Fun with Carpro Flash Pads.

[jsou]

I recently had a chance to play with Carpro's Flash Pad. The following test spot/results were on a 2014 Chrysler 300 S in Gloss Black Clear Coat. This vehicle belongs to a friend of mine who didn't mind me having some fun with the car since it was already so beat up. The swirl marks, scratches, and defects made it seem as if the paint was really soft. After my initial test with FG400 and a BnS Orange pad, the paint showed that I needed extra cut. At first, I thought I would correct the paint using Meg's MF cutting disc and FG400 but then realized it was the perfect opportunity to try out the new stuff I bought.

From the several reviews that I've read, the flash pad was an aggressive pad comparable to Meg's MF Cutting discs but had the ability to finish the paint very well. I applied FG400 (too much) to the Flash pads and proceeded to test it on the car.

All shots were taken with my Galaxy Note 3 phone.

Swirls Galore!

More defects.

Cleaned up after 4 section passes, slow arm movement (2 one thousand increments each movement)

Some 50/50's. You can see some dust (Used too much product).

My thoughts? It's a very stiff, thick, and heavy pad. They were very easy to clean using a brush and compressed air. I'm not sure how much cc I took off correcting the car but I will be sure to take measurements with my gauge on the next correction with these pads. This was a serious one-step correction, I couldn't believe how well the paint finished. Claims so far have been true on my first test. I will report back once I get more time behind these pads.

 

[RMD]

Flash pads are truly awesome on hard paint with serious defects. Because of the cut level of the pad you can use a less aggressive polish to start. Corey at CarPro told me to start with Reflect, which is a very fine finishing polish. I used these pads when I bought my current car, a 2010 BMW with insanely hard paint. It was clean, but very swirled up. No problem I thought, will give me a fun polishing project. Boy was I wrong about how "fun" it would be to work on. Tried many different compound / pad combo's before trying flash pads. I ended up using a mid grade polish (Scholls S17+) and it was the winning combo with flash pads and the GG6. I have S30+ also, but didn't need to go that aggressive with the flash pads to knock out the swirls. For a compounding step these pads were the ticket. Saved me a ton of time and back pain that came with the slow process of all the other pads and compounds I tried.

 

[jsou]

Flash pads are truly awesome on hard paint with serious defects. Because of the cut level of the pad you can use a less aggressive polish to start. Corey at CarPro told me to start with Reflect, which is a very fine finishing polish. I used these pads when I bought my current car, a 2010 BMW with insanely hard paint. It was clean, but very swirled up. No problem I thought, will give me a fun polishing project. Boy was I wrong about how "fun" it would be to work on. Tried many different compound / pad combo's before trying flash pads. I ended up using a mid grade polish (Scholls S17+) and it was the winning combo with flash pads and the GG6. I have S30+ also, but didn't need to go that aggressive with the flash pads to knock out the swirls. For a compounding step these pads were the ticket. Saved me a ton of time and back pain that came with the slow process of all the other pads and compounds I tried.

Awesome! Do you have any pics of the project? (Searching your posts after this is posted.)

Thanks for sharing the suggestion. I will try Reflect on the next project before stepping it up to a compound. I used the 3" and 5" on the GG6. I haven't tried the pads on my 21 yet.

I'm amazed how well these finished even after 2 wipedowns with eraser. I'll update this thread with more pics as I use them on trashed exteriors.

 

[House of Wax]

Whoa. Very impressive. Give your buddy a heads up he should quit drying his car with 100 grit sandpaper lol

 

[Potatoe]

Nice work! Look forward to your upcoming reports when you get more time on these. That really shows results!

 

[Jpostal]

What machine/polisher was used? Amazing results.

 

[jsou]

Whoa. Very impressive. Give your buddy a heads up he should quit drying his car with 100 grit sandpaper lol

I gave him an ear full. Thanks!

Nice work! Look forward to your upcoming reports when you get more time on these. That really shows results!

What machine/polisher was used? Amazing results.

I used a GG6 with 5" & 3" backing plates.

Here are a few more pics of a wet sand project I'm currently working on. 2 month old repaint. 1000 -> 2000 -> 3000 via Meguiar's Unigrit discs. Flash pad with FG400. Goal was to remove nibs and orange peel (Maaco job)

I have a video posted on my facebook but it is not Hi-Def. I will be sure to take better photos with my DSLR and HD Video CAM.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153484594885410

 

[jsou]

Corrected this Lexus yesterday which was scheduled for a one-step polish. The paint was soft with its share of deep scratches, chips, and RIDS. Used Carpro Reflect with 5" Flash pads on Rupes 21. 3 section passes on about 16" x 16" area.

Test spot photos and video shown below. I'm going to try Sonax Perfect Finish on another one-step job scheduled for next week.

Thanks for looking.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153495563630410&pnref=story

 

[littlehandegan]

Any before pics of that purple trunks orange peel? Sweet!

 

[WillWashesCars]

Awesome results! These definitely are pads not to me reckoned with! I heard they also are used on assembly lines from Audi/VW for fast defect fixing.

 

[jsou]

Any before pics of that purple trunks orange peel? Sweet!

Unfortunately, I do not. The pics were more to show the capabilities of these pads. Thanks!

Awesome results! These definitely are pads not to me reckoned with! I heard they also are used on assembly lines from Audi/VW for fast defect fixing.

Thanks Will! I remembering seeing the guys overseas with these pads. They had the VW stamped on the backing velcro. Spot fixing becomes a cinch with these pads, great cut and great finishing, never knew something like this would exist.

 

[Merlin]

I recently used the 5" Carpro Flash Pads with Megs M101 & it made very short work of correction.
I feel like this pad cuts more aggressive than microfiber discs & IMHO it even finishes down better.
These pads are very firm and it is a small learning curve to get used to for the harder pad "feel".

Bottom Line: IMHO These pads are a must-have for your paint correction detailing arsenal.

 

[jsou]

I recently used the 5" Carpro Flash Pads with Megs M101 & it made very short work of correction.
I feel like this pad cuts more aggressive than microfiber discs & IMHO it even finishes down better.
These pads are very firm and it is a small learning curve to get used to for the harder pad "feel".

Bottom Line: IMHO These pads are a must-have for your paint correction detailing arsenal.

Nice! Do you have any photos?

I will say the pads were very similar to the Rupes Pads in how stiff and dense they were. I had trouble at first with the Flash Pads on the Rupes but finally got them spinning and it was a breeze to work with. The pad starts to compress as you work it more. I have found that this pad starts to lose it's cutting effectiveness as you keep using them. Then again, I have used and abused the hell out of these.