I was just in the proper auto care website and saw a foam pad called the Power Pad Clay Applicator. The foam pad is shape like donut so that you can put your clay in the middle and it attaches to your Porter Cable backing plate. It suppose to clean the paint better and faster than hand claying. I was just wondering if anyone tried this foam pad before.
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I have been trying it out for the past few weeks. I've had mixed results. On certain black paints it will leave holograms. This was on a black early 00's BMW 5 and a black ceramiclear '04 MB SL500 . On a '05 Tahoe, also black, I had no such problem. Overall, I've used it on a dozen cars.
For light contamination removal it works well and cuts down some(more like, little) time. But with anything moderate and worse I had to put some weight behind it for it to work. Thus the reason for the holograms. The extra work it created was not worth it. If you're planning on compound/clean/polishing the paint maybe it might be. But, why create more work?
You have to use a 200 mg bar of clay to fill the cutout and even then it's not enough. The clay tends to expand out to the edges and 'melt' into the foam making it problematic to peel it off and knead to get a fresh side. After a while you have to pull foam bits out of the clay.
Since you're using both hands on the polisher to put weight on it I noticed a tendency to not check the surface as frequently with my hands. Claying by hand, I can feel the surface with the fingertips of my clay hand AND my free hand.
Overall, I'd give it a C-. At first, I thought it was pretty good but with more use the benefits do not outweigh the drawbacks.
In regards to better and faster. Hand claying is better and the applicator is a smidge faster.
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IMO this thing is an answer in search of a question. IMO claying is something that should be done very carefully, taking great care and letting the tactile feedback guide what's being done. Putting a big pad, let alone a machine, between the clay and the user will eliminate all the feedback. Plus people have complained about the clay falling out of the holder and getting contaminated.
And I'm a firm believer in not reusing contaminated clay. I cut my clay into fairly small pieces and once they're contaminated I'll only use them for wheels/undercarriage/etc. work. Clay is a renewable resource, you can always buy more. Contaminated clay can induce marring. Paint is *not* renewable, if you mar it you'll have to abrade some away to fix the problem. I'd rather risk "wasting" clay than risk wasting paint. No way to even know if the clay is contaminated if it's in the holder. When I read about it causing something like holograms I think my worst fears are confirmed.Practical Perfectionist
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