4" pads on the PC for whole car use

[wifehatescar]

I do most of my heavy cutting with the rotary, but I use the PC for light polishing and applying wax.

I had a "ah-ha" moment over the weekend :idea: and lightly polished and waxed my entire car with 4" pads. It did not seem to take any longer than with a 6" pad, the 4" pad seems to do the same work as a bigger pad i.e. you can move the 4" pad faster than a 6" pad and get the same work done on the paint. To test this I kept the 4" in one spot at speed 5 for about 10 seconds, it actually made the paint warm. With a 6" pad, my experience is this does not happen.

The other pro is you can get into all the tight spaces a bigger pad cannot so it seems like the quality of the detail goes up as well. And all this with almost no vibration, and the PC does not sound like death at speed 5 or 6.

I will be testing out the 4" pads to use exclusively on the PC this Spring. If you do not think I'm crazy for this, you may want to give them a try. Like I said, it may seem like it would take forever to do an entire car this way but it doesn't IMO.

[Bob]

Thanks for that write up Steve!

[Dan]

Thanks for the writeup. I know a lot of people on Autopia really like to do their polishing with 4" pads...like you they say it's more effective and just as quick.

[wifehatescar]

And here I was waiting to get flamed for doing something different.

Lots of people use the 4" pads for a small area, but I have not heard of someone using one for entire vehicles.

[Lone_Star]

I think its a great idea steve. Much props for doing something outside of the norm.

[wifehatescar]

I ordered more 4" "cyclo" pads from Bob that I will use more over the next couple weeks.

[Nimble]

I'm planning on doing the same thing too. Just using 4" cyclo edge 2K pads on my pc 7424. I find that on 6" pads, the outside never end gets "wet" with product, and therefore shouldn't be doing much work right? I could be wrong here. I agree with being able to produce more heat with the 4"'ers and thus, being able to work faster. I hope it works out well for me. How's it coming along for you?

[wifehatescar]

Good. I did 3 cars this weekend (I'm sore :lol: ) with with 4" pads on the PC, no slower than with a 6" and I could get into tighter spots.

[zoomzoom mazda5]

Looks like i might have to get a set of 4" pads, always thought about getting a set! Thanks :D

[Bob]

They are great for motorcycle work too! :)

[bunky]

Any plans to carry 4-in CCS pads?

[Bob]

Any plans to carry 4-in CCS pads?

Sorry, I don't have any plans to offer any of the smaller CCS pads. :(

[Jose]

I think the 5" are awesome size, because they're not too small, neither too big. I yet need to find a trouble spot with the 5" CCS...

[grease]

I'm probably in a very small minority who don't use a rotary. The only way I can get decent cut on Corvette hard clear, is to use the 4" pads. In fact, I never use 6.5", unless I'm doing a work truck with large panels.