I am getting ready to order everything now that I am confident that I am not going to screw up my paint but the last question I have is what the difference is in the Polishing pads. I am looking at the Lake Country 5"pads. I am going to be using menzerna intesive polish and final polish followed by a wax and was wondering what pads would be needed. thanks for the help once again.
PC pads
- Thread starter fd3annen
- Start date
I would also like an answer to this question since I have some Menzerna on the way.
I do know that you should start with a white pad with the IP and then move up to an orange pad if you need to.
For Finishing Polish (and Nano Polish), Autogeek reccomends the gray finishing pad. That seems to defy conventional wisdom that says you need a pad with some "cut" in order to polish correctly. I would have guessed that that the white pad, or possible the new green LC pads, would be the way to go here.
Could someone please confirm that its ok to use a gray pad with Finishing, and Nano polish?
I do know that you should start with a white pad with the IP and then move up to an orange pad if you need to.
For Finishing Polish (and Nano Polish), Autogeek reccomends the gray finishing pad. That seems to defy conventional wisdom that says you need a pad with some "cut" in order to polish correctly. I would have guessed that that the white pad, or possible the new green LC pads, would be the way to go here.
Could someone please confirm that its ok to use a gray pad with Finishing, and Nano polish?
mikelea4ever
New member
As what I read around, you usually start with a less-aggressive pad and if its not working then switch to a more aggressive pad. Not sure if its ok to use a gray pad with finishing. Sorry. Anyone???
Less, as far as the gray pad is concerned I wouldnt use it with final polish, I would use the white pad for that product.
To the OP,
Yellow -Cutting
Orange -Light Cutting
Green-Heavy Polishing
White-Polishing
Gray/Blue/Black - Finishing (glazes, lsp's, etc..)
What you use depends on your paint of course, but for 99% of the cars I do with a PC, Orange pad is first followed by a white pad.
Since your starting out, you may very well want to start with the least aggressive approach just so you can get your feet wet and see what different combos can do or cant do.
Hope this helps.
To the OP,
Yellow -Cutting
Orange -Light Cutting
Green-Heavy Polishing
White-Polishing
Gray/Blue/Black - Finishing (glazes, lsp's, etc..)
What you use depends on your paint of course, but for 99% of the cars I do with a PC, Orange pad is first followed by a white pad.
Since your starting out, you may very well want to start with the least aggressive approach just so you can get your feet wet and see what different combos can do or cant do.
Hope this helps.
[quote name='kleraudio']Less, as far as the gray pad is concerned I wouldnt use it with final polish, I would use the white pad for that product.
To the OP,
Yellow -Cutting
Orange -Light Cutting
Green-Heavy Polishing
White-Polishing
Gray/Blue/Black - Finishing (glazes, lsp's, etc..)
QUOTE]
thanks for listing the different properties on the cutting and polishing characteristics of the different colors. My question is, when a person is using something like Menzerna Intensive Polish, would they use a cutting pad or a polishing pad. I am just a little confused. I thought polishes are supposed to "cut" out the defects. What would a person use the polishing pad for, maybe Menzerna Final Polish. Thanks again for all the help What I am pretty much asking is what is the difference between "cutting" and polishing or even a heavy polishing?
To the OP,
Yellow -Cutting
Orange -Light Cutting
Green-Heavy Polishing
White-Polishing
Gray/Blue/Black - Finishing (glazes, lsp's, etc..)
QUOTE]
thanks for listing the different properties on the cutting and polishing characteristics of the different colors. My question is, when a person is using something like Menzerna Intensive Polish, would they use a cutting pad or a polishing pad. I am just a little confused. I thought polishes are supposed to "cut" out the defects. What would a person use the polishing pad for, maybe Menzerna Final Polish. Thanks again for all the help What I am pretty much asking is what is the difference between "cutting" and polishing or even a heavy polishing?
thanks for listing the different properties on the cutting and polishing characteristics of the different colors. My question is, when a person is using something like Menzerna Intensive Polish, would they use a cutting pad or a polishing pad. I am just a little confused. I thought polishes are supposed to "cut" out the defects. What would a person use the polishing pad for, maybe Menzerna Final Polish. Thanks again for all the help What I am pretty much asking is what is the difference between "cutting" and polishing or even a heavy polishing?
#6 (permalink)
#6 (permalink)
kleraudio said:
For a polish like IP, you would use a cutting pad (orange, green)
For a polish like FP, you would use a polishing pad (white)
The difference between cutting pads and polishing pads is basically their pores per inch (ppi). A cutting pad will have far more correcting ability than a polishing pad. However a polishing pad is usually needed to bring out the most gloss possible, it takes care of the little micromarring that the cutting pad creates.
You can tell which pads will have more bite by feel along. Press your fingers into a polishing pad, then press them into an orange pad, you *will* feel the difference.
Hope this helps.
Jim
For a polish like FP, you would use a polishing pad (white)
The difference between cutting pads and polishing pads is basically their pores per inch (ppi). A cutting pad will have far more correcting ability than a polishing pad. However a polishing pad is usually needed to bring out the most gloss possible, it takes care of the little micromarring that the cutting pad creates.
You can tell which pads will have more bite by feel along. Press your fingers into a polishing pad, then press them into an orange pad, you *will* feel the difference.
Hope this helps.
Jim
SilverSubie2.5
New member
kleraudio said:
I'm relatively new to this as well. Are you saying that if you are polishing with an orange pad, you will need to go back over with something like a white pad and a final polish?
Tachyon
New member
I'm just a new hobbyist at this too, but here's what I have figured out in one year of messing around with all this:
The pad / polish combination makes all the difference - both have an impact. For example, I often use Zaino's ZPC on an orange pad as a first pass to cut down moderate swirls, and then use ZPC on a white pad to finish off the haze and other minor stuff.
More typically I will use IP on orange followed by ZPC on white. So, yes, you would typically polish over an area using two levels of correction. Sometimes you even go over the same area 2, 3, or even 4 times (until the swirls are diminished) before moving on to the next pad/polish combination.
You may find that IP on white is all you need to remove swirls ... so, you need to test various combinations to find out what works best on your paint.
The pad / polish combination makes all the difference - both have an impact. For example, I often use Zaino's ZPC on an orange pad as a first pass to cut down moderate swirls, and then use ZPC on a white pad to finish off the haze and other minor stuff.
More typically I will use IP on orange followed by ZPC on white. So, yes, you would typically polish over an area using two levels of correction. Sometimes you even go over the same area 2, 3, or even 4 times (until the swirls are diminished) before moving on to the next pad/polish combination.
You may find that IP on white is all you need to remove swirls ... so, you need to test various combinations to find out what works best on your paint.
I have the yellow, orange, and white pads as well as the Menzerna products you mentioned. I also have 1 red pad for applying glaze and nothing else. The yellow pads don't see much, if any, action - and all they see are my compounds (e.g. HTEC, IP, 3M PI-II)
If you have noticeable swirls then start with the orange pad and the IP. I know the convention is to use least aggreeeive product first, but I haven't had much luck cutting swirls, etc. with a white pad. BUT, I know my paint and what will work so you might want to experiment and find what pads/products work best for your paint.
If you have pretty minor imperfections then start with the white pad and finish polish and see where that takes you. I would advise against using a compound (such as IP) on the white pad if you are going to use that same white pad for finishing. You don't want to mix a compound and a polish on the same pad because some of the compounding reside will remain when you are trying to do your final polish which will work against you somewhat. If you do use a white pad and a compound, then just wash it out good befre using that same pad to finish with.
I would also not use a gray pad with the final polish with a PC. I've heard people have had good results finishing with a gray pad on a rotary, though.
So, to recap, in general:
orange pad - IP
white pad - FP
gray pad - wax (although I prefer applying wax by hand, not machine)
These are just my opinions.
If you have noticeable swirls then start with the orange pad and the IP. I know the convention is to use least aggreeeive product first, but I haven't had much luck cutting swirls, etc. with a white pad. BUT, I know my paint and what will work so you might want to experiment and find what pads/products work best for your paint.
If you have pretty minor imperfections then start with the white pad and finish polish and see where that takes you. I would advise against using a compound (such as IP) on the white pad if you are going to use that same white pad for finishing. You don't want to mix a compound and a polish on the same pad because some of the compounding reside will remain when you are trying to do your final polish which will work against you somewhat. If you do use a white pad and a compound, then just wash it out good befre using that same pad to finish with.
I would also not use a gray pad with the final polish with a PC. I've heard people have had good results finishing with a gray pad on a rotary, though.
So, to recap, in general:
orange pad - IP
white pad - FP
gray pad - wax (although I prefer applying wax by hand, not machine)
These are just my opinions.
SilverSubie2.5 said:
Absolutely not - you might be happy with the way the orange pad leaves your paint. I, however, would not be happy. I will always follow an orange pad with a white and polish no matter how "good" it looked because another pass or 2 or 3... will probably look better.
I polished my car with an orange pad and ZPC earlier while I was recovering from bunion surgery. I thought the orange pad left my paint fairly nice and I left it alone (since I was somewhat not interested in being on my feet for very long). The car looked "O.K." just not awsome. After my foot healed all up and I could spend more time on it, I did a multistep polish instead of a single step.
I used the orange pad with IP and, in some spots, HTEC. Then, I finished with PO85RD (Menzerna final polish) with a white pad. I can honestly say that the results were WELL worth the effort and I am immensly happier with going back and doing it "right" than living with the car he way it was. Of course, my wife thought it looked good when I used the single step (but agrees that it looks so much better now).
So, if you are happy with how your paint looks, then leave it alone after the orange pad but do yourself a favor first. Polish 1/4th your hood with an orange pad alone, another 1/4th with an orange pad and follow with a white pad, and another 1/4th with just a white pad (leave the last quarter alone for comparison to doing nothing). See which one you like the most and base your decision on the time vs. benefits.
SilverSubie2.5
New member
Thank you VERY much tstead. That really helped me out a lot.:goodjob
SilverSubie2.5 said:
SilverSubie2.5, it all depends really. On lighter colored cars, An orange pad and a mild polish are enough. On your darker colors (blacks, reds, some blues, etc...) you most likely need to step down to a finishing polish and pad to fix all the haze, micromarring, etc. that was induced by your orange pad.
You cant really see any of this on lighter colored cars, on the darker colors, as you know, *everything* shows, which is why it is recommended to at least polish with 2 steps.
Even on lighter colored cars, I will do half a panel with a finishing polish and pad to see if I notice a difference. If I dont notice a difference in depth and gloss, Im done. If i do notice a difference, well then its on to the rest of the car!
Hope this helps.
Jim