Which Porter cable kit should I go for?

[M0nk3y]

What pads would you recommend for the M105 and M205?

sent from S4

Lake County Hydropads. Cyan and Tangerine. They are made to work with water-based polishes...which is exactly what M105/205 are.

[ELCID86]

Lake County Hydropads.

+1

[echo46]

Yes, the Lake Hydropads are very very good. I recently did paint correct on my e36 and e46 Ms using Meg's 105/205 and the PC orbital and the Lake Country Hydopads. Very solid results. I finished with a sealant and then Dodo juice wax. PC is a solid machine.

[BimmerWill]

Would I be alright using the Griots pads or should I dish out the extra cash for the lake country ones? At least for now anyway.
I want to make sure I do it right the first time..

sent from S4

[echo46]

IMHO spend the extra and get the Lake Pads. They really are that good.

[Tlandreth22]

Attached is the link of an Uber pad package that includes five different pads. It includes a yellow cut pad, an orange medium polish pad, a green polish pad, a blue glaze/final polish pad, and a black glaze/wax/sealant pad.

https://www.detailersdomain.com/mobi....asp?#page-179

I'd recommend them to anyone. I'm probably going to order a Griot's 3" random orbital with the same pads for easy access to the tight areas and ease in headlight restorations.


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[BimmerWill]

I've noticed several people on other forums are saying that the 6" pads are a little too beafy for correction. Should I take notice of that and get a smaller backing plate? I'm kind of short on cash so don't want to dish out the dough if its not necessary.

Also if I order the lake country 6" pads will they fit the backing plate on my GGO or will I have to buy another backing plate as well.

This little venture has turned out to be more expensive than I anticipated, no wonder I hadn't tried it already lol.

sent from S4

[LivesNearCostco]

I got 3 Lake Country CCS 6.5" pads with my GGO plus another package of 5 more 6.5" CCS pads. The GGO came with a 6" backing plate and the pads package came with a 5" plate. Having done one day of machine polishing now, if I did Black Friday all over again, I would get just 5.5" pads (with a 5" backing plate). The 6.5" pads quickly cover large areas, but 5.5" would be easier to use on the rearmost part of the hood (by cabin air intake vent), on roof rails, next to the sunroof, back of trunk lid, etc.

Also I now have 3 pads (blue and black) for applying wax and polish, plus the wool pad with bonnets for buffing. Having just applied some paint sealant by hand and wiped it down by hand, I'm not sure I will actually use orbital pads for sealing/waxing and buffing, at least not on the E46. (Does wax or sealant really go on much better with an orbital than by hand?)

Maybe next Christmas I will buy a 3" backing plate and some 4" pads from Detailer's Domain. In the meantime, to justify my current investment in 6.5" pads, maybe I'll polish the minivan, which has big fenders and door panels, or the Saturn, which needs a lot of paint correction everywhere.

Am curious, what makes the Lake Country Hydrotech pads better than the Lake Country CCS pads? I know the CCS pads have the pockets to hold and feed more polish (couldn't tell if that helped or not) while the HydroTech pads are designed for water-based polishes. Do the HydroTech pads polish better, or just get by with less compound because they don't soak up as much of it?

[LivesNearCostco]

I think they changed the link and this is now the correct one for Detailer's Domain 5-pack of 5.5" Uber pads. Unless your link was for the 6.5" Uber pads.
http://www.detailersdomain.com/5-Pac...nch_p_297.html
Maybe I should have gotten that package instead--it's nice that they label each pad so you remember what it's for! (AutoGeek did send me a nice Lake Country CCS pad guide with my pad package.)

Still thinking I would only need 3 different pads as a totally newb machine polisher. I've only got 2 levels of polishing compound plus a few waxes/sealants. I'm sure a serious detailer could benefit from having 5 different pads. And maybe I was using the wrong pad with my Meguiar's 105 as a few passes still didn't get out all the swirl marks, though it did make the paint look much better. I used CCS Orange pad with 105 then a CCS white pad with 205. Most, but not all swirl marks were removed. Should I have used the more aggressive yellow pad with the 105 and the orange pad with the 205?

Attached is the link of an Uber pad package that includes five different pads. It includes a yellow cut pad, an orange medium polish pad, a green polish pad, a blue glaze/final polish pad, and a black glaze/wax/sealant pad.

https://www.detailersdomain.com/mobi....asp?#page-179

I'd recommend them to anyone. I'm probably going to order a Griot's 3" random orbital with the same pads for easy access to the tight areas and ease in headlight restorations.
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[BimmerWill]

With my experience and from what I've read online the paint on our cars is pretty hard so it takes a heavier cut to get more results but as with everything you have to start with least aggressive and work your way up depending on what kind of cut youre looking for. Don't start out too heavy otherwise you're taking off much more clear than you intended.

sent from S4