Cleaning your pads on the fly is pretty easy. Pads are much easier to clean when they are freshly used than after they have dried. What I do with mine is simply spray them off, shake the water out, and then put them on the PC for a short spin on setting 6. That usually gets enough water out that you can get back to work. If you spray the pad with high pressure and only aim at the front, then usually the back doesn’t get wet. If the Velcro gets wet on the back then you will have a hard time getting it to stick back on the PC. I would also suggest letting the pad cool down a bit before washing it off. Right after use there is a lot of heat that has been transferred from the pad up to the backing plate. The glue on the Velcro backing might be a little soft and it is a good idea to let it cool down before you risk getting it wet.
Something else that you might want to consider when polishing your car is to tape off the plastic trim. Polishes stain plastic trim if you don’t clean it up right away. The only trim on the Legacy that I see problems with is the area around the sunroof. Everything else seems to clean up pretty easily. To mask off the trim you want to protect, just use normal blue painters tape. It doesn’t leave sticky stuff behind and it will protect anything you don’t want messed up. You can also use it to cover any seams you don’t want product getting in. Just keep in mind that anywhere you tape off isn’t going to get polished or waxed. If you need to mask off seams around the door handles or body panels, then you might want to consider using really thin strips so you don’t end up with swirls left underneath where the tape was.
One other tip that isn’t PC related is in buffing off the product. I use a towel under each hand so that I’m not leaving streaks or smudges on the car. I also use latex gloves while detailing since all those chemicals can dry out your hands. After you have spend a few hours polishing up your lady’s car the last thing you want is for her to be in the middle of rewarding you and then make a comment about how dry your hands are.
If you run into stubborn areas where the product just doesn’t want to buff off then you might want to spray a little quick detailer or even just water on it. I keep a bottle of Four Star Gloss Enhancer handy for those situations. If nothing is available then you just need to use a little pressure on the towel while buffing. This is also an effective method:
Please add any other tips that you can think of if you have used one before. The PC is a great tool and probably one of the best investments for the value of your car that you can make. Your paint is the most expensive part of your car and proper care is essential to retaining vehicle value.
This page has some good examples of PC work. You'll be amazed at how much better your car will look after using one.