The verdict
Foam first, microfiber when foam runs out of cut, wool almost never. If you own a dual-action polisher and you are buying pads for the first time, buy foam that covers a grade range and stop reading. This page is for the next purchase, not the first one.
The one line worth carrying away comes from 3M rather than from us. Its own Perfect-It wool compounding pad listing ends with “For industrial/occupational use only. Not for consumer sale or use”. When a manufacturer sells foam and microfiber to everybody and restricts its wool pad to occupational users, that is the clearest statement available about who wool is for — and it is not a hobbyist correcting their own car in a garage.
What the material actually changes
A correction removes clear coat. How much comes off per pass is set by four things: the abrasive in your liquid, the machine’s throw and speed, your pressure, and how hard the pad holds the abrasive against the paint. The pad material is that last variable, and it is the cheapest one to change.
Foam works through its cell structure. The walls flex, which spreads load and forgives an imperfect angle, and a foam pad finishes down more cleanly than anything else here. It is what a dual-action machine was designed around, and it is why every pad on our foam pad roundup is the right first purchase.
Microfiberreplaces the cell walls with thousands of stiff fibers. More abrasive is held against the paint, held more rigidly, and worked harder per rotation — so the same compound at the same speed removes more. The Lake Country HDO listing describes the result as “smoother cutting action and superior contact”, and attributes a lower operating temperature to fibers with “minimal overhang” that “mat down less quickly”. That last point is the real engineering problem with fiber: matted fibers stop cutting.
Woolis the aggressive end. Long fibers, a lot of them, and historically a rotary tool’s material. The jobs its listings name are different in kind rather than degree — Maxshine says “aggressive defect removal, oxidation correction, and paint leveling”, which is refinishing language, not maintenance language. 3M’s medium grade is explicitly for “mild to moderate defects that don’t require an aggressive-cutting pad”, which tells you how the wool range is scaled: even 3M’s middle wool pad is a shop tool.
Side by side, on what makers publish
Every row below is read from the stated source for each pad. Where a maker publishes nothing, the row says so rather than estimating.
| | Foam | Microfiber | Wool |
|---|
| Stated job | Cut through finish, depending on grade | Light to moderate scratches and swirls | Oxidation, paint leveling, severe defects |
| Cut relative to foam | Baseline | More, at the same liquid and speed | Most |
| Finishes down cleanly | Yes, with a finishing grade | Usually needs a foam polish stage | Always needs a foam polish stage |
| Numeric cut rating | Not published by any maker | Not published | Not published (3M states a grade, not a number) |
| Published speed limit | Not published | Not published | 5,200 rpm on the 3M pad; nothing on the Maxshine |
| Machine type stated | DA and rotary | Random orbital | DA and rotary (Maxshine); random orbital (3M) |
| Loads up with spent compound | Slowest | Faster — clean it mid-panel | Fastest |
| Published lifespan | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| Who the maker sells it to | Consumers | Consumers | 3M: “industrial/occupational use only”. Maxshine: body shops, mobile detailers and “advanced DIYers” |
Why the step past foam is microfiber, not a bigger machine
This is the practical heart of the page. A correction that is not working has four variables, and people reliably change the most expensive one first.
The order that costs the least is: liquid, then pad material, then technique, then machine. A more aggressive compound is a bottle. A microfiber pad is less than the price of a tank of fuel. Technique is free. A long-throw machine is a few hundred dollars, and it changes coverage per pass more than it changes cut per pass — which we work through in 8 mm vs 15 mm polishers.
There is a second reason to reach for the pad before the machine. Throw scales how much ground you cover; pad material scales how hard the abrasive is held against the paint. If your foam pad is gliding over a defect, more coverage per pass does not help — you need more bite in the same contact patch, and that is what fiber is.
The trade you accept is twofold. A microfiber pad loads up with spent compound and paint residue faster than foam, so it needs cleaning during the job rather than after it — Griot’s own manual guidance is to clean the pad face with a conditioning brush as you work and to rinse and wring after polishing. And a microfiber cut usually wants a foam polishing stage behind it to refine the finish, so you are adding a step rather than replacing one.
Check your plate size before you order anything
Pads are sold slightly larger than the plate they mount on, so the plate edge never touches paint: 6.5 in pads for a 6 in plate, 5.5 in pads for a 5 in plate. The pad market splits roughly in half along that line and it is the most common ordering mistake in this category.
It matters here because the picks below do not all match. The Lake Country microfiber is 6.5 in for a 6 in plate — the plate a Griot’s G9ships with. The 3M wool pad is 6 in (150 mm) and 3M lists a 5 in version. The Maxshine wool is 5 in, for a 5 in plate. Griot’s lists optional 5 in and 6 in vented plates for its machines, so a plate swap is the cheap fix if you buy the wrong size.
Where this sits in the sequence
Pad material is a late decision, and it only pays off if the earlier ones were right. Griot’s own polishing guidance is the short version: machine polishing removes swirls, light scratches, water spots and oxidation, you work small sections, and you start with the least aggressive combination that works.
So, in order: wash the car, then decontaminate it, then diagnose the defect with a light you can trust, then pick the least-aggressive liquid and pad that fixes it, then test one section. Our paint correction guide covers the full sequence, and the swirl removal guide is the specific case most people are actually here for.
If you skip the decontamination step, none of this matters: you will be dragging bonded fallout across the clear coat with a pad that holds it rigidly against the paint, which is a fast way to add defects with an expensive pad.
