Best Pad Cleaner for Hyper Spray Polish and Compound

[Kurt_s]

I had a hard time cleaning my pads today. I started with XMI pad cleaner, then went to APC+ 1:10 and finally to 3:1 OPC. The pads still are not completely clean.

 

What is the best pad cleaner to remove the Hyper Spray polish and compounds?

 

Thanks again!

[Perfections Detail]

I've found anything with sealant in it can be a bear to get out of pads, but not usually compounds and polishes. What I do to clean my pads is pressure washer after I hit them with any kind of cleaner.

[Kurt_s]

The best thing to do is allow them to soak I warm water for a bit then use dish detergent from my experience. The hyper system is very easy to clean off paint and pads usually but sometimes when I use poliseal they are tough to clean. I'm not sure if it's from the cleaner or all the contamination and clearcoat I remove.

 

It was the weird. My pad was already lightly pink from using the Hyper Spray Polish on another car a couple months ago. I can normally spray the pad with XMI pad cleaner, massage the cleaner into the pad and rinse with warm water. A white, creamy ouze came out of the pad that didn't rinse off. I don't remember using Poliseal on that pad, but maybe I did.

 

The orange pad with the compound dried hard with obvious compound in the foam. I have some snappy coming tomorrow and can try Dawn or another dish soap too.

 

Thanks!

[Kurt_s]

Kurt,

 

Just as a habit you should never let your pads dry with product on them. Keep a bucket of plain ole water in the shop any time you buff to toss them into as you finish with each. Then within 1-2 days, take them out and hand wash them with dish soap or even toss them into the washing machine on the delicate cycle with LOW aggitation. You mentioned above that the "...compound dried hard..." you should NEVER let that happen unless you see pads as disposable. I was never impressed with snappy clean, but you could probably use it in the bucket you toss them into to wait to be cleaned. Another note, if you do decide not to clean them right away only use water to soak them in because prolonged exposure to detergent will destroy the glue holding the velcro on.

 

I get pads into a detergent soak when I'm not going to use them. I "cleaned" the pad with XMI pad cleaner and rinsed with fresh clean water, then set the pad to dry. While not quite dry after about 2 hours, the pad was hard.

 

I ordered the Snappy to try as the XMI pad cleaner normally works ok. I use APC+ and a few other cleaners to get the really tough pads clean.

 

I've used Opt Finish, Poli-Seal and Compound II so I am familiar with Opt polishes. This was something that I didn't expect. I can blame myself and the garage was about 60F but I was still surprised.