buffer pad care ?

[J Early]

What exactly in the recommended cleaning procedure for the wool pad. I have the full set of Sure finish pads from Len. Does it ever get washed?I have been using the spur to clean it at every new location of 16" by 16" area. It sems to be taking me about 3 applications of compound to get an area that size done. I have been buffing until the compund gets sticky and starts to grab the pad more and show areas of uneven compound distrabution.
How about the foam pad cleaning?
Thanks

[88GT]

I only spur once before I start. I dont spur during polishing at all. I think you want the pad damp from polish. At least thats true with 3M stuff. I wash them in the wash machine once in a while. Just dont wash them with the wifes black pants LOL

[Len]

What exactly in the recommended cleaning procedure for the wool pad. I have the full set of Sure finish pads from Len. Does it ever get washed?I have been using the spur to clean it at every new location of 16" by 16" area. It sems to be taking me about 3 applications of compound to get an area that size done. I have been buffing until the compund gets sticky and starts to grab the pad more and show areas of uneven compound distrabution.
How about the foam pad cleaning?
Thanks

What type of compound/polish are you using? Sure Finish?

When starting with a wool or foam pad using Sure Finish Polish you want to start by dipping the pad in water then wringing it out then mount it on the buffer and spin out the excess moisture before you start bufffing. You then apply a pencil length of the SF to the surface of the vehicle and pick it up into a slowly rotating pad. You do this about three times until you get a coat of SF on the pad then you start buffing and add small amounts as needed.

I usually don't spur the pad when using SF polish I spray water on the surface of the vehicle from time to time to reactivate the polish on the pad. You can do this because the SF is NOT a diminishing abrasive like other products and adding a little moisture to the process reactivates it's cutting properities. When I do add a little polish it's just a dab here and there especially after the pad becomes "seasoned" (saturated) well with SF.

During the buffing process I keep a microfiber cloth in my pocket to wipe the surface dry because using this wet process you don't want to buff until the surface is dry so you wipe in order to see what you're accomplishing.

When I'm finished I will usually put the foam pads in a plastic bag if I'm going to use them again soon or, if I'm using wool, I'll spur them to get the polish out then let them dry or I'll throw them in the washer for cleaning then allow them to dry and spur them to bring back some the fluff.

I usually don't use other types of polish unless I need to cut faster but other types of polish tend to get thrown all over the place while the SF tends to produce very little "fling" when used properly and a quart of SF will go much further than other types of polish.

When using other polish I will usually spur or wash the pads at the end of every job.

[J Early]

That is great info. I have been using way to much SF polish by spurring all the time and adding more polish to keep it wet rather than adding water.
Thanks!