Lake Country VC Trouble

T

temposs

New member
For christmas I received a set of LC VC 6.5" pads, 5" flexible backing plate, and a PC 7336sp. I waited for a nice day and hit up my Explorer, starting with the grey/black pad and moving upwards to the yellow cutting pad with SSR 2.5 to remove the heavy swirl marks on the hood.



Following this, I used the orange pad with SSR 1 on the hood and around the rest of the car (which had hardly any swirls). Halfway through the 3rd door panel, I noticed tons of foam beginning to fly out from the pad. Upon inspection, the area under the velcro appeared to be seperating itself from the rest of the pad.



Now, being this was my first time I'm wondering if I caused this, or if I had a defective pad? I was polishing mainly on 5/6, but working my way slowly up to them on each panel. I tried to let the machine work under its own weight, and tried to avoid angling the pad at all, but for some areas it was necessary. Has anyone else experience this with these pads?
 
Fortunately I haven't. I'd say this is definitely a case of a bad pad. It sounds reminiscent of the problem Megs had with pads previously.
 
I think Lake Country had a batch of defective pads late in the year. Do a search as I remember seeing something from a Lake Country employee regarding this. Anyway long story short you for sure got a bad pad I would contact who you purchased it from and get a exchange
 
Im not a LC user but if memory serves me correct, the orange is there all in one type pad, and requires some finesse to use. SSR 1 is a fairly light liquid and may be better suited with a smaller foam core type of pad. Usually the larger cell structure the heavier (thicker) of a product it will support. Its my belief in general, that the larger cell pads should be operated at a slightly lower speed as well, and the product should be performing the majority of the work. One more point, make sure your pad is "seasoned" before operating it at higher speeds. Im sure Eric will chime in and offer an explanation as well, hes/there good folks over at LC.

Also users will tend to operate those PC's at 6.0 and really let em rip, you should be adding just a couple lbs of pressure, this will insure the pads not operating at too high of a speed as well......
 
I think I'm going to go ahead and pick up some LC 7.5 VC's this next time around, I like the idea of the "cup" in the pad, having the backing plate a bit more recessed makes me feel a little more at ease. Thanks for all the info, regardless.
 
temposs, using them in my detailing business over several months, so far I've had three of my LC orange VC pads go the same way.



I don't think it due to a bad batch...I'd say its a design flaw. I use several different types of LC, Sonus and Megs pads, and these are the only ones that do this.



The velcro sits on a slightly elevated stepped layer of foam that's just larger that the backing plate. When pressure is applied and/or used at higher speeds, the velcro's edge meets the lower level foam and cuts into it, causing it to shred. Using it at an angle causes the same thing, as it again, forces the velcro and foam to meet.



It would work fine on a rotary, but a PC creates a lot of lateral movement causing that rubbing effect at the velcro/foam junction.



The solution would be to have a larger velcro surface all on one level on the foam...just like all the other pads LC and everyone else makes! :rolleyes:



Despite what I believe is a poor design, the LC orange pad is a good foam grade that works very well while its still in one piece. :)



Hopefully, the 7 1/2' are designed differently and you have more success with them.
 
I'm new to this whole PC thing. I have four LC pads that have had the velcro backing come off. I got them for cmas last year. I run mine at 5 speed and have done about 4 vehicles. I will contact the seller and see what is going on. At $10 each, they shouldn't be doing this.....
 
Alfisti said:
temposs, using them in my detailing business over several months, so far I've had three of my LC orange VC pads go the same way.





The velcro sits on a slightly elevated stepped layer of foam that's just larger that the backing plate. When pressure is applied and/or used at higher speeds, the velcro's edge meets the lower level foam and cuts into it, causing it to shred. Using it at an angle causes the same thing, as it again, forces the velcro and foam to meet.





Despite what I believe is a poor design, the LC orange pad is a good foam grade that works very well while its still in one piece. :)



Hopefully, the 7 1/2' are designed differently and you have more success with them.
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I stepped upto to the 7".5" pads with a 6" flex BP.. i like the pads because the BP sits in the concave edge to edege. I agree with your assesment on why the other pads fail.IIRC the 5" BP is 4 3/4" ? There is too much space from the edge of the pad to the BP and this is what i beleive cause the velcro or the foam to fail prematurely.
 
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