How much product do you put on the pad? Do you prime it?

06 Aug.,2024

 

How much product do you put on the pad? Do you prime it?

This is a question that a lot of readers and other detailing enthusiasts new to machine polishing ask quite a bit.  Having the correct amount of polish on the pad is very important because it ensures you get the results you&#;re after without using too much or wasting time on non-necessary polishing.  Due to the many pad and polish combinations out there, all the different machines, as well as different goals from a polishing job, it&#;s really all but impossible to give the &#;right&#; answer for every scenario.

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That said, my focus here is to give a sort of general guide on applying polish to pads.  I almost exclusively use the Flex XC VRG polisher with 5.5&#; Lake Country Pads.  One important factor to consider is whether you&#;re using a polish with diminishing or non-diminishing abrasives.  As you&#;ll see below, I prefer to use a lot less polish on the pad when using diminishing abrasives because those polishes typically have longer work times and you&#;re better off using a proper amount per section of paint.

First off, here&#;s a few photos to explain my process when using Meguiar&#;s D300 Correction Compound with a 5.5&#; Lake Country Orange Pad.  The following process is also used with other polishes utilizing non-diminishing abrasives, such as Meguiar&#;s Ultra-Cut Compound M105 and Meguiar&#;s Ultra Finishing Polish M205.  I like to first prime the pad well over the entire surface area.

I do this by pouring out some polish in a circular pattern over the entire pad&#;

Then I spread that polish out with my finger to completely prime the pad&#;

Once that&#;s done, I&#;ll apply small amounts of polish to certain areas I may have missed the first time around&#;

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Now my pad is ready to polish a section of the paint.  Once I&#;m done polishing that section and using a brush over the pad to get rid of dust and residue (for more info on cleaning pads please refer to my article Pad Cleaning During and After Polishing), I apply some more polish to do the next section.  Following the first priming of the pad, I typically apply the following amount or less&#;

As much as it&#;s important to apply proper amounts of polish to the pad during a polishing job, it&#;s just as important to know when to call it quits with one pad and start with a fresh one.  I also go over that in more detail in my above mentioned article, but in short, pads get saturated with polish and paint residue, so after a certain point they don&#;t work nearly as well as they should.  Thus, it&#;s necessary to replace them as often as the job calls for it.

For diminishing abrasive polishes, such as Menzerna Micro Polish SF (PO85RD), it&#;s necessary to use a lot less polish and no priming is required.  For these polishes, I use the following amount of polish&#;

I use this much polish on the pad whether it&#;s the first polish application to a fresh pad or second, third, etc.  Regardless of the type of polish though, the pad will get too saturated over a few sections, so it will require replacement with a new, clean pad.

That said, I do encourage others to use this as only a general guide, while experimenting with both more and less polish.  It has happened plenty of times where a helper of mine, with only 2-3 months polishing experience vs my 5-6 years&#; worth, finds a better polish amount to use and/or technique with the machine that results in slightly better results.

I hope this is a helpful guide for many readers out there and thanks to all for reading!

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