Pad Cleaning

M

Mass. Wine Guy

New member
For foam (and other) pads, do I really need one of those little handheld wire brush things to condition or clean them? I want to use water and some soap. And when I`m about to buff, do I put a few drops if water in the pad first?

Thanks.
 
FWIW, I find those Pad Cleaning Brushes utterly useless and don`t even know where mine is anymore. Only found it helpful back when I was using the rotaries. I *do* wipe used product/cut-off clear off/out of foam pads regularly when I`m working though, and get out a new one when that`s not sufficient. But for actual PAD CLEANING I do it in the sink and then let them dry for hours (yeah, I do plan to DIY a pad washing setup in an old bucket some day).

MF pads I clean with compressed air. Period. I`d even buy a small compressor just for stuff like that if I didn`t already have air, but then IMO everybody oughta have at least one air compressor, even people in apartments.
 
I use a pad cleaning brush in between sections for foam and for MF pads similar to Accumulator i have a smaller air compressor which is pretty much just dedicated to clean MF pads and blow air for crevices and under seats etc.

Ive also just purchased a lot of pads over the year and use as many pads as possible on a vehicle. For example ill use 1 MF pad per panel or 2 for larger panels (hood/ roof). This way I work cleaner, have to clean less in between sections, and hopefully increase pad life.

Once I am done with the pads I like soaking them in a bucket of warm with some snappy clean or Mckees 37 pad cleaning powder stuff and let them soak for 15-20min. This really seems to help loosen up a lot of the residue then just rinse them out under the sink and if i need to lightly agitate them and put them to dry on the rack. Let them dry over night and they are usually good to go for the next day if I need them.
 
Mass. Wine Guy said:
Maybe I`ll just buy a can of compressed air, instead.
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Even with (only) MF pads, I bet you`d go through that *FAST*, and with foam....uh-oh especially since you need a fair amount of oomph.

Eh, I`d spend a little at Harbor Freight and have a compressor for the rest of your life. No more runs to the filling station to adjust tire pressure and it`ll blow water out of nooks and crannies after a wash. All win for what....maybe $40.
 
Some day I`ll buy a dedicated Pad Cleaning Product, for now I`m using up my APCs and old Power Dissolver for that.
 
I`ll confess I sometimes wait a month to wash my pads, I have way too many and it ends up being a big ordeal because I`ll have three or four vehicles worth of pads to clean

I put mine through the washing machine with some tornado soaked on them and then a little bit of typhoon

once they come out I clean them with the pad cleaning brush from autopia (the really large one) and some tornado

the only pads that don`t come out 100% are my urofibers, but I just blow them out with some air and seems to do the trick
 
512Detail- I`ve been known to let mine sit around uncleaned for a while too :o Never really an issue, yet.

RaydiantDetail- Yeah, with the way I hardly ever do correction I don`t think I`ll ever use one much either. Still think I`ll fab up that DIY one though, if only because my broken bucket that`ll work well for it has some sentimental value (first carwash bucket I bought, back in 1976).
 
Here is my DIY Pad dryer. Couple of grit guards, some stainless threaded rod, nuts/washers and a 5 gal bucket. Wash the pads, stick them in, stick on top of vent to dry.
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512detail said:
I haven`t cleaned the pads from the last cosmic hellcat OR the audi yet
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Lol I can`t do that. It would bother me. I usually wash mine right after I`m finished or if I`m finished the cutting stage I`ll wash them to take a break before the polishing. But definitely wouldn`t be able to keep them uncleaned over many days or weeks.

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So for actual cleaning I use some warm water and apply a bit of dawn dish soap to the pad. This breaks down any polish really well then I rinse them. After that they go in the washing machine.

For on the fly cleaning while polishing I blow the pad out with compressed air and keep on going.
 
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