I've been considering getting the UDM in the future.
I was wondering how everyone keeps their equipment in good condition. I imagine to make the machine last a lifetime, the pads have to kept in good condition.
What do you guys do with the pads after the detail? to keep them new and all

 

Simply wash and air dry!
I usually toss mine in the wash with my MF's except the dang Orange and white ones like to float. So I have began washing those by hand in a bucket of soapy water. Rinse & repeat......

 

I soak mine in a pail of warm water and Blue dawn then after a 1/2 hour or so I hand scrub them adding Dawn to them then squeeze in a pail of warm clear water to rinse them out.

I have an old backing plate I put on my cordless drill and I spin them semi dry then I lay them on a wire clothes rack to dry.

They are then stored in the bottom of a rolling cabinet which is sealed. The UDMs live in the top compartment.

 

I clean my pads in a bucket of soapy water.

I push them down to the bottom of the bucket... velcro side facing up.

As the pad enters the bucket, soapy water is absorbed/drawn into the pad. I then quickly squish/squeeze the pad down with my palm, thus rapidly forcing the soapy water out. I then lift my palm up a bit so that the pad can expand and absorb/draw in soapy water. Once it's back to normal size/shape, I quickly squeeze the pad down again, forcing the water out.

Rinse, repeat like 20 times or so. Dump the dirty water and refill bucket with soapy water. Rinse, repeat 20 times or so again. If the water's still dirty, rinse and repeat until the water is fairly clear.

I've found that by doing this repeatedly all the wax, polish, etc. that's built up in the pad is forced out by the water through my squeezing down of the pad. It's quick and saves me time from having to scrub the pads.

Once the pads are clean, I try to squeeze as much water out as possible by squishing it down with my palm on a dry towel. Then I attach it to my PC, give it a quick spin to get more water out, then air dry.

 

I've had better luck machine washing my pads. I do not recommend machine drying them as the velcro backing has a tendency to separate from the foam. Air dry is better.

 

I keep a small bucket of Snappy Clean and water for about six weeks before I throw it out. I drop my pads in the snappy clean and let them soak for about 15 minutes then I clean and rinse the pads then let them air dry.

 

"snappy clean"??? where do you buy that at??

 

autogeek

 

http://autogeek.net/snappytool.html