In july of 2006 I purchased a ES125 sander from a Festool dealer. Loved the sander, I used it mainly for finish sanding with 180, 220, 320 grit sandpaper.
This sander was my first Festool purchase, and led me to buying a T55 saw, a 1400 router and Midi vacuum.

Yesterday I was sanding some primer on some cabinet face frames with 220 grit, when the sander started to wobble real bad. After shutting it off I noticed the pad had split, causing part of it to seperate from the mounting screws. Of course this had to happen just two months out of warranty. 

I contacted the Festool dealer from whom I purchased it and was told that the plastic probally deteriorated over time. 
And a new pad will be $30.00.
Now I have two Dewalts that are almost 8 years old, they get all the hard sanding jobs, never had a problem with the pads. I have burnt up motors on PC333 before a pad failure.
This makes me wonder as to the quality of materials Festool is using.

Thanks for letting me rant.

I am not so satisfied with the standard soft pad of my RO150 either, to be honest. It's way too soft for a 'standard' pad. When I even touch a wall or something with the side of the pad it gets damage. This is not what I am used to with pads from other brands I've used.

Maybe the hard pad is better, I got one of the new Multi-jet pads coming my way so I'll see how that works. But I wish the standard pad was a bit harder than what it is now.

But pads will deteriorate with use, that's normal because they're consumables indeed. Back in the family body shop we had to replace the pad of each sander at least twice a year. They got a lot of use each day.

But I've never seen a pad split in two. Mostly they just wear out or a chip breaks off, but never a full split. Maybe your ES125 pad had a flaw in it which caused it to break up.


But that shouldn't be. They're not a dealer for nothing. I've been to two Festool dealers last week to get me the new Multi-jet pad and both knew nothing about it yet. Both called Festool right away, while I was standing there to wait for an answer, and I got my information right there. That's how it should work.

Btw, I also emailed Festool to ask about the pad and the special introduction offer. I got a wrong answer back from the Festool representative and had to email him again to inform HIM about it.
 

I wear pads out in about 4 months on each of my sanders.

Never had one last long enough to split.

Huh? Am I correct in understanding this is about a THREE YEAR OLD pad? 

Get outta here. I'd be extremely happy to get three years out of my pad. I guess some people are never satisfied. 

 

To  me its not a question of the pad wearing out. If it was I would not have said anything. Its not like the velcro wore out. Its the plastic that holds the pad to the motor. 
So I guess when you pay as much for a Festool sander and parts start failing quicker then a lower priced dewalt or Porter Cable then yes there is a satisfaction issue.



Now to be fair to Festool, I have been contacted by a representative and he has offered to send me a new pad.

As an update-
Bob Marino, the festool dealer contacted Festools senior man to alert him as to my problem.
I have been contacted by Festool and will be recieving a new pad some time next week.

Thanks for all the replies and an additional thanks to Bob Marino for going the extra step to take care of his customer.

Was that sander ever dropped before the pad broke?  I've not had any problems with the pads on any of my ETS or Rotex sanders.  Despite my having used them in inside corners thereby causing them to grab many times, the worst that has happened is slight tearing of the foam and edges of the hook and loop faces.

Dave R.