Nope. Detailed Image. I'll give them a quick message.

 

I suppose I will try SSR3 on an orange pad... see how that goes.

 

What do you use to clean your pads?

 

I thoroughly clean them with water and use Mike Phillip's clean "on the fly" method.

I emailed Detailed Image about this whole deal and they ROCK. Basically said that during the detail process, the pad could have gotten very hot in the middle causing it to cave and rip. They went ahead and gave me a $10 credit on my account for the inconvenience. Talk about some customer service!!

The pad was getting incredibly hot during detailing. How do I help prevent this when I'm having to clean an entire vehicle at speed 6 on my griots? Should I bump it down to 5 and use more time on each section?

 

Hmm, I always do section by section, like a hood might be broken up into four different sections, trunk into two. i wipe off, each section, then move on so there is a break as well.

It sounds like you are using way too much pressure, as I've had pads warm, but never hot.

 

I also use the "on the fly method" every panel., but i swap pads after 2 panels to prevent heat transfer like you experienced.

I'm afraid to say this to you, but you are going to need more than one pad to do an entire car. I tend to use speed 5 at most on my PC7424XP and it gets the job done already. By the way, do you know if this is oem paint or if it's been repainted before? I'm kinda curious about it because the paint is considered "hard" to me.

Hm... I'd never used CP eraser at full strength before because some forum members mentioned it comes with 30% alcohol which is too much for the paint because it might make the paint swell. So I diluted it 1:1 dropping the alcohol % down to 15% which is the safer amount to be used.

 

If you clean the pads on the fly like alot of people (myself included lots of times), make sure you are using a soft bristled brush. Don't use a stiff pad conditioning brush because that is way too aggressive and will quickly destroy your $10 pads. I use a soft toothbrush, much better and cheaper, and doesn't harm the pads.

 

I use a cheaper microfiber to clean the pads on the fly - but swapping pads after two panels seems excessive for most people. If you are working on exotics or something, yeah, but I think for the average enthusiast you should be able to get away withing using one or two pads per regular sized car no?

 

I'd recommend against using the yellow pad with a DA. During my experiments with my PC when I was mastering it, I discovered that the yellow LC pad left behind more traces of micromarring than with the orange LC pad with the same product. In other words, I deemed it too aggressive to use since this was done on a 100% swirl free finish that I had corrected with a rotary.

As for the results, it puzzles me why you aren't achieving your planned results. Even with the hardest of paints, you should be able to achieve some level of correction with the orange pad without resulting to many steps. This begs the question of how much polish you're using and how big of an area your test boxes are. If they are the standard sizes, I'd even haphazard a recommendation to try a smaller pad or even to pick up the new MF system by Meguiars

Oh, and speedwise, I found Speed 5 on my PC worked better than Speed 6. It didn't dry out the polish as fast and gave a better finish with a heavy compound (M105-Rotary version) and orange LC pad. Please keep us updated in your finding

 

Have you tried squrting it with some water between panels? I usually do that but I think the key is the amount of pressure. I remembered I used to practice on a weight scale without having the polisher on to see how much force I'm putting on it.

 

I had the same experience, however I knew I needed to do a second polish so I used a Yellow pad with Ultimate Compound and followed up with an Orange + SF4000 (106FA) and it turned out awesome.

I don't think you can use the yellow pad on it's own with any compound - way too aggressive.

 

Just personal preference. Cleaning the pads on the fly can only do so much for all the dirt, debris, and caked on polish. I like to work with fresh pads to retain the cut level of the pad.

 

Well, going by the least aggressive method, I usually go Orange then White with your compounds/polishes. The only real instance where I used a Yellow was on a rock hard BMW M5 I did for a client in the past. Horrible car but it got the job done since I didn't have any wool pads on me. Of course, everyone has their own method so whatever works since all paints are different
That is why I use a combination of this method as well as a nylon brush with very little pressure. I purposely let the overfilled pad sit i the sun then spin it on my PC or rotary with the brush on it to remove most of the polish on the surface. Usually I can get through 2 orange pads and 1 white pad on a full sized sedan by my regimen

 

I also agree with not using a yellow pad on your finish. In my experience LC Yellow pads especially the harder foam types leave these little micro dash scratches that are very difficult to remove. I would just use orange pads and step up to a compound if a stronger polish is not cutting it.

You will need several pads to do a car. Cleaning on the fly can present a problem because your pads will most likely still be damp which means they will be softer and won't cut as well and also the moisture will turn into steam as you are polishing and will cause the glue in the pads to separate. Don't spritz your pads or finish with water either, it will ruin the pads quicker in most cases.