Buff and Shine Manufacturing is pleased to unveil its first wool member of the “Uro” pad line. The Uro-Wool™ Cutting pad is the most aggressive of the Uro-Wool™ pad line with another on the way. It is specifically designed for those jobs that require heavier cutting.
These new wool pads allow for even more cutting capability than Buff and Shine’s most aggressive foam pads from the Uro-Tec™ and Uro-Cell™ lines. But don’t be confused by the term “wool”, as these are not your traditional twisted pads that old-school technicians used for decades on simple rotary machines. In fact, the Uro-Wool™ pad uses 100% processed wool that is “knitted” onto the pad, not twisted. The biggest advantage of knitted wool is the lack of lint—no more wool fibers floating around the shop!
The face of the knitted wool pad is soft to the touch and made up of hundreds of individual wool fibers per square inch. The appearance of knitted wool is often compared to that of lambs-wool, although the two are quite different, as lambs-wool tends to have an inconsistent surface. And the knitted wool has a more precision construction, yielding durability and consistency in use.
You will notice that the Uro-Wool™ pad has virtually no interface between the wool fiber pad face and the hook-and-loop backing material. This allows the power of the polisher and the movement of the technician to transfer more directly and actively to the paint surface, resulting in faster cutting and correction cycles. The knitted wool face takes a stronger “bite” or cut, with superior leveling capability.
Yet the Uro-Wool™ pads won’t leave pigtails associated with using twisted wool pads on dual-action machines. Nor will leave heavy swirls associated with using twisted wool pads with rotary machines. In fact, the Uro-Wool™ pads have a great capability of “finishing down” the paint so that less follow-up polishing is needed. The practiced technician will find that some heavy-cut situations that might have previously taken several steps can now be accomplished in just two steps—starting with Uro-Wool™ pad and finishing up with one of Buff and Shine’s Uro foam pads.
Uro-Wool™ can be used with all polishing machines—simple rotary, dual-action, random-orbit, long-throw, high-action, gear-driven. The pads are available in 6”, 5”, and 3” widths.
To clean Uro-Wool™ pads, use compressed air or an appropriate pad brush. You can also use a mechanical pad washer or wash them by hand.
The bottom line on Uro-Wool™: more cutting, less work, great results.
Buffing and polishing your car with foam pads has been around for many years. Foam pads work allot differently than wool pads as far as cut, feel and performance. There are many new technological advances in the foam pad industry and I am writing this to help give you more information so you are able to choose the correct foam for your next job.
There are many ways to identify foam pads in the industry. PPI is a generic way of distinguishing foam, but not the 100% correct way. Since there are so many ways to measure foam, we are going to start here with the basic.
The first and basic thing to understand about foam is whether it is open or closed cell. Many open cell foams start out as closed cell and are “reticulated” to produce open cell. “Reticulation” is a process used in processing foam where they take the bun of foam, put in in a concrete and controlled room, fill the room with hydrogen so the foam can absorb it, and then they ignite the foam. This process causes the membrane or window of the foam to wrap around the branches. The window/membrane on foam is the transparent thin layer in between the branches. The branch is what you feel by hand in the foam when you touch it. If you look at foam under a microscope, you will see the branches and windows. Foam that has been reticulated is open cell and foam no reticulated is closed cell.
Once you reticulate a foam it may become stronger in its tearing characteristics. Reticulated or “open cell” foam run much cooler on the surface as compared to closed cell foams. The reason for this is that with the cells being open, they are allowed to let air pass thru them to dissipate heat. With this happening, there may be a chance the chemical you are working with may dry faster and possibly dust since the lubricant in it is getting dried with the air passing thru the foam.
There are Pros and Cons to each of the foams, and each type works differently with all chemicals:
Keep in mind that not all foams work the same way with all chemicals. In many instances, it can be trial and error.
There are many other ways foams are measured, this is just a starting point so you are able to pick the best foam for your project.
APPLICATION CHARTS ARE COARSES TO FINE
US FOAMS | ||
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WHITE 45 PPI | HEAVY CUT |
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YELLOW 50 PPI | MEDIUM CUT |
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GREEN 60 PPI | POLISHING |
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BLUE 70 PPI | SOFT POLISHING |
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BLACK 80 PPI | FINISHING |
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SOFT WHITE 90 PPI | ULTRA FINISHING |
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BABY BLUE 100 PPI | FINAL FINISHING |
EURO FOAMS | ||
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YELLOW | HEAVY CUT |
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ORANGE | MEDIUM CUT |
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WHITE | POLISHING |
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BABY BLUE | SOFT POLISHING |
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RED | ULTIMATE FINISHING |
EXTREME RETICULATED FOAMS | ||
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COARSE GREEN | EXTREME CUT |
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COARSE ORANGE | MEDIUM CUT |
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MAROON | POLISHING |
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RED | FINISHING |
URO-TEC “OPEN CELL” | ||
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COARSE BLUE | HEAVY CUT |
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MAROON | MEDIUM CUT |
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YELLOW | POLISHING |
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WHITE | FINISHING |
URO-CELL “CLOSED CELL” | ||
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LIGHT BLUE | CUTTING |
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ORANGE | POLISHING |
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RED | FINISHING |
STANDARD WOOL PADS | ||
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100% WOOL 4 PLY NATURAL | CUTTING |
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WOOL BLEND SINGLE PLY NATURAL | MEDIUM CUT |
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WOOL BLEND 4 PLY TWIST YELLOW | MEDIUM CUT/POLISHING |
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WOOL BLEND SINGE PLY WHITE | POLISHING |
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WOOL BLEND SINGLE PLY YELLOW | POLISHING/FINISHING |
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KNITTED WOOL BLEND | LIGTH POLISH/FINISHING |
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KNITTED 100% WOOL NATURAL | FINAL FINISHING |
INDUSTRIAL WOOL PADS | |||
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ALTERNATE STITCH DUAL STRAND WOOL BLEND | ![]() |
AGGRESSIVE CUTTING & LONG LASTING |