As few as TWO steps--ORANGE for buffing, BLACK for polishing--will take care of many paint correction situations. These pads will work with any of your preferred polishing machines, including rotary (high-speed), dual action (DA), random-orbit, and long-throw (high-action) polishers. Many paint correction situations can be as simple as using the orange pad with your favorite compound or heavy-cut polish, followed with the black pad and your favorite finishing polish.*
Constructed of all high-quality materials, the microfiber surface is attached to 3/4" thick foam interface material. The orange foam interface is relatively stiff while the black foam interface is quite squishy and flexible. Nonetheless, both pads have enough flexibility to allow working into contours in the surface being polished. The back of these pads have a high-quality "loop" layer that attaches securely to most "hook-and-loop" backing plates, although they are best matched with one of our high-quality backing plates.
The plush microfiber surface feels like a super-thick, super-plush microfiber towel. But don't be fooled by their soft feel--these pads work as well as your favorite foam pads, with some extra advantages. First, when using these pads, you are in essence rubbing the surface with thousands of individual microfiber hairs, thus providing thorough contact with the surface. Also, the microfiber pad can "mellow" scratches better than many foam pads because all of those fibers tend to work into the channels of scratches. Best of all, chemical "load-up" is greatly reduced because there is a barrier between the microfibers and the foam backing.
Microfiber pads can be easily cleaned by "spinning" them with a stiff-bristled brush. They can also be machine-washed for thorough cleaning.
Because of their beveled design, the working area is actually 1/2" larger in diameter than the base and thus provides a larger working area than a squared-off design. Yet the base is perfectly measured for easy centering onto the appropriate backing plate. For example, the 6.5" Microfiber pads fit perfectly onto our 6" backing plate; the 5.5" Pad fits the 5" backing plate, and the 4" diameter Microfiber Pad fits a 3.5" backing plate.
The center hole of the pads can also help with visually aligning the pad onto backing plates that have a similar center hole. But this center hole also has the very important function of providing a cooling chamber for excess heat to escape while the pad is working on the surface. The heat travels up the center hole and then dissipates into the foam interface. This heat transfer action allows longer working time.
*Some professionals who provide high-end paint perfection services prefer to have more than just two steps in the process. In this case, we recommend having two of the orange pads and two of the black pads. One of the orange pads would be used for the most aggressive compound and the other with your more aggressive polish. Then follow with one black pad and the SAME polish. Then finish with the other black pad and your finishing polish. As with ANY pad, make sure to dedicate each pad to a specific chemical--if a pad has been used with a chemical of a certain aggressiveness, it cannot be used with a less aggressive chemical (until fully washed).