O.K. First off, I know it's an "el cheapo" model and some of you wouldn't use it to polish your dog or cats @$$ with it but it does the trick for me.

With that said, I picked up a Turtle wax random orbital buffer for $20 the other day at Costco. So, last night I washed the wife's Volvo and applied the F113 by hand. I used a slightly damp terry rag to apply the 113 using the normal circular motion with light pressure. I let it sit until dry and then went at it with the buffer using the terry pad. I was pretty impressed with the finish compared to the hand rubbed finish usually performed.

So, I got a little play time in with this thing and used my wife's car as the lab rat (no way I was testing this on the Roc's new paint). My question is - this thing came with 4 different "bonnets" or pads. I know the blue hospital cap is the wax applicator and I assume the wool pad is for light compounding. What's the difference between the terry and the foam pads? Is the foam pad just a liner for something or is it actually used for buffing/polishing?

 

good question, i'd like the answer to that as well...

 

is the foam pad flat or does it have like large bumps in it, if so then you used that with polish after compounding to remove swirl marks with machine polish.

 

Foam pad is flat. I did not get one with bumps.

 

TTT. I know somebody here knows the answer to this one. Help a brother out. Please don't make me swirl mark the heck out of my paint. Remember what Smokie says:

"Only YOU ... can prevent swirl marks".

 

Well the wool (shaggy) pads are for more abrasive compound. The foam ones are more for a glaze to put on the car which doesnt have much of any cutting ability on the paint. Its better if yeah try out the foam pad first and use some light non abrasive compound and buff the car cause it would safer than to worry about burning through the clearcoat with the wool pad which bites better than the foam pad.

GO Slow witht he process but always keep the buffer moving, keeping it in one spot to long builds up heat and may burn through

Hope that helps ya out.

 

Thanks. I'm going to try it this weekend. I don't need to compound the car because it was repainted about 2 months ago. It's actually going in for a "rebuff" on Monday to get all of the orange peel down since the paint is nice and settled now. I don't think I'll be using the wool pad any time soon since the other car is an '03 both have relatively new paint. Now I want to see the difference between the foam shine and the terry shine.