Jump to content
Customer Service 866.965.0400
  • 0

Adam's pads failing after 2 uses? Is that normal?


haugy

Question

I've finally become a big time fan of Adam's. I've done two vehicles and they are amazingly fantastic. I'm thrilled with all my new products.

 

But I've got two pads already falling apart after two vehicles. I'm experience with a power buffer. I don't ride the edges of the pad, or lift it off the vehicle allowing it to get up to full speed. I wash them immediately after using them with the APC.

 

But my orange pad and white pad are coming apart around the edges. They are opening up, and the orange one actually has a hole all the way through.

 

Are you guys experiencing this? I'm not sure what could cause this as I'm not having to really work the polisher. The vehicles I've done were in pretty good shape to start with.

 

I'd prefer to stay with the Adam's pads, but after only two uses, I can't afford to do that on a consistent basis.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Recommended Posts

No, it's not the polish because when I was using the orange pad, it was little tiny orange specks. Although now that I think about it, it could be the polish because I just realized that's orange, too! Durh! Ok, so I'm getting the car polished and I will get pics today. Sunshine and 45 degrees! FINALLY! :glasses:

 

When I started with the PC I thought the same thing but then realized it was the polish. Had to learn to use a little less polish and to mist with detail spray when needed to rejuvenate the polish already in the pad. Being in Florida heat and sun the proper use of the detail spray was a key part of successfully doing a correction without excessive polish dust going everywhere! :thumbsup:

 

It is part science and part art form. Keep at it, it will get better! :2thumbs:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

that makes sense to me. These 2 pads were pretty new(did one vehicle) until this vehicle that I used speed 6 quite a bit. It blew em to pieces in no time. I typically never went above speed 5 for the previous vehicle. The pad set before that I used speed 6 a decent amount as well. Same results destroyed pads. I have 2 details that I need to get done over Christmas so I need to order some new pads today.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just ordered a new set of green, orange, and white. Think I may have figured it out....let's hope. It get's quite expensive having to order $36 in pads every other car.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Because these types of threads always include the ending "is this normal?" I started this thread to show that no, it is indeed NOT normal for pads to fall apart after 1 or 2 uses.

 

http://www.adamsforums.com/forums/product-polls-product-user-input/15083.htm

 

Product Polls and Product User Input Chime in here and help steer the future of Adam's!

 

Edit Poll View Poll Results: How many uses ON AVERAGE do you get out of your PC pads?

  • 1-3 uses (1) -- 2.86%
  • 3-6 uses (10) -- 28.57%
  • 6-9 uses (10) -- 28.57%
  • 9-12 uses (8) -- 22.86%
  • more than 12 (6) -- 17.14%

 

Only a few things will cause pads to just completely fail after 1 use, and all of them are in the family of improper use or abuse. Hitting badges, edges, or sharp corners, allowing the pad to freespin excessively, putting excessive pressure or uneven pressure down on the pad, removing the pads by pulling from the edge without griping the backing at all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yup I think I was putting too much pressure on the pads. I'll see how I do this next round of pads. I avoid badges and cracks( in between doors, etc), so that definitely wasn't it. This round will be the control in the experiment, since I used some of my damaged ones yesterday correcting a scratch in a buddies paint just to correct some of my old/bad habits.

 

Because these types of threads always include the ending "is this normal?" I started this thread to show that no, it is indeed NOT normal for pads to fall apart after 1 or 2 uses.

 

http://www.adamsforums.com/forums/product-polls-product-user-input/15083.htm

 

Product Polls and Product User Input Chime in here and help steer the future of Adam's!

 

Edit Poll View Poll Results: How many uses ON AVERAGE do you get out of your PC pads?

  • 1-3 uses (1) -- 2.86%
  • 3-6 uses (10) -- 28.57%
  • 6-9 uses (10) -- 28.57%
  • 9-12 uses (8) -- 22.86%
  • more than 12 (6) -- 17.14%

 

Only a few things will cause pads to just completely fail after 1 use, and all of them are in the family of improper use or abuse. Hitting badges, edges, or sharp corners, allowing the pad to freespin excessively, putting excessive pressure or uneven pressure down on the pad, removing the pads by pulling from the edge without griping the backing at all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm still a polishing noob, but have about 20 hours of polishing in so far in the correction of my A8 with the Adam's pads (I have another ~4 hrs using some non-Adams pads). I estimate about 4 hours with the green and 8 each with the orange and white. All my time is using a Flex 3401VRG.

 

-I clean them thoroughly the same night using APC, my fingers for agitation, and warm tap water.

-I work hard to avoid trim edges and such, masking them off when possible.

-I work hard to keep the pad flat on the surface (or the rotating axis normal to the surface), but will often use just the outer 1-2" of the radius on a small feature only because the surface is very convex and narrow.

 

With this technique, the pad integrity of all colors seems brand new. The white pad has some darkening/staining, but the other two polishing surfaces look brand new. The Adam's logo on all three is slightly fading.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've got a question and it's probably not worthy of an entire thread. Today I used my PC and Flex for the first time. I didn't get to finish my car because of rain, but I noticed with my orange and white pads (both PC and Flex) that I'd get little tiny bits of the pad on the car. It was like little pieces of it would come flying off. Any ideas what's up? I'm sure it's probably my technique, but I'd like to know what I might be doing. I try to stay away from edges and do only large panels with the machines. Am I maybe trying to do to large an area with not enough product? I was trying to keep it at a 2' square area. I covered over badges with 3M automotive tape. However there would be narrow sections where maybe all the pad wasn't touching the car. I'm not sure. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and I'm going to try to finish the job out and I'll keep an eye on my technique, but I'd appreciate any pointers or ideas about what might be causing this. I'd hate to disintegrate these pads before their prime. Perhaps this is part of the learning curve.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are you sure it isn't polish and not the pad flaking. If its the pad you'll see it wearing. Its possible that it just maybe polish as sometimes polish will get clogged in the pad and will start to dust. Usually happens when you use to much polish and don't work all the polish out the pad. I had to learn that the hard way myself.

 

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are you sure it isn't polish and not the pad flaking. If its the pad you'll see it wearing. Its possible that it just maybe polish as sometimes polish will get clogged in the pad and will start to dust. Usually happens when you use to much polish and don't work all the polish out the pad. I had to learn that the hard way myself.

 

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

 

No, it's not the polish because when I was using the orange pad, it was little tiny orange specks. Although now that I think about it, it could be the polish because I just realized that's orange, too! Durh! Ok, so I'm getting the car polished and I will get pics today. Sunshine and 45 degrees! FINALLY! :glasses:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

sukemecuke

 

Something I learned from Ashley about the pads is the speed. In the instructional video it showed Adam running the PC at speed 5, and then he says put it at speed 6 to finish it out.

 

Two things caused me to do it wrong.

 

1) It never said how long to run it at 6. I was doing the whole section at 5, and then about the same amount of time at speed 6. Apparently way too long on speed 6.

2) According to Ashley, you shouldn't need to go above speed 5.

 

I tried out some new pads and instead of running at speed 5, then 6, I went from 4 to 5. Never went above 5. The pads held up fine, and I got the shine I wanted. This was on a white vehicle, so I'll do my dark vehicle to see if it still gives you that desired result of no swirl marks and high shine.

 

But that seems to have worked. I didn't change anything else up. Might want to try that first. I'll keep this section posted on usage over time with the new lower speed settings. On pad life, and the performance of the polishes at a slightly lower speed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I started with the PC I thought the same thing but then realized it was the polish. Had to learn to use a little less polish and to mist with detail spray when needed to rejuvenate the polish already in the pad. Being in Florida heat and sun the proper use of the detail spray was a key part of successfully doing a correction without excessive polish dust going everywhere! :thumbsup:

 

It is part science and part art form. Keep at it, it will get better! :2thumbs:

 

+1

 

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I started with the PC I thought the same thing but then realized it was the polish. Had to learn to use a little less polish and to mist with detail spray when needed to rejuvenate the polish already in the pad. Being in Florida heat and sun the proper use of the detail spray was a key part of successfully doing a correction without excessive polish dust going everywhere! :thumbsup:

 

It is part science and part art form. Keep at it, it will get better! :2thumbs:

 

Ok, after doing some hand polishing yesterday while waiting for my pads to dry, I've come to the conclusion that what I saw was indeed polish. Now I was making an X the same size as in Adam's video and I was giving the pad a shot of detail spray with every new application of polish to the pad. Was I using too much detail spray? Do I need the detail spray every time I apply an X of polish to the pad? Is there a negative to using too much detail spray? Do you apply the same size X/amount of polish each time? Thanks, guys!

 

Tomorrow I'm hopefully going to finally be finished with the machine correction so I'm looking forward to using either the PC or Flex again. All my pads are dry now and ready to go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do you apply the same size X/amount of polish each time?

 

After the first few panels you can reduce the amount of polish to a thinner or shorter X. The pad is now 'primed' and does not need so much polish.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a somewhat similar problem... When I recently went to gather all my detailing stuff I noticed my SHR Orange pad was crumbling at an edge. There was also a big crease due to something that had been laying on it for some time. After a wash the crease came out and I noticed a tiny bit of debris coming off the pad when washing it but not a lot. Is it still safe to use the pad or do i need to get a new one?

 

Please see pics.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks like a rodent had been chewing on it. It's a very distinct point of damage. If you look at your pad, the areas above and below the spot where the pad is damaged look fine. Also, the center of the spot of damage is deeper and more pronounced than the rest. I said it looked like rodent damage to me because we had a mouse set up residence in our house and, for some reason, it got into our drawer and chewed our silicone spatula and spoon up. The damage looked very similar to this. Another puzzling thing is that the damage is very localized for it to have occurred while the random orbital polisher was moving. Of course, I could be wrong, but that's my best guess.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks like a rodent had been chewing on it. It's a very distinct point of damage. If you look at your pad, the areas above and below the spot where the pad is damaged look fine. Also, the center of the spot of damage is deeper and more pronounced than the rest. I said it looked like rodent damage to me because we had a mouse set up residence in our house and, for some reason, it got into our drawer and chewed our silicone spatula and spoon up. The damage looked very similar to this. Another puzzling thing is that the damage is very localized for it to have occurred while the random orbital polisher was moving. Of course, I could be wrong, but that's my best guess.

 

I agree... if its not rodents its mildew failure.

 

You're not storing the pads in air tight bags or containers are you?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:snap: No they were in a bag for power tools (clean). Each pad was in the sleeve it came in from adams to help keep the dust off. Im pretty positive they were dry when I put them away.

 

My best guess is whatever fell on the pad caused the crease in the pad probable made a section of the plastic bag air tight. It may have been sitting like this since the last time i used the pads which was about 3 -4 months ago. Is the pad still usable?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:snap: No they were in a bag for power tools (clean). Each pad was in the sleeve it came in from adams to help keep the dust off. Im pretty positive they were dry when I put them away.

 

My best guess is whatever fell on the pad caused the crease in the pad probable made a section of the plastic bag air tight. It may have been sitting like this since the last time i used the pads which was about 3 -4 months ago. Is the pad still usable?

 

Yes, it's still usable. If you start getting a vibration or find it hard to control, you'll know. But the damage in the pick will not affect your pad's effectiveness.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Honestly, I've never had a single pad fail for this issue under normal conditions so I can't say with any certainty how long it would take.

 

All my personal use and demo pads have the velcro start to loose its stick or the foam to lose its structure long before anything like this happens.

 

If you're confident your technique isn't the cause give us a call in the AM (866.965.0400) and we'll get you taken care of with new pads.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, I keep it flat and level, and I'm not putting a ton of pressure on them. Just enough to keep them well planted on the paint.

 

Thanks guys, I'll call Ashley tomorrow. I know Adam's has great customer service. I had a question once that I asked on a Friday night, and figured I'd hear from them on Monday. Saturday morning when I got up, I had an email with a personal answer to my question from Adams. I was very impressed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...