# Coolfoam Polishing Pads - Mini Review



## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

One of the issues with using a rotary polisher with foam pads is the heat that can be generated, especially at higher speeds and with more aggressive polishes and compounds. High heat can quickly lead to paint damage, especially on plastic panels such as bumpers where the material used cannot dissipate the hear produced effectively.

The design of the foam pads on test here are such that they help to ensure lower polishing temperatures and reduce the risk of paint burns when using a rotary polisher. They have been tested here in 6" size using a Makita 9227CB rotary polisher with a Meguiars backing plate.

As is traditional in one of my tests, we start off with a swirled test panel - light to medium swirls here like you would see on a typical car:










The choice of polish and pad to remove these marks was Menzerna PO85RD3.02 Intensive Polish applied using a 6" Coolfoam Orange Light Cut pad, shown primed with polish below:










My traditional technique of slow>faster>fast>slower was used to work the polish. The polish was spread at 600rpm, worked for two or three passes at 1200rpm before turning up the wick to 1800rpm to work the polish in until the residue went clear, and then back off to 1200rpm for a couple of passes to refine.

First impressions of the pad were that, straight out of the box, it was rather hard. I'm not a fan of hard polishing pads personally, and the LakeCountry Orange Light Cutting is the world's worst offending for me. This pad however softened up after just a couple of passes and remained soft for the rest of the session which was good.

Pad was easy to control, spread the polish and worked the polish effectively. I sometimes worry about "shaped" pad surfaces over flat ones, as they can trap polish and then chuck it out later in your polishing set - LakeCountry CCS pads I find can do this on occasions. These pads did not give this problem though, they spread the polish evenly and worked it thoroughly and evenly.

The end results with the light cut pad and Intensive Polish:










Finish was good - good clarity, no holograms and full correction achieved showing the pads working the cut of the polish well without inducing scouring of their own.

The acid test however - winding the speed up to 2000rpm and comparing with the flat faced Meguiars polishing pad. Making several slow passes revealed that to the touch, the panel with the Meguiars pad seemed noticeably hotter so the design of the Coolfoam pads were doing their job. Dont expect them to give cold panels, but they run that little bit cooler than flat pads which is an advantage.

Next out of the box was the Coolfoam Red Finishing pad:










Applied Menzerna PO106FF Final Finish using this pad to go for an enhancement to the gloss of the above finish, again using my traditional finishing technique: spread at 600rpm, work for a couple of passes at 1200rpm, then work until the residue goes clear at 1500rpm before refining for a couple of passes at 1200rpm.

First impressions of this pad were that it was very soft - much like the Meguiars W9006 Tan finishing pad. Lovely feeling foam that was lovely in use and very easy to control, with no evidence of the foam becoming bogged down with the polish.

The end results:










A lovely high gloss finish, as you would expect from one of the best finishing polishes on the market used on a high quality finishing foam.

Discussion:

The Coolfoam pads have been designed to help reduce heat build up during the polishing process and this is something which they do effectively do versus equivalent (and lower) cutting flat foam pads. This does bring an additional safety element to rotary machine polishing that proves very well the worth of these pads.

As well as serving the purpose they were designed for, the are also effective at spreading and working polishes trialled on them - the design doesn't cause hording of the polish but rather keeps a nice even spread of the product being worked which makes for easier and more effective breaking down of the abrasives.

Jury is out for me on longevity of the pads as I have yet to put this to full use, but will report back as the pads are used through my detailing in the coming weeks and months.

One final point of note is the price: These pads are very competitively priced, cheaper than the slightly larger Meguiars polishing pads which makes them very strong contenders in the rotary polishing market.

All in all, a big :thumb: from me on these pads for rotary polishing.

Many thanks to Alex at Elite Car Care for sending me the pads to try out.


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## Silva1 (Sep 16, 2007)

another great review Dave :thumb:

how do you compare these to the likes of sonus,megs,menz,3m pads ??


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## stewie (Dec 20, 2005)

Yet another great review dave. I'll be interested to see how the perform during a full paint renovation and also to see how they stand the test of time compared to say the Megs. Good idea though and could prove very useful.


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## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

Silva1 said:


> another great review Dave :thumb:
> 
> how do you compare these to the likes of sonus,megs,menz,3m pads ??


Value for money, they come out on top of these.

Performance wise, they are up there with the Meguiars which are my favourite pads... They dont have the cut of the Menzerna pads, but are easier to control due to being softer in use.

Durability wise, cannot yet comment but will get a better idea of this as time with the pads goes on.


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## Silva1 (Sep 16, 2007)

thanks :thumb:


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## Jakedoodles (Jan 16, 2006)

I think I'll grab myself a couple of them. I've got three boxes of 12 of the Megs pads upstairs, so it'll add to the collection!


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

Dave - great timing on publishing this test, so thanks.

We've discussed last couple of days some cut/light cut pads for use with Mystique, to be a step up from the 3M black pad. Would the Orange Light Cut pad fit into that category? They look excellent value and if they are a tad safer for us newbies then it always helps 

I am always confused by the various descriptions used for pads, and see that Autoperfection have very similar looking 'cut' pads which the description says are designed to keep heat down as well. They look identical but the orange one is described as a 'compounding' pad?


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## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

Indeed, this looks like the same pad... Described as compounding and could happily be used with compounds, but as a foam it lines up alongside the light cutting foam of LakeCountry orange just without being annoyingly hard (IMHO).

The Orange pad here would be a great one to use with the Mystique to generate some good cut from the Mystique but should still be able to finish it down pretty well too (as opposed to more aggressive cutting pads like menzerna white, or wool pads). Haven't tried Mystique on the red pad yet, but could vision it being used with Mystique to get a finish of LSP ready quality.


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

cheers dave - Ben stocks these pads as well as the MarkV so will grab a couple of extra bits


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## 1999grad (Oct 10, 2008)

I just saw this very informative thread as I'm considering buying a few Coolfoam pads from Elite. Are they appropriate for D.A. polishers? I have a Bosch PEX 400 and I'm not planning to buy a rotary any time soon. Thanks in advance.


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## EliteCarCare (Aug 25, 2006)

Yes, they are suitable for DA polishers, the orange pad works especially well with Menzerna Intensive Polish. :thumb:

Alex


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## Perfection Detailing (Nov 3, 2007)

Great review Dave I have been using those pads for quite a while now:thumb:


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## Guest (Jan 29, 2009)

Nice review as usual there Dave, just about to order some from Alex.

Been using the 3m pads lately but they don't clean up very well.

Leaving all bits of dried polish around the edges of the pad, and their too soft a foam to tackle really hard with a brush.

Paul


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## 1999grad (Oct 10, 2008)

Just wanted to say that I've been using the orange and red pads these past days and I'm very pleased with them. Excellent performers all around, and a big improvement over the Lake CCS pads that I've used before.

Alex, are you planning to offer polishing-grade pads? I missed that step between the light cutting (orange) and finishing (red) ones.


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## Dream Machines (Mar 13, 2006)

I have these pads and some others from FLEXIPADS
that's the manufacturer of that pad you reviewd Dave

No such problems for me with any of the lake country CCS or eurotech orange pads
The new kompressor pads will be arriving from sydney tomorrow as I am no longer going to be using some of the CCS range. the white creates way too much heat, it's very latex like and grabs

the pads I have from flexipads are

White 6 inch heavy compounding with the backing plate attached
Orange 6 inch compound/polish with both backing plate and velcro
Black - ultra soft very thick polish/finish pad of both plate and velcro
Red coolshine

Dont forget. use lake country pads totally dry with non water soluble products like glare, toughseal, driven, prima epic/amigo as the foam will collapse otherwise


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## Gandi (Dec 18, 2007)

I was going to get a Megs 2.0 yellow to replace my ageing 1.0 but i think ill go for an orange coolfoam instead and see how it goes


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## Jochen (May 21, 2007)

Gandi said:


> I was going to get a Megs 2.0 yellow to replace my ageing 1.0 but i think ill go for an orange coolfoam instead and see how it goes


Any news on this yet?


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