How many pads?

[clg82]

I recently just purchased the Porter Cable Polisher basics kit and it comes with the standard 3 pads and the polishes etc.....can I use just one pad to do a whole car?  Or will the pads become over saturated and i'll end up having to use more than one?  I am tapped out on funds right now (the finance specialist aka my wife) said that I'd have to wait to buy more pads.  So can I detail say, her grand Cherokee with just the 3 pads that it came with or will I need to purchase more before I start on her detail?

[Ricky Bobby]

You can do it with just 3 pads but I prefer to use 2 pads per step personally.

 

If you're just making one pass on the whole car you should be fine for one pad each step.

[CMDChase]

You can do it with what you have. Remember to not use a lot of product. That will gum your pads up as well as waste a lot of good product

[Chris@Adams]

You can but it nice to always have a spare of each pad.

[Kingsford]

I always like having a spare. Swapping pads left and right, you will eventually drop one and then you're SOL if you don't have a spare.

 

I keep 3 of each pad at any given time. 

[pirahnah3]

I have managed to do an F250 CC with one pad of each type, so yes it can be done. If you are just polishing your own car then owning only one pad of each isnt the end of the world but I would put a second on your wish list to have. Its nice to have in case you have a pad failure mid correction and as others have said to use two per correction. ITs always an easy filler for an order to reach free shipping on stuff down the road. 

Edited May 25, 2016 by pirahnah3

[Bill-V8V]

You'll be fine but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a sale soon