Any advice on foamed wool?

[imported_Slik560]

The gloves are off. Time to stop fooling around. I'm now armed with M-105 and foamed wool pads and I'm going after the scratches and swirls in the rock-hard white paint on my Benz. I have to remember that it is still single stage paint, but I will be using a random orbital, not a rotary.

I also bought the Meguiars cutting and polishing pads (maroon & yellow), so I may try them before putting the wool to the old beast. I had been using an assortment of LC pads and MEg's #83 and while it brought out the gloss, the old damage still remains. Swirls & scratches.

Any special techniques for the wool pads or just follow the rules: work slow, use a mist of water to keep going, etc.

Any feedback is appreciated.

 

[imported_glfahlc]

i know the feeling... having a tough time with the jet black bimmer. i went to the medium cut wool pad and super intensive polish. then the orange pad with sip, then finished with the green and the super finish. cleaned it up pretty good.

 

[imported_Slik560]

Thanks for the response. I think after all the reading and practicing I've done for the last two years, I'm going to just follow my instincts and hit the worst areas with the wool pads and 105. If the test area proves out, then it's on to the rest of it!!

From what I've gathered, the biggest problem with wool is loading up. Cleaning the pad frequently will hopefully avoid that problem.

 

[Todd@RUPES]

The gloves are off. Time to stop fooling around. I'm now armed with M-105 and foamed wool pads and I'm going after the scratches and swirls in the rock-hard white paint on my Benz. I have to remember that it is still single stage paint, but I will be using a random orbital, not a rotary.

I also bought the Meguiars cutting and polishing pads (maroon & yellow), so I may try them before putting the wool to the old beast. I had been using an assortment of LC pads and MEg's #83 and while it brought out the gloss, the old damage still remains. Swirls & scratches.

Any special techniques for the wool pads or just follow the rules: work slow, use a mist of water to keep going, etc.

Any feedback is appreciated.

You mention that you are using a dual-action polisher.

Wool pads have an inherent problem when used on a dual-action polisher. The stroke (which is about 5/16ths of an inch) is absorbed by the long (1 inch) nap of the pad unless the pad is rotating at enough speed to cause the centpetial force to pull the wool fibers taut.

I have always gotten better cut using a dedicated foam cutting pad because the stiffer foam does a better job of transfering the motion of the machine to the paint. Because the orbital 'jiggle' is greatley absorbed with in the nap of the pad, you basically are left with a low RPM rotary.

This doesn't effect the Flex as much because it has a fixed RPM of 480 at maximum speed. However a random orbital DA such as a PC or G110, you will want to keep the pressure light to keep the pad speed high.

While there may be dedicated times to use a wool pad on a dual-action polisher, maximum cut is usually not one of them.

 

[imported_Auto Concierge]

You mention that you are using a dual-action polisher.

Wool pads have an inherent problem when used on a dual-action polisher. The stroke (which is about 5/16ths of an inch) is absorbed by the long (1 inch) nap of the pad unless the pad is rotating at enough speed to cause the centpetial force to pull the wool fibers taut.

I have always gotten better cut using a dedicated foam cutting pad because the stiffer foam does a better job of transfering the motion of the machine to the paint. Because the orbital 'jiggle' is greatley absorbed with in the nap of the pad, you basically are left with a low RPM rotary.

This doesn't effect the Flex as much because it has a fixed RPM of 480 at maximum speed. However a random orbital DA such as a PC or G110, you will want to keep the pressure light to keep the pad speed high.

While there may be dedicated times to use a wool pad on a dual-action polisher, maximum cut is usually not one of them.

What he said, there are times I wanted to use wool with a Orbital and I did experiment and the results were not good ,not holograms obviously but marring and haze that only the ROTARY could fix(ironic) now as Todd mentioned a dedicated foam polishing or cutting pad and a Flex at the right speeds and you can get some pretty good correction if you are new to correction on a rotary this will fill the gap until the learning curve flattens.

I have done some pretty amazing stuff with M105 and the Flex or recently my Festool RO150 which I have used on badly scratched finishes, first I wool rotary corrected and then used the Festool with 105 and a foam pad and did a second pass which corrected the finish..... but then fine polished with a rotary with 205, after that jewelled with Menz PO85RD still with the rotary an back to the Festool for applying the glaze which netted awesome results!!!.

 

[imported_Slik560]

Thanks for the feedback. So, it looks like I was premature ordering those wool pads. I'll just keep them for the day that I pick up a rotary unit. For the time being, I'll use the 105 with the cutting pads that I have and see what happens.