I would suggest buying a few Rupes pads and their polishes. It seems like everyone wants to experiment with the Rupes system, and it is a systemic approach to detailing with Rupes. The Rupes engineers designed everything to work in unison. After you have used the system, then decide if you want to try other pads and products. I`ve tried thinner pads and the Euro-tec pads just to see the differences and to save a few bucks and I get good results, but so far nothing really beats the Rupes pads on the Rupes polisher. I`m still using the Original Rupes polishers, not the mkII and I hear of people melting their pads running them at 6 for extended periods. Polishing a car is a skill and brute force is not really needed on most cars. With the technically advanced diminishing abrasive polishes less can be more. One of the reasons why the rotary polisher is falling out of fashion, especially for finishing.