PAC shows you how... to clean your polishing pads easily and inexpensively.

I Klassed my red 97 Ford F150 this past weekend. If the weather cooperates I will try and post some pics after my second coat of SG :D
 
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Here is my Red Integra, I put the klasse on early november and this is what it looks like after a typical michigan winter.

Looks like my blitz top coat is pretty much gone, but the klasse still doing good.
 
Why is it that some Zaino pics seem to give a very deep, rich look while others give a shine that seems "plastic-like"? I find it very confusing and I can't seem to decide whether I want to try Zaino or not based on it. :confused:
 
<img src=http://www2.gvsu.edu/~mckinler/images/car1.jpg>



Picture is very poor quality and the car looks a lot better in person. Here is another image of my 3000gt with Zaino (z3, z5 and zfx)



<img src=http://www2.gvsu.edu/~mckinler/images/car3.jpg>
 
JM pics will hide and mask a lot of things. I find what they look like in person is always different than a pic on the web.



HTH
 
Thanks GMN, I was planning on visiting a local distributor in my area later this spring to really get a close-up look as to what Zaino looks like in person.
 
The Easy and Affordable Way to Clean Your Polishing Pads

Keeping your polishing pads clean is extremely important to the performance and life of your polishing pads. I have used all of the machines, gadgets, and tools to clean pads, and while some of them really do a great job, they are not always practicable. I have always used dedicated pad cleaners, but a friend suggested to me that they where just degreasers. I looked around the garage, saw a spray bottle of Meguiar's Super Degreaser, and gave it a go. The results were instananeous. Over time this became my preferred method of pad cleaning and I enthusiasticly recommended this process to everybody who would/will listen.

Degreaser vs. Soap

A lot of detailers use liquid soaps, most commonly dish washing soaps, to clean their pads. Most of the stronger soaps do a great job, but can be frustrating to fully rinse out of the pad. It seems several hours of rinsing later you can still squeeze foam soap bubbles out. Meguiar's Super Degreaser rinses clean very quickly, as it is designed to release from surface quickly. Most dish soaps will leave behind a film to promote water sheeting off over plates and silverware, to resist water spotting. This film can be very difficult to fully remove, particularly once trapped inside the foam cells of a pad.

Two Bucket Method

While it is not necessary to have two buckets for pad washing, it certaintely helps. The wash bucket it were all the dirty cleaning happens, and this water will be contaminated with solution and polish residue. The rinse bucket is used after the pad has been cleaned to flush out any remaining solution from the first bucket and to ensure the pad is perfectly clean.

Getting Started



  • Two Buckets- The larger the better. Fill each bucket up with water.
  • Meguiars Super Degreaser- Diluted 10 parts water with 1 part solution.
  • A pad brush- Used to scrub stubborn stains from the surface of pad.
  • Dirty pads

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The surface of this Meguiar's Softbuff 2.0 Cutting pad has a lot of embedded abrasives and is in desperate need of cleaning.

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Spray the surface of the pad liberally with degreaser solution and massage the cleaner into the pad.

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Dunk into the wash bucket. Massage and scrunch the pad in the water. Polish residue will release immediately.

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Finally wring and inspect. There is some stubborn residue on the bottom right corner of this pad.

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If needed, spray more degreaser on the pad and brush any stubborn areas with a stiff nylon brush, such as a pad brush.

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Dunk and flush out as much solution in the wash bucket. Finally wring out as much solution over the wash bucket.

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At this point the pad should appear clean, and well rang out. Finally massage and wring out any solution in the second bucket; the rinse bucket. This will ensure that all of the contaminated water from the wash bucket is removed and the pad is completely clean.

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Finally spin the pad dry on a machine, if available, and allow to air dry completely before use.

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The end result is a pad that is completely clean and should be free of any residues which could hamper further use. This method will clean the entire pad, instead of just the surface.

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A Method for All Pads

This method, because of the submergence of the pad, is suited to all pad types including wool and multi-fingered pads that have large surface areas. These pads tend to require scrubbing for the best results.

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Notes

  • If you have sensitive skin or notice any irritation you should consider wearing nitrile, vinyl or latex gloves.
  • Reticulated or 'closed-cell' foam pads will require additional time to dry. You can identify these pads because they will release little air bubbles that will make the water appear cloudy when massaged underwater.
  • You should change the water in the buckets when they become contaminated. Try to keep the rinse bucket's water as clean as possible.
  • The large surface area of wool, micro-finger, and microfiber pads will contaminate the water much quicker than foam pads. Clean the water more frequently
.

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Great thread Todd. I will have to try this method. I use the kitchen sink and either power disolver or OPC. It can take a long time to clean lots of pad... for me the worst part of detailing a car is cleaning up after I am finished. :Innocent:
 
Very cool tip! What i do, is just shoot some dawn power dissolver and push it in with my fingers. then i spray a little of meguiars APC+ 10:1 and dump them in warm water for 20-30 mins. Then i rinse them out and they look and feel completely new. I have not noticed a change in the foam of the pads and they keep doing their job just as if they were new.
 
Thanks for the tip. Very informative as I always wondered about those powdered pad cleaners. I always used some Dawn Power Dissolver myself but sometimes you can't rinse the pad completely. This should save some money on pad cleaning supplies.
 
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