How to maintain my FLEX polisher
 

A while back I bought myself a FLEX polisher for my 1969 Corvette (since has been sold). I had bought some different polishing had and compounds with some okay results (I am not a great detailer).

Last year my neighbor asked to bother the polisher / compounds. He used it for a while; when I got it back the backing pad was falling apart and very stiff. I wound up replacing the backing pad.

I haven't started using it again; I was hoping you experienced detailers could tell me if I did something wrong when using the polisher. I know when I used it before I would always remove the pads from the backing pad when I was done so I could clean the pads. When doing that I never had a problem removing the pads. My neighbor left the pads on the backing pad and when I tried to remove them from the backing pad, the pads were really stuck to the backing pad and were dried up.

In addition to your thoughts on the proper way to maintain the pads, do you have any recommendations for medium priced pads for the FLEX polisher? Recommendations for polishes? I bought polishes from Adam's and was always happy with them.

Thanks for any input.

I can’t really help you but your story reminds me of when I purchased a brand new Mikita pro grade variable speed buffer. Cost me a pretty penny and I used it once.
A buddy asked to borrow it for his large boat and a couple of months later I got it back tore up. Cord frayed, body gouged up, pads destroyed.
He casually said after he used it, he lent it to his neighbor, and then that guy lent it to his buddy.
Anyways, must be something about buffers and friends.
Sorry I don’t know the answer

You have to remove the pads every time you use it.. Try Lake county pads. The best you can buy. Get the softer ones. If you want to save a couple dollars, harbor freight sells pads made in Germany which is really good