Pad Cleaning question for Mike

[hondamtrco4life]

Mike, can you please give me your personal steps to cleaning pads after using them with a DA/Rotary. I've searched the entire forum and couldn't find any threads in which you responded to this question with your personal technique. I'm sure if I do it Mike's way it'll be the right way so that’s why I wanted to ask you. The thing I've noticed is that waxes/ sealants come out of the finishing pads a lot harder then the polishes/ compounds do out of the polishing pads. I'm sure it has a lot to do with their texture and ingredients but I just thought I'd mention that observation. Thanks for all your help! fficeffice" />

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Pad Cleaning question for Mike

When ANY of my pads are dry I use a rotary buffer with a stiff nylon brush to clean the sides and the face of the pads. For example if I'm working on a customer's car I often times use used pads. So before working on the car I'll take a few minutes to clean all my pads, both wool and foam on the rotary away from the project car because dried residue is going to come flying off the pads and this creates dust everywhere.

But the point is that I use the rotary buffer to clean my dry pads.

When doing rotary work, I take my GritGaurd Pad Cleaner and clean my pad on the fly.

When using a DA Polisher, as my pads get wet I clean them on the fly like explained here,

Cleaning Your Pad On The Fly


Sometimes instead of cleaning a pad during a job I'll just switch to a clean, dry pad and safe the wet/used pad for leaning after the job.

Once in a while I'll had wash the pads in our Utility Sink using dish soap. Basically hold a pad in running warm water and use the water and soap to flush out the product that has saturated into the pad.

Meguiar's doesn't recommend this with their traditional foam pads but sometimes there's just no other way to get product on the inside of the foam to the outside of the foam.

This would be these foam pads,

W-7000, W-8000, W-9000 and our W-7006, W-8006, and W-9006

We're introducing 3 new machine washable foam pads in November which you can simply throw into a washing machine to clean them. If you're not in a hurry to buff out your car then wait till these new pads are available and stock up on these if for no other reason because cleaning is simple.

[hondamtrco4life]

Re: Pad Cleaning question for Mike

Well, considering I don't have a rotary I'm not left with many options other then to wash my pads by hand with soap and water. That's the way I've been doing it so far (twice now) and the velcro backing on the pad is still on so we'll see how long that will last. My personal opinion is I would rather spend money on new pads rather then use pads that have left over product in them and possibly hurt the surface of the paint. Therefore if they don't hold up to my cleaning technique, oh well. I guess I'll be buying more pads then I expected.

[Ryan L.]

Re: Pad Cleaning question for Mike

Be careful with using soap on the old pads, I've had the velcro backing come off of 3 pads, 2 while buffing and one just started peeling off.

Ryan

[Nappers]

Re: Pad Cleaning question for Mike

Get a Harbor Freight, they are on sale for less than 30 bucks and work "ok" and a great pad dryer/clean on the fly rotary. I've used it on my cars and it's okay to use and has held up so far. I have torn it apart and regreased the mechanics. Seen the better rotaries go for cheaper on Ebay or...save your pennies and dimes and just buy one. I plan on it later.

Edit: Chicago Tools Rotary - Price has gone up but I paid I think under 30 bucks for mine on sale. The Meguiars rotary backing plates work fine as it has the 5/8 spindle.


If your in Georgia,

Harbor Freight in GA
ATLANTA NE,GA 4805 LAWRENCEVILLE HWY NW 770-935-8950
ATLANTA NW,GA 4290 BELLS FERRY RD NW 770-592-0955
AUGUSTA, GA 3435 WRIGHTSBORO RD,#1020 706-733-1828
MACON,GA 1433 EISENHOWER PWY STE M 478-781-0405
SAVANNAH,GA 12313 LARGO DRIVE 912-927-4770
VALDOSTA, GA 3111 N. OAK ST, STE B 229-244-2012

I have used a brush on my G100 and spun it on speed 6 to get the dust out while using M83 and D151, worked well. It bogs quickly so don't put too much pressure on it. I don't always clean my pads with water, I use 2-3 pads on a vehicle and let it dry then brush it and if it packs too much then I use the soap and water trick. I had 2 pads lose their backing, one I glued back on and the other was loose and just touched it up with Auto Goop and it has been fine since. I've washed them several times and careful when wringing/spinning on rotary.

[hondamtrco4life]

Re: Pad Cleaning question for Mike

Thanks guys... well I guess I can stock up on some new 2.0 pads since those obviously shouldn't have a problem with the back coming off since they're machine washable.

Nappers- I thought cleaning the pads with a brush while spining on the DA was not recommended because the pad can come flying off.

[Nappers]

Re: Pad Cleaning question for Mike

.....Nappers- I thought cleaning the pads with a brush while spining on the DA was not recommended because the pad can come flying off.

The PC doesn't spin as fast as a rotary (especially with any pressure on it) and a rotary is forced rotation. I turn my G100 on 5-6 and put a brush (I use the Meguiar's detail toothbrush looking gizmo) against the face and the dust flys out when the pad is dry at least. I also clean on the fly, turn G100 on and place a terry cloth on the face and shake yourself silly, you can see the product that comes out and the terry does a good job soaking it up. I've use a rotary on a low setting after washing with soap and water and place the semi dry pads on top of my dryer and let it dry with a little warmth from the dryer as clothes are drying. I've had one backing plate come off quickly (maybe older pad) on a 7006 pad and one come loose on a 8006 pad and the auto goop works great.

Edit: Meguiar's doesn't recommend washing the 1.0 pads but I do about every other or two uses, I store them in a ziplock bag to dry then store clean ones in a plastic container.

hope it helps.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Pad Cleaning question for Mike

Nappers- I thought cleaning the pads with a brush while spinning on the DA was not recommended because the pad can come flying off.

The PC doesn't spin as fast as a rotary (especially with any pressure on it) and a rotary is forced rotation.

This is correct. If you'll note, I wrote I use an RB to clean dry pads not a DA and there's a reason... and that's because it doesn't work.

A rotary buffer is a direct drive machine that rotates the pad. The DA type polisher rotate and oscillate and when you don't have any pressure against the pad on a DA type polisher and turn them on in the air the oscillating action will send the pad flying.

Also, if you apply any pressure to the pad, for example holding a nylon toothbrush against the face of the pad in an effort to try to clean the pad like you would if you were using a rotary buffer then because the DA type polisher has a clutch it will simply stop the pad from rotating.

Years ago on this forum there was a thread that went something like this,

"Are the rotary buffers from Harbor Freight any good?"


In that thread I posted to the members interested to think outside the box, don't look at the cheap rotary buffer as a rotary buffer, think of it as a $30.00 Pad Cleaner.

(Or whatever the prices are today).

At $30.00, (Or whatever the prices are today), that's less than 3 quality foam buffing pads and if you're going to be doing a lot of buffing then having a way to clean your pads both wet and dry is vitally important. So for this reason a cheap rotary buffer can be a real helpful tool.

The new washable pads take care of all the pad cleaning problems.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Pad Cleaning question for Mike

 

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Looks like you're typing in MS Word and then copying and pasting into the forum?  If you were to look at the code for what's above you'll actually see even more MS Code that doesn't show up.

 

If so be warned, you can loose what you wrote because when vBulletin renders the text the hidden code in MS Word Documents can really mess your text.

 

If you take what you written MS Word or any other text editor and copy and pasted it into the message box when you've switched it to Editor Mode it will strip out any extra code.

 

Editor mode is this button -->

 

It toggles you between Editor Mode and WYSIWYG Mode

 

Just a friendly tip...

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Pad Cleaning question for Mike

If you look at my above post where I quoted you and note all the excessive spaces between my sentences, that was all caused by MS Word Code in the portion of your text I quoted.

Copying out of MS Word or some other MS document just doesn't work very well for vBulletin.

[Nappers]

Re: Pad Cleaning question for Mike

Also, if you apply any pressure to the pad, for example holding a nylon toothbrush against the face of the pad in an effort to try to clean the pad like you would if you were using a rotary buffer then because the DA type polisher has a clutch it will simply stop the pad from rotating.

With that, I should have elaborated, while spinning the PC/G100 et al: I used very little pressure, I mean barely touched the surface of the pad with a small brush (said Meguiars detail brush) and got some surface dust off (saw it fly off). Anymore pressure then it stops. It works in a pinch for light light cleaning.

The new pads will be awesome indeed, just wish they came out sooner as the winter months is fast approaching up here in No. California.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Pad Cleaning question for Mike

I used very little pressure, I mean barely touched the surface of the pad with a small brush (said Meguiar's detail brush) and got some surface dust off (saw it fly off).

Anymore pressure then it stops. It works in a pinch for light light cleaning.

That's right, it 'can' work but not very well and nothing like what takes place doing the same thing with a rotary buffer.

Another way to clean a dry foam pad is to whack the face of the pad with the dried crud you want to remove with your hand and then simply take a nylon brush and scrape the residue off. Repeat as needed.

[Nappers]

Re: Pad Cleaning question for Mike

That's right, it 'can' work but not very well and nothing like what takes place doing the same thing with a rotary buffer.

Another way to clean a dry foam pad is to whack the face of the pad with the dried crud you want to remove with your hand and then simply take a nylon brush and scrape the residue off. Repeat as needed.

I do that too, but I end up dropping it and the wife locks the house and hides the kids thinking my patience has indeed ran out and I'm throwing my pads on the ground and about to launch my G100 over the house.

It works, but not very good, hence my cheapo rotary. And I'll buy a better one when money is better and I get better at the rotary.

[hondamtrco4life]

Re: Pad Cleaning question for Mike

Mike- Thanks for the tip about MS and the forum.
Here's an interesting thought. What is the velcro backing on the new 2.0 pads glued down with that it wont come apart after cleaning them in the washing machine? I think I'll have to pick me up a cheap rotary for cleaning purposes.... or I was interested in buying the new Flex can that be used for cleaning the pads like the rotary?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Pad Cleaning question for Mike

What is the velcro backing on the new 2.0 pads glued down with that it wont come apart after cleaning them in the washing machine?

That would be proprietary information.

I think I'll have to pick me up a cheap rotary for cleaning purposes....

Comes in handy for removing deeper defects out of the paint too...

or I was interested in buying the new Flex can that be used for cleaning the pads like the rotary?

It can be done but again, like the DA Polisher, when turned upside down so the pad is running in the air, it's going to rotate and oscillate and it's the oscillating action that's going to make it hard to run a brush over the face of the pad to clean it. At least it's not as easy as it is to do the same thing with a rotary buffer.

Unless you have an emergency detail job coming up wait for the washable pads to become available and then buy the tools you want to use when buffing out cars.

The Flex gets good testimonials as does our G110, if you are wanting to remove swirls and scratches then keep in mind both of these tools offer more power than the Porter Cable unit which will make a huge difference in the amount of time and work you have to invest in buffing out an entire car.