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2nd stage buff - buffing with the green pad.

Because the wool pad cuts the paintwork it will leave swirl marks. It is abrasive and anything that cuts will not leave the surface smooth, it will leave its own fine scratches which can be seen in harsh light.

So the process of removing swirl marks (buffer marks) begins by using a polishing pad.

The red foam pad has larger air bubbles meaning that the plastic spurs are coarse and far appart meaning that there is les surface contact. This causes them to be more abrasive and thus the red pad has more cut.
The diagrams above and below show the difference between the foam cell structure of a cutting pad (red) and a polishing pad (green).

The grean foam pad has smaller air bubbles making the spurs finer, softer and far closer together. This means more surface area in contact with the paintwork. So there is less downward pressure per square inch which reduces 'cut' while at the same time increasing friction, thus heat.

As with any brand of buffing pads, Allpad's have a range of sponge pads with differing grades of foam, with differing density and cell structure. The larger the cell structure the more a pad will cut, the smaller the cell structure, the less cut and the more friction and heat is generated.

I used the blue and green pads with 1020 Polish at speeds up to 2000rpm. 1020 is a chemical polish with no abrasives and no silicones. It uses only complex natural oils which help increase the heat generated by friction and hold it on the surface of the paint work. This heat softens the very upper surface of the paint.

As the fibres from the wool pad or foam pad cut the surface of the clear coat they will also score their own marks that are like grooves on a record. These are often called holograms and require fine polishing to remove them.
The diagram above shows how coarse cutting pads leave their own scratches, it is normal with physical buffing to just use finer and finer abrasives until these score marks are difficult to see because they are so fine... however they are still there. But chemical buffing generates heat which softens the paintwork and allows the peaks of these scratches to be smoothed over thus changing the shape of the paints surface.

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This page was last updated on Wed, 23 November, 2005
 
 

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