Buffing Pads

The vast variety of GLIPTONE wool and foam buffing pads can be overwhelming for anyone looking over these pages. Although there may be some redundancy, apart from user preference, the choice of pad usage will usually break down into the following four categories. 1. CUTTING/COMPOUNDING: The first category is considered ‘Cutting’ or ‘Compounding’. In this initial buffing stage, (selection of pads), the focus is to remove heavy to moderate surface scratches. From a ‘Body Shop’/‘fresh paint’ perspective, the focus is removing sand mark scratches of 1500 to 2500 grit. The wool pad offers a more aggressive bite that is much faster at removing scratches; however, the drawback is the unavoidable ‘swirl marks’ and wool/dust residue. If the proper swirl mark remover step is to follow, then the wool pad is a viable option; however, if your intentions are to simply wax or glaze over this initial buffing step (essentially hiding your swirl marks), then we recommend working with an aggressive foam pad to start your buffing process. You may also consider working with ‘untwisted wool’ (GT165V), which is less aggressive than twisted wool. Aggressive foam pads represent an excellent alternative to the wool pad, and can be combined with the proper GLIPTONE compound to get the scratches out leaving low-to-no-swirls and no dust. NOTE: Recommended buffing speed for wool pads in this stage is 1400 – 1800 rpm’s and 1200 – 1600 rpm’s for foam pads. 2. SWIRL REMOVAL/POLISHING: This second buffing step is primarily designed to remove swirl marks created during the initial buffing step. Several pad options exist for this step. The thing to focus on is medium to soft grades of foam with a recommended rpm of 1200-1400. Some preferred pads for this step are: CH940G, CH950G, BFF, GT9735 and GT9725. 3. FINISHING: The last of a 3-step buffing system should involve a very soft, finishing foam pad designed to be least aggressive against the paint finish. Our recommended buffing speed for this stage is 1000 – 1200 RPM’S. A popular pad option for this step is: CH950G. This pad can be used in both second and third step as long as the pad is dedicated to either step (Simply mark the back of your pad, as to what product has been used, and stay dedicated to that same product with that pad). Additional pad options include: CH929G, GT9738 and GT9740. 4. ONE STEP PADS: For high volume, ‘Auction’ or ‘Wholesale-type’ work with time constraints and a financial burden to finish cars with no more than a single buffing step, you are looking for a fairly aggressive pad, yet low swirling, so your only option is a moderately aggressive foam pad. The GLIPTONE top sellers in this category are: CH930G, YFF, and CH940G. The recommended RPM’S here would be 1200 – 1600. NOTE: Orbitals and 6” DA’s can also be very effective for this type of buffing application. NOTE: Remember to use the GLIPTONE ‘Body Clay Bar’, ‘Body Sponge’ or ‘Body Mitt’ to remove embedded surface contaminants prior to your initial buffing step! Regardless of whether or not the customer is paying for that process, it helps to make your buffing process much easier and far more effective! In the end, a standardized operating Detailing process that includes a ‘BODY BAR’, ‘Claying-Type’ process, will improve efficiency and long term profitability.