There is various companies that produce same pads that fits in these basic buckets, apart from these they are waxes/sealants and other pads. At beyondSpotless we try to simplify things to make it easy. These three categories of pads can be used for majority of detailing/polishing work for your vehicles.
Heavy Cut Pads: These pads are used to remove stubborn scratches or through heavy peeling, instead or before wet sanding. If you are doing a multi stage polishing to cut through years of paint correction or scratches, these pads will be used first Should be used with a compound thats for heavy cutting to get the best results. These pads are not eh best use with single stage compounds.
Medium Cut Pads: These pads can be used for single stage polish or to buff up swirl marks and scratches that are not deep and limited to surface, like scuff marks, scratches from drive through car washes. Ideal to use with single stage compounds or polishing compounds.
Finish/Polish Pads:Ideally used to apply waxes/finish polish or apply glazes on the paint. This could also be used to polish glasses after decontamination and clay bar or applu protection sealants.