WOOL PAD - highly aggressive pads used for cutting or heavy compounding and removes extreme swirls or oxidation on very hard paint. It removes heavy oxidation much better than foam pads and generates less heat resulting in cooler surface. ... Use for removing buffing swirls or trails, oxidation and scratches.
I wash them by hand with mild detergent ( woolite) after each use and let them air dry. The wool pads that I have have lasted for abotu 2 years so far and still are good, howveer I don`t use them all that much unless I have a car from a body shop that I have wetsanded or have a severely scratched car
Just soak in a bucket of water with some type of pad cleaning solution, swish it around a bunch, maybe use your fingers to agitate the fibers and then rinse well with running water or in a bucket of clean water and then spin it on your rotary buffer to sling out all the water.
Wool Pads are typically used on rotary polishers. ... On most finishes, wool pads will not finish down to a flawlessly smooth finish. The wool fibers themselves are abrasive. You will want to follow up with a foam finishing pad and a good polish to remove any micro-marring left behind by the wool fibers
If you buff your car once every few weeks, then you may be able to use the buffer pads only for a few months. If you are the kind of person who buffs the car just once or twice a year, then you can use your buffer pads for two to three years straight.