Difference between Meguiar's DA Power System Pads

[Tuco]

Greetings Everyone. I've been a long time lurker on these forums but it's time to ask a question. I'm planning on buying a Meguiar's DA Power System drill attachment to use with Ultimate Compound and Ultimate Wax. The thing is, in Canada, the pads are sold with the small-size UC/UP/UW, and examining them closely from the packaging, they appear to be them same pad; only the color is different. They actually remind me of those Soft Touch hand applicator pads. Is there a difference in texture, or are they sold for color-coding purposes? More specifically, could I use the yellow pad that comes with the drill attachment (also sold with the small-size Ultimate Polish) for Ultimate Wax without having to buy the black UW pad? Is there a difference in texture between both of these? I ask considering that the UW comes with a black applicator pad, the NXT Tech Wax 2.0 came with a purple one, and I've seen videos of UC being used with a standard yellow, but they're all of the same texture and product type.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Difference between Meguiar's DA Power System Pads

The density and foam structure on the three pads are definitely different from one another, they aren't just different colors. In fact, they are the same as our 7" Soft Buff 2.0 foam pads used on the G110v2 and other DA buffers, only smaller in size. The small applicator pads that come with our various waxes, on the other hand, are totally different from these Soft Buff series of pads and in the case of the black/UW, purple/NXT and yellow/Gold Class, they are all the same except for color.

Our recommendation for typical use of the DAPS is to use the burgundy cutting pad with Ultimate Compound, the yellow pad with Ultimate Polish, and the black with Ultimate Wax. Of course you can substitute any similar products for each step with the appropriate pad if you so desire (M105 or any other compound with the burgundy, M205 or any other polish with yellow and NXT or any other wax with black. If you have prepped the paint to a fairly high level and want to just apply wax, the black pad is highly recommended for its very noninvasive nature. But if you plan on using a cleaner wax like our new White Wax, then you could go with either the yellow or black pad, depending on how much correction you want out of the cleaner wax. You'll get max correction from a cleaner wax by using the yellow pad.

Make sense or clear as mud???

[Marc08EX]

Re: Difference between Meguiar's DA Power System Pads

Yes the foam density and hardness is different between all of them. The burgundy foam cutting pad is the hardest or most coarse, followed by the yellow foam polishing pad then followed by the black foam finishing pad. The burgundy is used with the Ultimate Compound to remove swirls, scratches and oxidation. The yellow one is used with the Ultimate Polish to refine the finish to a high gloss and the black one is used with the Ultimate Wax to put down protection to the paint.

If you're waxing then I would highly suggest getting the black pad. Ultimate Wax is a finishing wax and you want a pad that has the least mechanical cutting ability. If you already polished your paint to a high gloss and eliminated all the swirls and scratches then you don't want the pad to have any chances on putting back scratches.

On the other hand, you can use the yellow pad with the Ultimate Compound if you want to.

[Tuco]

Re: Difference between Meguiar's DA Power System Pads

Just like I thought: clear, perfect advice. Thank you. I ended up buying both pads and you're all right about the texture. I'm now on the fence about Ultimate Polish. On the occasion that I get swirl marks from a gas station car wash, perhaps UC might be overkill and removing swirls with UP can be enough. UW smells like orange cream popsicles, but the DAPS packaging... it took quite some work to liberate the unit...

[Murr1525]

Re: Difference between Meguiar's DA Power System Pads

UC with the Polishing pad would make it a bit milder.... Just different combinations to play with.

The main issue would be the gas station car wash....