(upbeat music)
- Hi, I'm Todd Helme with RUPES
and on this chapter of BigFoot 101
we're gonna talk about pad priming.
Now pad priming is a procedure you do
when you're putting on a fresh or clean pad
on your BigFoot random orbital polisher
and there's a few reasons why we prime the pad.
Primarily it spreads the compound over the face of the pad
so you get great results right away.
A secondary benefit is that it prevents
the compounded polish from spraying all over the panel
or slinging and making a mess,
so it keeps your work area clean.
It also brings the foam or the wool
up to operating temperature.
So the goal of pad priming is to get the best results
as soon as you can right away.
Now the procedure for all RUPES BigFoot tools
is to set your speed dial to number two.
Place the pad, place the compound on the surface
of the pad by drawing an x across the face
but don't go out all the way to the edge
because if you go too far you might get
a little bit of a splatter when you first start,
place that polisher on the surface
and run the tool stationary for 15 to 30 seconds
depending on the material of the pad.
So now that I've explained the concept
lets have Jason out in the academy show you how its done.
- So welcome to the BigFoot academy garage.
I'm gonna show you what Todd described in the classroom.
So we're going to use this particular combo
to demonstrate our priming
where our DA Fine polish
and our yellow fine foam polishing pad
and our yellow colored wool polishing pad.
Now we're picking this particular combo
because it's in the middle of the range
of all of our products.
We have a wide variety of compounds and pads.
This one's right in the middle
and as you'll see in another chapter of this series
where we talk about test spot,
this is where we're going to start with the test spot.
And just to reiterate what Todd said,
the purpose and the function of priming
is really to prepare this pad
to get peak performance immediately
when you start working on your car.
So although we're demonstrating
with this particular combo
the process I'm about to show you
is the process you will use to prime any of the pads
in our entire product range.
So first thing we want to do is place the pad onto the tool
and it can be centered by way of the center hole
or the outside diameter of the pad.
So we're going to center the pad.
Then we're going to select speed 2
on the polisher as our priming speed.
This speed is the speed you'll select
for any of our polishers in our entire family of tools.
But speed 2 is our priming speed.
Then we're going to take our liquid
and we are going to do,
apply an x pattern onto the surface.
We're going to be careful not to take the product
all the way out to the outside diameter of the pad
because this will sling product,
so we want to keep the product focused down
in the center of the pad,
put that x right there
and then the next step we will do is
find a flat spot on the car.
We're going to put that pad to paint.
We are going to run this polisher
for about 20 to 30 seconds
with some light to moderate pressure
on the head of the tool.
(buzzing)
So what this priming process will do for you
is the x pattern of liquid that we applied to the pad
should now begin to be thin
and even coat over the surface of the pad.
This is important because this is preparing this pad
to do the work of defect removal
and it builds up the temperature,
it builds us up to operating temperature of the pad
and the liquid, so then you get this peak performance
on what this combo can do
immediately as you start working on the paint.
So that is foam pad priming.
Now we're going to talk you through a fiber pad priming
and this could be the RUPES wool pad
or the RUPES microfiber. Same process.
So in this case we'll use our RUPES yellow wool pad,
very popular pad
and we'll show you just one additional minor step
for priming the fiber pads in our product line.
So again we will place this pad
onto the tool by centering either using the outer diameter
or the center hole.
Again it's speed two
and we will take our liquid product
and apply the x just as we did before.
Now here's where the additional step comes in.
We are going to take a spreader of some kind,
in this case the RUPES claw pad tool
and we will spread this product thinly
and evenly across the fibers
and that is to really get the product coated
on all the fibers because the only fibers
that are going to be working for you
are the ones that have this compound
or polish actually coated on both sides of the fibers.
So we're kind of force priming this pad.
Now you can also run this for 10, 15, 20 seconds
and that again will get the liquid
and the fibers up to the operating temperature.
(buzzing)
So once you complete that little bit of run time
you can see that the liquid product is thin and even,
the fibers have now laid themselves down into the pattern
that the tool makes.
You are primed and ready to go.
So another reason for the additional run time there
to prepare the fibers
is the brand new wool
or microfiber pad on its first use,
even after doing this priming step
it might feel a little bit of wobble
in the first few seconds in the first minute of run time
and this priming step can actually help these fibers
to orient themselves to the movement of the tool
which will help smooth it out.
So you might experience a little bit of vibration
or wobble in the beginning
but then it will smooth itself out
as soon as those fibers get oriented to the tool
and then you are good to go.
So there you have it, we've walked you
through the priming process
for foam materials
and for fiber pads both wool
and microfiber.
Hope you're enjoying the series
and we'll give you lots of good information
in the next few chapters.
(upbeat music)