All in one product eating my polishing pads

makjur

makjur

New member
I couldnt find anyone else posting about this so maybe I'm doing something wrong.
I'm using blackfire total polish & seal, I really like it but it seems to ruin my foam pads after applying it to 1 car.
I have a griots DA (8mm throw version) and am using speed setting 5.
Used a griots orange 6.5" pad the first time I used BFTPS, the pad had seen a years worth of use and I wasnt surprised that it finally kicked the bucket.
I then used a CG 5.5" hexlogic orange pad, the thing looks beat after applying BFTPS to one car.
I can post pics of the pad, but it now has a concave shape to it and feels much softer then it was new.
 
Could be running too hot. I use speed 4 or 4.5 with TPnS. I use a white flat pad 5.5". Maybe try a lake country pad? I'd recommend 2 pads per car at least also.
 
Yes, this sounds like that pad is a victim of too much heat being built up. It will 'warp' a pad and also make it 'softer' like you described. As stated above, try working with a lower speed, also perhaps use less pressure and you can swap out pads as well.

Keep us posted on how you make out!
 
pwaug said:
If you're using one pad to do an entire car and not cleaning on the fly that is the problem--the pad gets overheated and fails. Here's an article by Mike Phillips--How many pads do I need to buff out my car? - Auto Geek Online Auto Detailing Forum
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link

I used a pad conditioning brush every 3 or 4 times I apply more product to the pad.
It was a hot day, and it was a black car that was in direct sunlight for part of the procedure.
Will have to get more pads and be more careful, thanks guys

Do microfiber pads experience the same fail in these conditions?
 
You need to use more than one pad. You should consider using a minimum of 3 to 4 pads. You are saturating your pad with product and it is overheating. Swapping pads will help solve your issue.
 
Another thing you need to do is wash the product out completely from the pad, rinsing all the stuff out until clean clear water comes out when you squeeze the pad together, and then letting the pads dry completely..
How have you been doing with cleaning the pads ?

I agree with everything else stated above - need a lot more pads, probably better pads, and a new one - do NOT do this out in the hot sun on a hot vehicle...
All the heat is adding to the heat created using the machine, etc..
Good luck !
Dan F
 
So if I keep swapping pads while working will I extend their life or should I expect to throw them away after one job?

What i was doing up until now waa using the same pad for the whole car, brushing excess crap off during the process, and after completing the car 100% I use CG pad cleaner/conditioner and get all the crap out of the foam pad.

Now I know I need to get more pads and let them have a break, and not work on a hot car.
 
You also need to be careful using your pad cleaning brush. Bearing down too hard can shorten your pads life very quickly. Having a lot of extra pads also speeds up your detail time without having to stop and clean so often. The pads will definitely last longer too. Let your used pads soak in a bucket of snappy clean while you work and cleanup will be very easy afterwards.
 
Thanks for the tips guys, I was able to polish a car with 4 pads. I used me gloved fingers to massage the gunk out of the pad as I worked and kept track of heat. Car came out great and all 4 pads are still useable!
 
makjur said:
Thanks for the tips guys, I was able to polish a car with 4 pads. I used me gloved fingers to massage the gunk out of the pad as I worked and kept track of heat. Car came out great and all 4 pads are still useable!
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Make sure you clean them afterwards with Pad Cleaner (an APC can work too but takes more massaging and takes longer to rinse out).
 
The pads will absorb excess product and that will also keep the pads from cooling properly. Using the brush will only remove the gunk from the top of the pad. Good pads should last a long time if taken care of properly. I haven't seen the LC rep chime in for awhile. Assuming good technique and proper cleaning how long can we reasonably expect a pad to remain its polishing power? Is it pad dependent? Open cell vs closed cell? The only problem I have seen from punishing microfiber pads is that too much heat can cause them to delaminate.
 
rlmccarty2000 said:
... Good pads should last a long time if taken care of properly. I haven't seen the LC rep chime in for awhile. Assuming good technique and proper cleaning how long can we reasonably expect a pad to remain its polishing power? Is it pad dependent?
Click to expand...

I'm not a big authority on pads, but yeah mine last a long, *LONG*, time. The ones that wear and thus lose their cut are the ones that get used with aggressive products/techniques..no surprise there, huh? While my Finishing Pads last *much* longer and my LSPing pads can last for decades.
 
Keep your pads out of high heat as well. Most of mine are trashed. They disintegrated and delaminated due to sitting in a hot garage.
 
Bill D- Huh, wouldn't have expected that (gee, guess you didn't either!). My previous shop got so hot the overhead door motor would cut out yet my pads never had problems...maybe today's more modern pads are more sensitive.
 
They're all Lake Country pads and they sat in my storage bin. When I went to use them I noticed they delaminated and then when I put them on the polisher, they started to delaminate. I still haven't replaced them since the choice of pads today is a lot wider and I seldom find the need to have to use the polishers
 
I could be wrong but I always thought if you were gonna use a DA polisher for an LSP (even an AIO) you should use a slow setting of like 2. The power of the AIO is in the chemical cleaning, not how vigorously it's applied. So maybe if you slow it down Speed Racer, it will make a difference? Good luck.
 
MiVor said:
I could be wrong but I always thought if you were gonna use a DA polisher for an LSP (even an AIO) you should use a slow setting of like 2. The power of the AIO is in the chemical cleaning, not how vigorously it's applied. So maybe if you slow it down Speed Racer, it will make a difference? Good luck.
Click to expand...

Even with presumably non-abrasive products, I use higher speeds than that. I generally don't turn it down below 3.5 and only go that low if the product isn't happy at a higher speed. Maybe goes back to all my experience with the Cyclo (which is single speed). Part if it is that I just don't like how the PC-type polishers feel at really low speeds, and anyhow...I want all those orbits-per-minute working for me :D

For ZAIO and KAIO I generally use speed 4.5, and I have KAIO-dedicated pads that're over a decade old with many, many uses behind them (and plenty more still to come). IIRC my primarly KAIO pads are from the mid '90s. For LSPs I generally use around 4, and that was a good speed for doing M16 when "making it turn liquid", a case where you *do* want to rev things up. Some of those are *old* but still working fine.

Eh, maybe I'm just lucky, but I've hardly *ever* had pads fail other than when they snag/tear or simply wear out (primarily a case of cutting/polishing pads that get too gentle).
 
Uhm how fast would you go if you were doing it by hand? :D

Accumulator said:
Even with presumably non-abrasive products, I use higher speeds than that. I generally don't turn it down below 3.5 and only go that low if the product isn't happy at a higher speed. Maybe goes back to all my experience with the Cyclo (which is single speed). Part if it is that I just don't like how the PC-type polishers feel at really low speeds, and anyhow...I want all those orbits-per-minute working for me :D

For ZAIO and KAIO I generally use speed 4.5, and I have KAIO-dedicated pads that're over a decade old with many, many uses behind them (and plenty more still to come). IIRC my primarly KAIO pads are from the mid '90s. For LSPs I generally use around 4, and that was a good speed for doing M16 when "making it turn liquid", a case where you *do* want to rev things up. Some of those are *old* but still working fine.

Eh, maybe I'm just lucky, but I've hardly *ever* had pads fail other than when they snag/tear or simply wear out (primarily a case of cutting/polishing pads that get too gentle).
Click to expand...
 
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