zmcgovern45
New member
After seeing a couple of pre-release reviews, I was very interested to try CarPro's new Flash Pads.
I received mine a couple of weeks ago with the intention of trying them out on this trashed 2008 BMW 335i that I had booked. Last night, after cleaning and decontaminating the paint, I was finally able to give the Flash Pads a go.
I tested these pads with Menzerna FG400 on a Rupes LHR21ES. This paint proved to be relatively hard, and given the awful shape it was in, it required a lot of cutting to get through the majority of the defects. I started by simply making 2 passes at speed 5 with moderate pressure (enough to slightly compress the very stiff pad) and very slow arm speed. As you can see, the results were fantastic but there was still some room for improvement (notice the few deeper swirls that remained).
I then did another test with 4 passes at speed 5, moderate pressure, and slow arm speed and followed up with 2 more passes at speed 3.5 with no pressure and moderate arm speed to see how well I could finish down. The results were awesome. Only the deepest defects remained, and to be fair, many of them appeared as if they would need sanding, so I did not expect the compounding process to remove them.
The video shows the results of my test spot. This section of the hood did not have as many severe scratches, and came out nearly flawless. As you will see in the video, there was no detectable micro-marring/DA haze either (keep in mind this is harder paint, so you can expect it to be easier to finish).
Overall my first impressions for these pads are that they cut quickly and finish nicely (better than microfiber in my testing). The very stiff foam will be something to get used to as it is not as user friendly as a typical foam pad or microfiber pad, but I'm sure it is simply something I will adapt to. I am going to continue experimenting with these pads throughout the remainder of this project and will post a complete write up of this job when it is finished.
I'll leave you with this 50/50 of my testing on the hood under the fluorescent lights. This is just after compounding with the flash pads. Talk about an improvement!!
I received mine a couple of weeks ago with the intention of trying them out on this trashed 2008 BMW 335i that I had booked. Last night, after cleaning and decontaminating the paint, I was finally able to give the Flash Pads a go.
I tested these pads with Menzerna FG400 on a Rupes LHR21ES. This paint proved to be relatively hard, and given the awful shape it was in, it required a lot of cutting to get through the majority of the defects. I started by simply making 2 passes at speed 5 with moderate pressure (enough to slightly compress the very stiff pad) and very slow arm speed. As you can see, the results were fantastic but there was still some room for improvement (notice the few deeper swirls that remained).
I then did another test with 4 passes at speed 5, moderate pressure, and slow arm speed and followed up with 2 more passes at speed 3.5 with no pressure and moderate arm speed to see how well I could finish down. The results were awesome. Only the deepest defects remained, and to be fair, many of them appeared as if they would need sanding, so I did not expect the compounding process to remove them.
The video shows the results of my test spot. This section of the hood did not have as many severe scratches, and came out nearly flawless. As you will see in the video, there was no detectable micro-marring/DA haze either (keep in mind this is harder paint, so you can expect it to be easier to finish).
Overall my first impressions for these pads are that they cut quickly and finish nicely (better than microfiber in my testing). The very stiff foam will be something to get used to as it is not as user friendly as a typical foam pad or microfiber pad, but I'm sure it is simply something I will adapt to. I am going to continue experimenting with these pads throughout the remainder of this project and will post a complete write up of this job when it is finished.
I'll leave you with this 50/50 of my testing on the hood under the fluorescent lights. This is just after compounding with the flash pads. Talk about an improvement!!
