As far as I know, it's actually quite different in texture and application to most automotive polishes I've used previously.

The foam pads are for elbow grease style polishing. They do seem to speed things up. I use a mechanical buffer for the cutting stages and then swap to hand for the final passes. My buffer uses hoods, but I'm planning to upgrade to a smaller palm unit that uses the foam style pads, they seem to pick up bits of dust and stuff less easily than the 'wool' style ones.

My next couple are going to be satin anyway as it's just easier and I have a good handle on how to get a great result with it.