After 4+ hours with my Rupes Bigfoot.
01-03-2015, 04:00 PM
#1
Instructor
Thread Starter
After 4+ hours with my Rupes Bigfoot.
It's slow work, but damn it looks good. Pics really don't do it justice. I've only done the hood, front bumper, and front quarter panels. Lowering and tint later this week.
Y'all need one of these Rupes. Expensive, but I'll never polish without it again.
Pics following...
Y'all need one of these Rupes. Expensive, but I'll never polish without it again.
Pics following...
01-03-2015, 04:06 PM
#4
Le Mans Master
Looks nice. I am not familiar with Rupes. I will have to look it up.
01-03-2015, 04:07 PM
#6
Instructor
Thread Starter
Can anyone suggest a product to clean the plastic where I got the wax on it (around the wheel well)? I've always hated that stupid plastic on cars.
01-03-2015, 04:23 PM
#11
Well as someone who has been into detailing as a hobby for several years I can say that it is really hard to say from your pics that are all in the shade if the pain looks better or worse than it did before given that you didnt also show before pics. My good friend is a pro paint correction guy and concourse detailer and all of his pics he does with the sun directly on the panel or in a dark garage with a high intensity sun gun to show the clarity of the paint before and after. Take some pics in the direct sun of the hood and roof etc or in your garage with the lights off and a really high powered flash light. an LED works well or if you have some flood lights. Then that will tell the tail if you got all the marring and holograms out that the dealer put in. They should not be let near any cars with rotary buffers. they all use them and none of them have been properly trained to use them and flow the steps to remove the scratches and then remove the marring and holograms the wool pads leave. They just hit and quit it with the rotary. In the shade the car will look great since it will have a gloss to it but as soon as you get in the direct sun you see all the pad marring.
I would be very interested to see your results in proper lighting conditions. The Rupes is a great polisher but even my friend still uses his trusty 120 dollar porter cable 90% of the time and only busts out the rotary for serious issues then finishes them with the porter still.
I would be very interested to see your results in proper lighting conditions. The Rupes is a great polisher but even my friend still uses his trusty 120 dollar porter cable 90% of the time and only busts out the rotary for serious issues then finishes them with the porter still.
01-03-2015, 04:24 PM
#12
Instructor
Thread Starter
01-03-2015, 04:29 PM
#14
Melting Slicks<br><img src="/forums/images/ranks/3k-4k.gif" border="0">
My previous Corvette was a black ZR1 so I can appreciate the effort you've expended.
01-03-2015, 04:37 PM
#15
Instructor
Thread Starter
Well as someone who has been into detailing as a hobby for several years I can say that it is really hard to say from your pics that are all in the shade if the pain looks better or worse than it did before given that you didnt also show before pics. My good friend is a pro paint correction guy and concourse detailer and all of his pics he does with the sun directly on the panel or in a dark garage with a high intensity sun gun to show the clarity of the paint before and after. Take some pics in the direct sun of the hood and roof etc or in your garage with the lights off and a really high powered flash light. an LED works well or if you have some flood lights. Then that will tell the tail if you got all the marring and holograms out that the dealer put in. They should not be let near any cars with rotary buffers. they all use them and none of them have been properly trained to use them and flow the steps to remove the scratches and then remove the marring and holograms the wool pads leave. They just hit and quit it with the rotary. In the shade the car will look great since it will have a gloss to it but as soon as you get in the direct sun you see all the pad marring.
I would be very interested to see your results in proper lighting conditions. The Rupes is a great polisher but even my friend still uses his trusty 120 dollar porter cable 90% of the time and only busts out the rotary for serious issues then finishes them with the porter still.
I would be very interested to see your results in proper lighting conditions. The Rupes is a great polisher but even my friend still uses his trusty 120 dollar porter cable 90% of the time and only busts out the rotary for serious issues then finishes them with the porter still.
I also have been detailing cars for years. 25 to be exact, when my dad handed me some polish and a rag at the age of 10. I think he finally trusted me to not drop the rag, or at least throw it out if I did.
I have no scratches or swirl marks left after using the Rupes. None. I have a dual halogen light on a tripod that I use to see my work. It will not remove the Orange Peel though. That pisses me off. Apparently you have to wet sand to remove that.
01-04-2015, 01:27 PM
#18
Safety Car
Rupes depending which one you get whether the 15 or 21 has a much bigger throw than the Griots and Flex. The 15 has a 15mm throw (5" backup pad) and 21 has a 21mm throw (6" backup pad), the Griots and Flex have a 8mm throw. I have a Rupes 21, and I've used the Meguiars, Griots, and HD polisher and the Rupes works much faster/is a smoother machine/not as loud/etc. As far as better than the Flex I'll just say more people use the Rupes in the Professional Paint Correction business and I see more use the Rupes than the flex by far in a detailer group I'm in on facebook that has some of the best detailers around.
01-04-2015, 03:29 PM
#19
Team Owner
Member Since: Oct 2013
Location: Kansas City, Missouri
Posts: 25,414
Received 7,783 Likes
on
4,198 Posts
CORVETTE TODAY Host
St. Jude Donor'15
Looks great-now keeping it that way will be the difficult part.
