Tom M'Guinn

I've recently been trying to bring back the paint on an older German car and my old Porter Cable DA just wasn't up to the task. So yesterday I got a Rupes Bigfoot 15 Mark II. It's a modern DA polisher with a much longer throw and more power. I'm using it with HD Cut and HD Polish and holy cow does this machine work well! It corrects paint like a rotary buffer --simply amazing, body-shop-like results-- and can be used safely by DIYers without real risk of burning paint. Also discovered the new clay bar replacement mitts, which allows to you clay the paint in a fraction of the time it takes with an actual clay bar (and then reuse the mitt over and over). This is all probably old news for a lot of you, but if anyone else is stuck in the '90s in terms of detailing tools, it's an amazing new world out there!

black944 turbo

Tom can you post pictures of the items you used?

thingo

I've got a clay towel, I presume the mitt is similar, much easier and quicker than a clay bar.

fejjj

Tom,

Thank you for the write up.

Where did you locate the clay mitt?

Tom M'Guinn

Will do.

Right, same polymer material, just on a wash mitt. Takes a fraction of the time of clay and seems to work at least as well.

I got everything in person here since it is local to me:
http://californiasfinestdetailsupply.com/

The owner was over-the-top helpful so recommend them highly. All the same stuff is available at all the usual auto detailing sites though -- autogeek, autopia, the chemical guys, etc...

Arominus

Ive got a buffer (torq 10fx) that works pretty well, but i've been considering the jump into a longer throw rupes. Thanks for the info.

Tom M'Guinn

Here you go...

Dave951

That Rupes Bigfoot is a nice piece of equipment. The Meguiars MT300 is also a nice alternative.

FRporscheman

Actually I didn't know about these products, thanks for sharing. I'm particularly excited about the clay mitt / towel, I freakin hate clay barring but it's also the most important thing to me about detailing as I get **** about getting every spec of junk out of my alpine white paint!

Tom M'Guinn

Agreed. The car I did was a classic white 450SL, and the Nanoskin mitt worked great. Nothing better than super-clean, highly-polished, solid white paint. The mitt comes in fine and medium grades, and the "fine" seemed to work as well as any clay I've used, just much faster. I'm totally sold on it...

lejams

I've been looking a getting a Rupes for a while. Definitely the gold standard. However, Adams has come out with a combined competitor package equating to the Mark ll & and a Rupes Mini, called the Swirl Killer, both for 360.00 and sometimes discounted to 306.00.

The "Pro" user reviews for the Swirl Killer are pretty good panning out to say that although Rupes still Holds an edge as King, (mostly because a little more RPM power), the Adams holds stiff competition for the weekend warrior, which is the category where I fall. It's widely known that Adam's holds a high standard for quality, and won't compromise its reputation on junk. Given this, they are trying to meet a void in the market for a quality product at a better price point.

Anyone have any experience or an opinion on the Adam's SK? For the 951 I ultimately anticipate needing the 3" 12mm mini in addition to the 5" 15mm for the 951. The Adam's is literally half the cost of the two Rupes together. But if the Rupes is really worth it, I won't mind getting the mini later in order to make a solid purchase.

Tom, have you done the 951 yet with the Mark ll and do you foresee as I expect the need to get the Mini?

MockngBrd

Pricey

blade7

I used a clay mitt on my white car with good fast results, but can you use them over and over once they are loaded with paint etc ?

Bmuldoon

Tom,
I used my Dewalt orbital on my red 951 which definitely helped bring back some color but there is still plenty of pitting/crazing in the paint. I didn't go over it a second time due to the amount of red I was seeing on the pad. (I used the 3M 3 step process).

I was considering wet sanding it but wondering if the Rupes would do a better job of smoothing everything out? Did you see a noticeable difference between your traditional orbital and the Rupes?

Thanks!

Tom M'Guinn

I've only used it on small patches of the 951. I'm fairly content without a mini though. I could see how it would come in handy in tighter spots, but more of a "nice to have" than a necessity unless you detail a lot of cars. You can always polish by hand in the really tight spots.

Night and day difference between the Porter Cable orbital polisher and the Rupes. Not even close. The Rupes is great at paint correction and can produce a glass-smooth finish. The Porter Cable just can't do that, for all practical purposes, at least in my hands.