads out, they’ll stay cleaner and won’t load up like the foam pads. The more frequent cleaning also keeps the heat from being an issue where as foam retains and builds up heat. I don’t find myself changing the pressure much for a given pad type but I’d say I can put more pressure on a foam pad but don’t feel the need with wool or microfiber. Just let the fibers do the work.

And I first used Rupes Purple Coarse Wool pads and was surprised how well they finished out, even using Griot’s FCC, Sonax CutMax, and Menzerna 400 compounds. My experience with the coarse wool prompted me to try the Rupes Yellow Wool pads and they didn’t disappoint. Same characteristic of solid correction ability that finishes out well. I usually do multiple steps but I did a pass with a Rupes White foam and CarPro Essence/Rupes Uno and couldn’t really notice a visual difference in the yellow wool side and the white pad jeweled side. So I’d say the Rupes Yellow Wool would likely perform well as a one-step pad for most paints.
 
dgage said:
You can’t work wool as long or the fibers get matted up so fewer passes before having to clean the pads out. So maybe 1-2 passes vs 2-3 with foam. But if you use an air compressor to blow the pads out, they’ll stay cleaner and won’t load up like the foam pads. The more frequent cleaning also keeps the heat from being an issue where as foam retains and builds up heat. I don’t find myself changing the pressure much for a given pad type but I’d say I can put more pressure on a foam pad but don’t feel the need with wool or microfiber. Just let the fibers do the work.

And I first used Rupes Purple Coarse Wool pads and was surprised how well they finished out, even using Griot’s FCC, Sonax CutMax, and Menzerna 400 compounds. My experience with the coarse wool prompted me to try the Rupes Yellow Wool pads and they didn’t disappoint. Same characteristic of solid correction ability that finishes out well. I usually do multiple steps but I did a pass with a Rupes White foam and CarPro Essence/Rupes Uno and couldn’t really notice a visual difference in the yellow wool side and the white pad jeweled side. So I’d say the Rupes Yellow Wool would likely perform well as a one-step pad for most paints.
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Very interesting, thanks for sharing. Maybe next time I put in a big order I'll grab one or two to test out.
 
vaca22 said:
Speaking of pads, what are you all using if you wanted to hand-polish something? I don't have a small tool and my car has some tight areas above the door handles that I figured I could just quickly do by hand...but I have no idea what to use.
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I use microfiber applicators whenever I have to hand polish.

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They’re my go to whenever I have to polish any metal/chrome.

Before.

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After.

6797e4a69de64052d74a9d01db5b3bc7.jpg
 
vaca22 said:
Speaking of pads, what are you all using if you wanted to hand-polish something? I don't have a small tool and my car has some tight areas above the door handles that I figured I could just quickly do by hand...but I have no idea what to use.
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cut up an older 5" or 6" pad into 4 then go to town with it. Thats how I used to do all the tight spots prior to all the mini tools in the market now. It always lots of fun hand polishing the door handle cup by hand...:wowwow:.
 
vaca22 said:
Speaking of pads, what are you all using if you wanted to hand-polish something? I don't have a small tool and my car has some tight areas above the door handles that I figured I could just quickly do by hand...but I have no idea what to use.
Click to expand...

I DO have a mini polisher now but for under door handles and the cup and surround nothing beats a finger or two and the corner of a terry weave 300 gsm towel with product on it

People tend to be surprised how little time it takes to correct that area by hand and you aren't worried about banging machine parts into the works

Just my 2 cents worth
 
Great feedback guys!

But damn those rupes wool pads are expensive!? I have read the "ride" is very nice.
 
noorth said:
Great feedback guys!

But damn those rupes wool pads are expensive!? I have read the "ride" is very nice.
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Yes... they do cost more but they are very durable. I even used it on a gear driven DA and it held up well.
 
psnt1ol said:
Yes... they do cost more but they are very durable. I even used it on a gear driven DA and it held up well.
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I think i might just pick one up instead of buying more foam pads. I change my mind a LOT however haha

Do you prime them? I never prime foam.
 
Lake country Orange SDO/HDO.

The blue version is also not bad on a medium pad with medium polish on some paints.


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