Working area of 6.5" pad?

[1970judge]

What is the correct working area of a 6.5" pad. With an increase in pad size does the work space get larger or smaller. As to say, does the section I am working become bigger or smaller as I go up or down in pad size?

-Marcus

[Clutch34]

Re: Working area of 6.5" pad?

I am by no means an expert, just a beginner at detailing, but from my understanding an average work space would be a 12x12 - 16x16 inch box. As far as pad sizes go, it depends on what you're using: DA or rotary.

With DA, you'll get more cut with smaller pad sizes -- as pad size increases, cut decreases.

Opposite for rotary -- increase pad size, increase cut.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, I feel like I've read my above statements on a previous thread. If I misunderstood what the other thread was stating, please forgive me! Still in the learning process here!

[Jossy92]

Re: Working area of 6.5" pad?

...forgive me! Still in the learning process here!


Me too. Still learning what I don't know....
The longer I have been on here the dumber I feel.
Good post.

[felixtibs]

Re: Working area of 6.5" pad?

well ive read that the 5.5" pads are better than the 6.5" pads because the DA gets bogged down with bigger pads and cant turn it

[Clutch34]

Re: Working area of 6.5" pad?

Maybe the older DAs, but I've read that all the newer DAs (G110v2, PC 7424XP, new Griot's ROP) should be able to handle 6.5" pads just fine.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Working area of 6.5" pad?

Plenty of folks have gotten great results using our Soft Buff 2.0 pads on various D/A polishers, and those pads are 7" diameter.

A smaller pad on a D/A will increase the total cut compared to a larger pad - all things being equal (foam construction, pad face, speed, pressure, liquid used, paint system, etc). But when you start adding a contour to the face of the pad, whether that be a diamond cut like Meguiar's So1o pads have or the dimples in some LC pads, you actually diminish the cut. That means that our 7" W8207 Soft Buff 2.0 Polishing Pad with the flat face offers a bit more cut than our 7" WDFP7 So1o "Diamond" Foam Polishing Pad even though the foam is the same and the diameter is the same.

That also means that the dimpled LC pads in 5.5" diameter will provide more cut than their 6.5" counterparts, but not as much as they would with a flat face. Same goes for the 6.5" pads in the first place, if you compare flat face to dimpled. Of course, LC and Meguiar's don't use the exact same foam construction to begin with on any pads, so a true direct comparison of the effects of these dimples is not possible when discussing differences between the two brands.