Best Car Buffing, Machine Polishing & Cutting Pads Reviewed

Sandro here from Car Craft Auto Detailing in Melbourne, in today's video I'll be looking at

the various types of machine driven pads I use for correcting and finishing paint on both rotary and

dual action polishing machines. Personally I tend to put my pads into three main categories: Cutting

which is defect removal in relation to scratches oxidation and marring. Polishing which is about

removing haze and light defects and producing a clear high gloss finish and one-step which are

pads that have the ability to both cut and polish paint to a certain level in one stage. As you can

see we are definitely spoiled for choice when it comes to pad selection, variety and range which

is great in the way of options but can also be daunting when you're faced with the question what

pad do I need? Which then leads to the question what am I trying to achieve? Personally this is

going to be dictated by both my customers needs and budget as well as the condition of the paint

itself. So why is there a market for so many different types of pads? Because all paints are

different. The pads I'd use to approach a gel or hard clear coat are different from the ones I'd

use for a softer clear or even a one-stage paint. There are three main materials used in pads today

which are wool, foam and more recently microfibre. But let's take a look at these materials and pads

as well as some of their applications and pros and cons. Wool pads have been around the longest,

what's great about them is that they're easily the most durable pads also generally the fastest

cutting pads as well as the coolest running ones which means less chance of heat destroying the

pad but more importantly less chance of burning through the pain due to excess heat. The main

downside of wool would be its poor finishing ability as it tends to leave its own fine

scratches, marring and buffer trails behind and it'll always need to be followed up with a less

aggressive pad to finish the paint nicely. The other issues with wool pads are their shedding

of fibres particularly when new, and they also tend to be the most expensive pads but not if you

consider the durability. As with both foam pads and microfibre, wool pads too have many variances

within themselves from the more aggressive twisted wool pads to stranded wool and more recently

hybrid pads which contain a blend of materials such as microfibre and foam to produce a wool

pad that can cut and also finish down quite well especially on harder paints. I almost exclusively

use wool pads on my rotary buffer particularly when removing heavy defects and when working on

harder paints as it tends to be not only faster but also a safer method for me personally. My

favourite wool pads at the moment are the HD black pads. They're reasonably priced great durability

and continued to perform exceptionally well on a variety of paints. Next up let's have a look at

the New Kids on the Block, microfibre pads. Unlike foam pads which come in many different grades from

heavy to light cutting pads all the way down to finishing and jeweling, microfibre pads

almost exclusively come in two ranges, cutting and finishing. What I love about these pads is their

ability to correct paint almost as well as a wool or heavy cutter foam pad but finish down so much

better. I've also found them to work great on both hard and softer paints and I now frequently use

microfibre cutting pads for one step polishing on harder paints and the microfibre finishing

pads from one-step polishing on softer paints with great success. I've however had no success

using them on my rotary as they don't seem to cut as well as wool and are quite grippy making it

harder to control the buffer, so why now only use them on my dual action machines. When looking at

durability it really depends on the brand, I've found Meguiars to be a long lasting pad whereas

the Rupes tend to breakdown rapidly. Excess heat on dual action polishers can be a real issue

especially with solid pads like the Meguiars that don't have a heat dispersing centre hole. This is

where the Rupes pads excel and run cooler. Due to the nature of the microfibre material

and structure it does take more product to prime the pad and the pads do tend to clog more rapidly

than wool or foam so it's important to brush or better still use compressed air to clean the pads

progressively during use. So taking all things into consideration microfibre pads would overall

be the most expensive pads on the market. My favourite microfibre pads are still the Meguiars

though the company unfortunately stop production of the three-inch pads earlier this year. I've

bought some of Lake country's new microfibre pads but have not had the chance to use them yet though

I'm hoping they'll be great. So last but not least we have foam pads these are the most popular pads

on the market and by far the most diverse in range. So briefly there are two types of cell

structures for foam pads closed cell which are firmer and use mostly for more aggressive pads

an open cell which are more common provide better airflow and are used for all grades of pads from

cutting to finishing. There are endless types of surface finishes on these pads from flat and

waffle to diamond and spider designs. Personally I mostly tend to use flat pads on hard to medium

paints as all the foam is making contact with the paint resulting in faster working times. For

dual action polishers I much preferred pads with centre heat dispersing holes as this makes a huge

difference in keeping the pad and paint cooler. A favourite pad design of mine are the spider pads

by both Scholl and 3d as well as the Lake Country compressor pads which are similar in design my

go-to pads I'm working on softer paints. These pads flex and conform to curves like no other,

meaning they are frequently making contact with the paint and are less aggressive on panel edges

which some pads can burn through rapidly. Another advantage of these pads is the amazing airflow

design which ensures the pad stays cool which for softer paints is the key in finishing down

flawlessly. I also love the range of Rupes pads, they are perfectly balanced don't really overheat

and great at pretty much everything from cutting to finishing so why aren't I buying them anymore

they have perhaps the worst durability of any decent pad on the market I'm lucky to get more

than a couple of uses out of them, add the fact that they're also one of the most expensive pad

ranges and it can be a devastating combination for a small detailing business owner. My go-to pads at

the moment are the new Shine Mate pads, don't let the cheesy name fool you they are excellent pads

almost as well-balanced as the Rupes and just as capable at half the price with about five

times more durability so for me and my business it's really a no-brainer. So just a couple of

quick tips before I wrap this up. Firstly always centre your pads perfectly with the backing plate

as this will not only produce better correcting results but will also extend the life of both your

machine and pads and secondly try to avoid using a single pad to correct a whole car, use at least two or three

as this will not only produce better and faster results but it will also greatly extend the life

of your pads. I really hope you've enjoyed this video please give it a thumbs up comment and

subscribe if you want to see more videos. Thanks for watching and I'll see you in next video.