Pad Longevity??

[JWMotorCars]

In general, what is the durability of LC 5.5" pads? How many cars will a pad last, with proper cleaning in between?

[greg0303]

Re: Pad Longevity??

It really depends on many factors:

- type of buffing pad: closed cell vs. open cell,
- type of machine application: rotary vs. D/A,
- speed/ down pressure,
- if you use 2-4 pads per vehicle detail of course they gonna last longer,
- proper cleaning/ drying process.

I have buffing pads which lasted over 15 details and they still looked okay. Once you see obvious signs of wear-out and decreased cut/ performance it's better to retire them. Fresh pad, with its maximum ability/ performance will allow you to work more effectively. Usually more dense pads wear-out faster.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Pad Longevity??

We don't know if LC has a specific comment on this and we're a bit hesitant to make recommendations for another company's products, but......

There a lot of variables here: cutting pads and polishing pads tend to be used much more aggressively than finishing pads, and as such their life span tends to be shorter. Even then how aggressively you use a pad will have a lot to do with how long it will last. Example: a couple of years ago at Barrett-Jackson in Las Vegas we were tasked with cleaning up a car that had just been restored and was going to be sold over the weekend, but it needed some sanding marks removed. The only things we had on hand were a couple of polishing pads, some Ultimate Compound, and a DA - not a great combo for pulling out sanding marks. We had to get super aggressive in order to accomplish the task and the end result was a car that looked pretty darn good (not perfect, but pretty darn good, all things considered), but one of pads was hammered to death. One car and out. That's very rare, but we've seen it happen more than this one particular case. And often it happens because people are buffing very aggressively and over using product. That's a bad combination.

On the flip side, we've got polishing pads here at work that have been used literally dozens of times and they're still doing fine.

But to answer with something like "5 cars" or "50 cars" is darn near impossible to do, because of those variables (although that range is likely pretty close to real world use!)

[JWMotorCars]

Thanks for the info. I realize there are many variables and I wasn't really looking for an exact number. I guess I'm trying to gauge myself, as far as technique and what not. I am completely happy with the LC CCS pads just wondering about approximate wear.