Which Pad

[trusaleen1]

Hi Mike,

I've seen you use orange and white pads with AIO Blackfire, and I know I need to test each before doing the car, but I wanted a pad recommendation. Also, why do some pads have a hole in the center? I have a 2016 Ford Mustang, Deep Impact Blue (see photo) overall the car is clean with some light swirls that I'm looking to remove and detail the whole car. Which pad do you recommend, I'm using a TORQX random orbital polisher with 6 inch backing plate. Also the car is the CA edition and it has piano black accents, just as the mirrors, spoiler, and decklid panel which are super soft, basically swirl by breathing on them .

 

[Dr Oldz]

I typically stick with a “polishing” pad from whatever pad manufacturer you choose for using AIO products. You can adjust accordingly to suit your own needs.

I’m not familiar with that polisher. I believe it is a short throw DA tho and thus I would suggest you invest in a 5inch backing plate. You will get better results with smaller pads.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Hi Mike,

I've seen you use orange and white pads with AIO Blackfire, and I know I need to test each before doing the car, but I wanted a pad recommendation.

Also, why do some pads have a hole in the center?

I have a 2016 Ford Mustang, Deep Impact Blue (see photo) overall the car is clean with some light swirls that I'm looking to remove and detail the whole car.

Which pad do you recommend, I'm using a TORQX random orbital polisher with 6 inch backing plate.

Also the car is the CA edition and it has piano black accents, just as the mirrors, spoiler, and decklid panel which are super soft, basically swirl by breathing on them .

Nice looking car....

We had ONE CG Torx polisher here at Autogeek years ago. I found it to be one of the weakest free spinning random orbital polishers on the market. A few months ago, Meghan asked me to put together a collection of tools to send to Dr. Beasley's in Chicago for Jim Lafeber's Detailing Clinics. I think I sent him basically one of every tool in my tool collection for my classes including the Torx 10FX - I never used it except to let people compare it to the power of the Porter Cable the the Griot's polishers.

So the key thing you need to do is use pads that will ROTATE well with this tool and my guess is you'll need to get rid of the 6" backing plate and get a 5" backing plate. You can stick with the 6" backing plate but now you're going to start investing your PAD MONEY into 6.5" pads and build up a collection or INVESTMENT into large pads that in my experience - are simply not going to rotate well on this tool.

Gosh I spend a LOT of time talking about pads and pad rotation on this forum. :dunno:


When you see me using pads with hole in them, that's because I'm using the BEAST! It's a GEAR-DRIVEN orbital polisher. It does not understand what pad stalling means? This is why I use it. I don't like to waste my time in the garage. I want to get in and get out. By this I mean, I want to PLOW through the machine buffing steps as FAST as HUMANLY possible while keeping my results PRO QUALITY. Thus I use the BEAST and not free spinning random orbital polishers.


Here's your choices for THIN 6.5" pads that will fit your 6" backing plate. I don't have an article on this collection of brands of pads because since they were introduced - I never recommend them - instead I strongly recommend people buy the 5" backing plate and I DO have an article for all the THIN 5.5" pads that I'll share below.

For these ThinPro pads, (ThinPro is one word), you'll ant orange, white and black

Lake Country ThinPro Foam Pad System 6.5 Inch


For these Meguiar's 6" foam discs - you'll probably only need the yellow and black. The maroon is very coarse and sharp (its' a cutting pad)

Meguiars 6 Inch DA Foam Discs


If you want to go with Griot's BOSS pads, they will fit any 6" backing plate too. I'd get the Orange, yellow and black. The white pads are very coarse and sharp like the Meguiar's maroon pads - in fact, even sharper.

Griots Garage 6 inch BOSS Foam and Microfiber Pads



If you want to switch your Torx FX over to a 5" backing plate, I share the links to these and the 5.5" pad options PLUS TONS OF INFO TO GET YOU GOING IN MACHINE POLISHING.


I would highly recommend reading this write-up, not scanning it.

Here's what you need to get into machine polishing - Recommendations for a beginner by Mike Phillips


Then watch the video in post number #2 - it will show you EXACTLY what to do with your Torx polisher.


Also - you're MUST either mark your backing plate or mark your pads to make it easy for your eyeballs to see pad rotation. If you can do both - do it.


Video: Mark your backing plate to make it easy to see pad rotation

See this article too...

How to Monitor Pad Rotation? Mark Your Buffing Pads

Here's something I say that I've had other Detailing Gurus actually argue against me on. This of course in in the context of a FREE SPINNING RANDOM ORBITAL POLISHER - like yours, like most of the polishers on the market except the FLEX BEAST, Supa BEAST, CBEAST, RUPES Mille and Makita PO5000C


If the a pad isn't rotating - you are not doing anything

and by this I mean, when you turn the polisher on and are buffing out a panel, the pad must both rotate and oscillate. If it's not doing both all it's doing is jiggling or vibrating against the paint, or even worst, just sitting there doing nothing to the paint and that's the point - you are not doing anything, as in you are NOT removing swirls, scratches, water spots or oxidation. You are wasting your time.

The pad must rotate in order to remove defects. Period. Thus mark your backing plate and pads to make it easy to see with your EYEBALLS if the pad is rotating or just stalling out as everyone says.



Hope this helps...

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

I believe it is a short throw DA tho and thus I would suggest you invest in a 5inch backing plate.

You will get better results with smaller pads.

I believe these are 8mm tools? You didn't give us the full part number so you're making us assume. :dunno:


Here's the page where we used to carry it - now discontinued - as in we don't carry it.

Chemical Guys TORQ 10FX Random Orbital Polisher


Here's something a Skynet search found using the name of the tool and Mike Phillips


Which tool should I get? TORQ 10FX or Porter Cable?


In this thread the TORQ 10FX is stated to be 8mm and there are at least 2-3 guys that have different opinions on the tools ability to maintain pad rotation than me.


Here's the deal - no matter what free spinning random orbital polisher you buy - it's all good - as long as YOU can maintain pad rotation when doing any type of paint correct work such as removing swirls and scratches. And maintaining pad rotation comes down to,

Backing plate and pad size - some free spinning tools work better with thin pads and small backing plates while some actually work better with large backing plates and thicker larger pads. RUPES BigFoot tools and the FLEX Finisher come to mind.

Technique - Technique comes from experience and experience comes from HOURS spent being the tool Basically it's how you hold the BODY of the tool to maintain pad rotation while the pad is spinning against the paint.

Product - A slippery product will help to maintain pad rotation better than a sticky product. Typically one-step cleaner/waxes like the BLACKFIRE One Step - because they have a wax or in this case a "sealant" in them - tend to be more slippery than a compound or polish.



Hope the above helps.... all of this text is great but where the rubber meets the road is when you go out into the garage and turn the polisher on and see what you can do.

 

[trusaleen1]

I believe these are 8mm tools? You didn't give us the full part number so you're making us assume. :dunno:


Here's the page where we used to carry it - now discontinued - as in we don't carry it.

Chemical Guys TORQ 10FX Random Orbital Polisher


Here's something a Skynet search found using the name of the tool and Mike Phillips


Which tool should I get? TORQ 10FX or Porter Cable?


In this thread the TORQ 10FX is stated to be 8mm and there are at least 2-3 guys that have different opinions on the tools ability to maintain pad rotation than me.


Here's the deal - no matter what free spinning random orbital polisher you buy - it's all good - as long as YOU can maintain pad rotation when doing any type of paint correct work such as removing swirls and scratches. And maintaining pad rotation comes down to,

Backing plate and pad size - some free spinning tools work better with thin pads and small backing plates while some actually work better with large backing plates and thicker larger pads. RUPES BigFoot tools and the FLEX Finisher come to mind.

Technique - Technique comes from experience and experience comes from HOURS spent being the tool Basically it's how you hold the BODY of the tool to maintain pad rotation while the pad is spinning against the paint.

Product - A slippery product will help to maintain pad rotation better than a sticky product. Typically one-step cleaner/waxes like the BLACKFIRE One Step - because they have a wax or in this case a "sealant" in them - tend to be more slippery than a compound or polish.



Hope the above helps.... all of this text is great but where the rubber meets the road is when you go out into the garage and turn the polisher on and see what you can do.

Thank you so much for this invaluable information. So yes its a TORQ 10FX from chemical guys, I ended up getting it for an amazing deal, that's why I went for it. For sure I will get a 5 in. backing plate and read up on the links you attached. I've always felt like the Torq was underpowered, but I also always had the fear of getting too powerful of unit and messing up my paint.
So if I were to upgrade from the Torq polisher in the future, what unit would you recommend for someone using it to maintain their person cars. I also have a 2014 Black Accord Coupe with very soft paint. I've seen you recommend the Griot's Garage 6" Random Orbital Polisher in the past.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Thank you so much for this invaluable information. So yes its a TORQ 10FX from chemical guys, I ended up getting it for an amazing deal, that's why I went for it. For sure I will get a 5 in. backing plate and read up on the links you attached. I've always felt like the Torq was underpowered, but I also always had the fear of getting too powerful of unit and messing up my paint.

Nothing wrong with going safe. We all learned to crawl before we learned to walk.

So if I were to upgrade from the Torq polisher in the future, what unit would you recommend for someone using it to maintain their person cars.

I also have a 2014 Black Accord Coupe with very soft paint.

I wold take a look at either the new Griot's G9 or the trusty, dusty Porter Cable 7425XP

I like the short body length of the Porter Cable for the type of tool it is. With a 5" backing plate and all the different pads and products on the market today, it's still a great tool and a great value. You can drive over one of these with a truck and then pick it up and go back to work.

 

[Jodi]

I believe these are 8mm tools? You didn't give us the full part number so you're making us assume. :dunno:


Here's the page where we used to carry it - now discontinued - as in we don't carry it.

Chemical Guys TORQ 10FX Random Orbital Polisher


Here's something a Skynet search found using the name of the tool and Mike Phillips


Which tool should I get? TORQ 10FX or Porter Cable?


In this thread the TORQ 10FX is stated to be 8mm and there are at least 2-3 guys that have different opinions on the tools ability to maintain pad rotation than me.


Here's the deal - no matter what free spinning random orbital polisher you buy - it's all good - as long as YOU can maintain pad rotation when doing any type of paint correct work such as removing swirls and scratches. And maintaining pad rotation comes down to,

Backing plate and pad size - some free spinning tools work better with thin pads and small backing plates while some actually work better with large backing plates and thicker larger pads. RUPES BigFoot tools and the FLEX Finisher come to mind.

Technique - Technique comes from experience and experience comes from HOURS spent being the tool Basically it's how you hold the BODY of the tool to maintain pad rotation while the pad is spinning against the paint.

Product - A slippery product will help to maintain pad rotation better than a sticky product. Typically one-step cleaner/waxes like the BLACKFIRE One Step - because they have a wax or in this case a "sealant" in them - tend to be more slippery than a compound or polish.



Hope the above helps.... all of this text is great but where the rubber meets the road is when you go out into the garage and turn the polisher on and see what you can do.

My denim pad will not stay on the backplate

 

[Jodi]

Thank you so much for the response I appreciate it. Sorry I guess I didn't explain myself too well. I have orange peel on my 1978 bass runner boat. I was using a denim pad with a compound called perfect 50 by Osren. Any suggestions on a different compound it dries out pretty quick. Thanks again