NEW! Meguiar's Foam Buffing Discs

[Mike Phillips]

Re: NEW! Meguiar

Great write up Mike, as is your customary style!!

Thank you sir!

Interesting that you used the thin foam DA pads on a rotary in some images here, Mike. We know that several have played with them that way and all have reported great results.

I'm personally a fan of using thick foam pads for any direct drive tools. I should have made it more clear to the guys that the thick pads were for rotary and the thin pads for the dual action polishers. Regardless the thin pads did actually work quite well with the Flex PE14 rotary polishers and for what it's worth we were using very flexible backing plates. They might not offer as nice a buffing experience with a rigid backing plate.

[Selectchoice]

Re: NEW! Meguiar

That's a 5" on the Rupes Bigfoot 21 with the washer mod. If you look closely you'll see some 3M Blue Vinyl Tape wrapped around the body of the tool. I placed this tape on this tool as a visual indicator to make it easy to find this Rupes Bigfoot 21 out of the dozen or so Rupes polishers in the garage for our detailing classes. I didn't install the washer mod, this Bigfoot 21 was a "return" to Autogeek. I left it this way for anyone that wants to try a modded Rupes.

I wondered about the tape around the tool. Thanks for clarifying!

[davey g-force]

Re: NEW! Meguiar's Foam Buffing Discs

Great review as always Mike.

So are these new pads suitable to use with our existing W67DA backing plates?

[Michael Stoops]

Re: NEW! Meguiar's Foam Buffing Discs

Great review as always Mike.

So are these new pads suitable to use with our existing W67DA backing plates?

Yes, you can use them with the W67DA plate - same as used with the microfiber pads currently - but NOT the W68DA which was designed for the Soft Buff 2.0 pads.

[sealthedeal]

Re: NEW! Meguiar

That's a 5" on the Rupes Bigfoot 21 with the washer mod. If you look closely you'll see some 3M Blue Vinyl Tape wrapped around the body of the tool. I placed this tape on this tool as a visual indicator to make it easy to find this Rupes Bigfoot 21 out of the dozen or so Rupes polishers in the garage for our detailing classes. I didn't install the washer mod, this Bigfoot 21 was a "return" to Autogeek. I left it this way for anyone that wants to try a modded Rupes.





Thanks....

The paint was trashed and as a way of showcasing the new Meguiar's pads I fully documented the before, process and after shots including the sun shots.

Could you specify how much cushioning one gets when using the 5 inch thin pad on a 5 inch BP? By 5 inch pads, do you mean the velcro area is 5inch and the foam pans out a bit or by 5 inch you mean the pad is meant for a 5inch BP ? Some of the shots (on Meguiars DA specifically) seem very close as if a slight tilt to the pad (or close to a curvy surface with downward pressure applied) may get the BP in contact with paint.. I am mainly interested with respect to the default 5" BP that comes with a GG6 (i am hoping its about the same dimensions as this new Meg 5" BP).

I was hoping to see your scale measurements (of all sides) of these pads too (like you've done in other articles discussing pads).. Let me know if thats posted somewhere.. Thanks

[Michael Stoops]

Re: NEW! Meguiar

Could you specify how much cushioning one gets when using the 5 inch thin pad on a 5 inch BP? By 5 inch pads, do you mean the velcro area is 5inch and the foam pans out a bit or by 5 inch you mean the pad is meant for a 5inch BP ? Some of the shots (on Meguiars DA specifically) seem very close as if a slight tilt to the pad (or close to a curvy surface with downward pressure applied) may get the BP in contact with paint.. I am mainly interested with respect to the default 5" BP that comes with a GG6 (i am hoping its about the same dimensions as this new Meg 5" BP).

I was hoping to see your scale measurements (of all sides) of these pads too (like you've done in other articles discussing pads).. Let me know if thats posted somewhere.. Thanks

The foam discs are the same diameter as our microfiber discs, and the backing plate is the same diameter as the outgoing W67DA, which was the recommended plate with the microfiber discs. Overlap with the foam discs is the same as with the microfiber, so there is no fear of bringing the plate in contact with the paint by simply tipping onto an edge. The images below show all this in more detail.

Diameter of backing plate: 4-7/8"


Diameter of foam disc: 5-3/8"


Total thickness of foam disc: 11/16"


Backing plate mounted to pad showing slight edge of loop material and full width of foam disc.


Disc overlap on a centered backing plate.


Foam disc overlap with a centered backing plate: 9/32"



Foam disc overlap with backing plate under maximum compression. This is smashed as flat as it will go, and something you would NEVER do when polishing paint.


Foam disc overlap with backing plate at 45 degree angle and maximum pressure applied. Again, something you would NEVER do in real world buffing.


The backing plate to foam disc engagement is not quite the "full width" coupling promoted so heavily by the likes of Kevin Brown in order to achieve maximum edge support and therefore maximum cutting and edge work. Just as with our microfiber discs, we felt that such a "full width" coupling, although offering maximum cut, would pose a very real risk of plate contact to paint that would be problematic for novice users. Rather than go that "full width" route we opted instead for minimal overlap that is enhanced by the scalloped undercut of the disc.

The thin profile of these discs, paired with the lighter weight, gives them an extremely smooth user experience on traditional DA tools (they will transform the feel of a 7424, GG6 or G110v2) and gives tremendous cutting ability to the new burgundy foam cutting disc.

Double check the exact diameter of your GG backing plate, but we know many have used that with our microfiber discs with no issues regarding plate to paint contact. It should be a non issue.

[sealthedeal]

Re: NEW! Meguiar's Foam Buffing Discs

Thanks for such a detailed reply Michael. Appreciate it !

[Michael Stoops]

Re: NEW! Meguiar's Foam Buffing Discs

Thanks for such a detailed reply Michael. Appreciate it !

Funny thing is.... as soon as I posted that I headed down to Jason Rose's office and what does he have sitting on the floor but a brand new Griot's Garage 6" buffer. Well, that thing ships with a backing plate that is 5-3/4" in diameter, meaning the factory stock plate with the GG6 tool is NOT suitable for use with our 5" foam discs. You must use our 6" foam discs with that backing plate. Our honest recommendation, however, is to go with our new 5" plate and 5" discs, for a couple of reasons:

1 - the 5" size will give you greater cut, a smoother operation, and better control in smaller areas than the 6" will
2 - the GG6 backing plate uses a very aggressive tall hook engagement, which is going to cause problems with the short loop found on our foam and microfiber discs. Their tall hook with our short loop is a serious mismatch that will produce a lot of heat at the pad/plate interface. A tall hook is not a great idea in general for a DA tool as the movement of any DA is such that it's always trying to throw the pad off the plate, and a tall hook/loop interface allows for too much lateral movement, which generates unwanted heat. Just an observation.

[sealthedeal]

Re: NEW! Meguiar's Foam Buffing Discs

Funny thing is.... as soon as I posted that I headed down to Jason Rose's office and what does he have sitting on the floor but a brand new Griot's Garage 6" buffer. Well, that thing ships with a backing plate that is 5-3/4" in diameter, meaning the factory stock plate with the GG6 tool is NOT suitable for use with our 5" foam discs. You must use our 6" foam discs with that backing plate. Our honest recommendation, however, is to go with our new 5" plate and 5" discs, for a couple of reasons:

1 - the 5" size will give you greater cut, a smoother operation, and better control in smaller areas than the 6" will
2 - the GG6 backing plate uses a very aggressive tall hook engagement, which is going to cause problems with the short loop found on our foam and microfiber discs. Their tall hook with our short loop is a serious mismatch that will produce a lot of heat at the pad/plate interface. A tall hook is not a great idea in general for a DA tool as the movement of any DA is such that it's always trying to throw the pad off the plate, and a tall hook/loop interface allows for too much lateral movement, which generates unwanted heat. Just an observation.

Thanks for checking that out. I actually have a DAS6PRO (from the UK side and I believe it has the same chasis as GG6) which additionally comes with a 5" BP (which is actually 4"7/8), so in my case that would work well with these new disks.

[se9303]

Re: NEW! Meguiar's Foam Buffing Discs

Hello to all

i have a mint condition Meguiars G100 DA polisher along with a brand new, sealed W-64DA (5 inch diameter) backing plate. I just wanted to confirm if i can use the Meguiars buffing discs with the equipment i have. Pretty sure it should work but want to know for sure

Regards,
Mark

[Michael Stoops]

Re: NEW! Meguiar's Foam Buffing Discs

Hello to all

i have a mint condition Meguiars G100 DA polisher along with a brand new, sealed W-64DA (5 inch diameter) backing plate. I just wanted to confirm if i can use the Meguiars buffing discs with the equipment i have. Pretty sure it should work but want to know for sure

Regards,
Mark

Yes, Mark, our Thin Foam Discs and Microfiber Discs will work just fine with that tool and backing plate. In fact, they will actually act like an upgrade to that tool compared to the pad technology that existed when that tool was introduced.

[se9303]

Re: NEW! Meguiar's Foam Buffing Discs

Yes, Mark, our Thin Foam Discs and Microfiber Discs will work just fine with that tool and backing plate. In fact, they will actually act like an upgrade to that tool compared to the pad technology that existed when that tool was introduced.

Thank you Michael. I am looking forward to using the microfiber discs.