Detailing Guide: Cleaning Pads and the Grit Guard Universal Pad Washer

Cleaning Pads with the Flex 3401 and the Grit Guard Universal Pad Washer

Someone asked me if the Flex 3401 could be used with a pad washer to clean pads. We were doing some testing today in the garage and while I was out their cleaning up after the testing it’s protocol to clean the pads so I snapped some pictures showing the results.

The GGUPW worked great with the Flex 3401 to clean the new Hydro Foam Pads. The

New, clean pad

Used, dirty pad

After about a minute in the pad washer on speed 1-2 on the Flex 3401

Clean as a whistle!

Close-up

After cleaning the pad, to remove the water simply lift the polisher up while the pad is still in the bucket with the snap ring lid closed and bringing the speed up to sling out the excess water.

Next, open the lid and lift the pad out of the bucket and close the snap lid. Then place the face of the foam pad on the mini Grit Guard Extension and again bring the speed of the polisher up while pushing downward and you’ll remove the majority of the remaining water in the pad.

The Grit Guard Universal Pad Washer worked great with the Flex 3401. The pad is now drying and will be ready for use tomorrow.

The pad wash is works so well at cleaning pads that once you use it one time as you start any complete buff-out you’ll wonder how you lived without it. When trying to create a good finish or a show car finish it’s vital to work clean and that means cleaning your pads often.

While there are work-arounds for getting caked-on residue off the face of your buffing pads, nothing comes close to the cleaning ability of a quality pad washer. This is especially important if you’re doing compounding work as compounding tends to remove a lot of paint of the car as compared to light polishing and your choice of compound will always work better if your pad is clean.

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Mike Phillips
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