[ejj]

Just picked up a small array of 4\" pads, and used them on both my car and my wife\'s this weekend. For each color I used, I used 3 or 4 per car...so they have 2 uses on them now. After each use they were soaked in pad cleaner, rinsed and air dried.

How long should I expect them to last me?

[Brian_TII]

Assuming you polish both cars a couple times a year and do friends and family's cars every now and then... I'd expect probably 5 or 6 years. That's about what I've got out of my LC pads. In short they last a long time

[cu2mike]

I usually get about 10 uses on my pads, but then again I put them through a lot of crap, lol.

[sorrynotactive]

Just a word of caution, if you are thinking of sealing your bags in ziplocks or whatever to keep them clean when not in use...MAKE SURE THEY ARE DRY. Earlier this summer I used a few 4" white pads and I guess I may have rushed the drying time or something and zipped them up. Went to use them last week and they were moldy =/

[Envious Eric]

I get about 10-15 use/washes out of them as well...

[Brentster]

I was gonna ask about this. I have a Griots Garage and it's tearing up the middle of the orange pads. I was able to get four cars done and the centers of both pads failed at just about the same time.

The correcting difference of speed setting 5 and 6 is huge, so I'm always using 6. After just a few minutes the center of the pad is cooking.

I've since started using three pads per car to hopefully lengthen their lives.

If you're getting 10-15 uses, there must be something wrong with my buffer that's causing all this heat. How do these pads last at all if they're used on a Flex or Makita that would spin twice as fast as my setting 6?

[Envious Eric]

no, the problem is you are using just 3 pads per car!

I use 7-10 orange pads per car easily every single time! It wants to grip more once it gets clogged up!

while working, between sections, turn on the machine off the car but on your hand and remove the dust/polish from the pad. that will help extend the use of the pad before washing it.

I agree the GG power difference is HUGE, but its not JUST the machine (as its partly due to the friction obviously)

[Brentster]

I can barely touch the backing plate after 5 minutes of use. Is this normal? Does your buffer do this?

[Brian_TII]

Ive just avoided running mine at 6 for that reason... Tears them up quickly... Also probably why my cars dont look quite as nice as these guys... .

[Envious Eric]

yeah the BP gets hot, thats part of polishing at higher speeds! Mine smoke all the time...just give it a min to cool down and swap pads often!

[sorrynotactive]

Originally Posted by Brentster

I was gonna ask about this. I have a Griots Garage and it's tearing up the middle of the orange pads. I was able to get four cars done and the centers of both pads failed at just about the same time.

The correcting difference of speed setting 5 and 6 is huge, so I'm always using 6. After just a few minutes the center of the pad is cooking.

I've since started using three pads per car to hopefully lengthen their lives.

If you're getting 10-15 uses, there must be something wrong with my buffer that's causing all this heat. How do these pads last at all if they're used on a Flex or Makita that would spin twice as fast as my setting 6?

You know I normally run my DA on 5 or 6 with an orange pad and have not had any problems. I tend to use 4-5 pads for the entire car, cleaning after each panel.

What size pads are you using? What size backing plate? Which backing plate?

I know I was lazy one time and didn't change my backing plates. I was using the backing plate for the Meg DA Microfiber kit with a white pad at 5 and the pad literally went flying off...

[Brentster]

Its the standard backing plate that came with the buffer along with the flat orange 6.5" Griots pads - which are just rebranded Lake Countrys. I got 6 new LC's last week.