Calendyr
07-21-2018, 09:37 PM
So my beloved Rupes Bigfoot 21ES has been out of service for 18 days now ;(
Last week-end I decided to order two new polishers to replace it. Well... one to replace it and one as a backup in case the new polisher breaks.
So I ordered a Griot's Garage Boss G15 and a Torx 10X. The Griot was recommended by many people and I did want the better warranty. The Torx is the cheapest Chineese knockoff I could find that would ship to Canada. What I really wanted was the Hyet 21mm but no luck. Not sure why american companies refuse to ship to Canada but it's really annoying.
So... received both machines yesterday and was able to try them today.
The project was a GMC Savana 2014 (white). It's the full lenght version, quite a large vehicule about twice the size of a mini-van.
The client uses it as a work truck. The client wanted the vehicle decontaminated and polished. I spent 3 hours cleaning it and removing thick road film and a million iron particles on it.
Then I got to play with the new toys (tools) ;)
So first I tried the Boss 15 using a Lake Country HDO Blue foam Heavy cutting pad. The product of choice for the detail: Meguiars D151 Paint reconditionning creme. Decided to use a cutting disk because of the heavy contamination, was not sure if I got it all during all the decon steps so I wanted to make sure to have an agressive combo. And it's white so you can't really tell between the finish of a cutting foam pad and a heavy polishing one.
So here are my thoughts on this machine:
- Vibration: Holy smokes! I had a flashback to 2014 when I was doing correction with the Meguiars 110V2 and has cramps after working on a car. After doing only 2 panels my forearms and shoulders were on fire! Afer doing 3/4 of the truck I had issues closing my hands and could barelly feel anything. And I was doing all I could not to squeeze the tool and used the lock on mechinism on all panels. I think it's a combination of the weight of the machine (feels much heavier than the Bigfoot 21) and the vibration it puts out. I was using it at speed 5. So that is really really bad. This means I cannot use this tool as a daily driver.
- Grip: I love the way this tool is designed. No matter how you need to hold it to correct a panel, the grip is easy. I also love the lock mechanism on it, very easy to use compared to the one on the Rupes.
- Noise: Much noisier than the Rupes. The noise also sounds cheaper... like metal on metal grinding type of thing as opposed to more of an electric motor noise on the Rupes. This is not much of an issue but it does make the tool feel cheaper.
- Performance: Hard to say. Was using a cleaner wax on a white truck. Not like I was going after defect removal on a black car. But it feels like the pad was spinning easilly and could not notice it stalling. I did mod the tool with the included washers. One thing I did notice was that when using the pad washer, the pads came out perfectly clean. This never happens with the Rupes, there is always some kind of residue or dirty spot on the pad. So for some reason, cleaning the pads with this machine is easier.
- Overall appreciation: Will have to try it on a smaller vehicle. Having to lift the machine over my head to work on super tall panels is not something I do often and it has certainly contributed to the severe muscle fatigue I experienced. But I can't say I enjoyed the experience at all.
I switched to the Torx 10X for the last 3 panels of the truck.
- Vibration: Smootest machine I have ever used. I could not believe that at full speed it was smooter than the Rupes. Now, the documentation doesn't mention the throw, so I am guessing it's a 8mm machine... but still, my Porter Cable, Meguiars 110V2 and GG 3" make a lot more vibration than this thing. Very amazing.
- Grip : It's very light and it has a very good grip on it. Not as good as the Boss 15 but because it is so much lighter, it's super easy to handle, think of Rupes with half the weight. Very impressed with this as well.
- Noise: Very quiet machine. It's 700W compared to the 900W of the Boss 15 but it's like half as loud.
- Performance: Again, can't tell how good it will be at defect removal. But for all the other aspects, have to give at top marks. Easy to handle, pad rotation was good, does't try to fight you at all no matter the angle you need to use it at. It also came with 2 backplates, one of them rigid and one soft. I used the soft one which might be why it's not stalling. Real test will be with a compound on a black car, but so far I have nothing negative to say about it. On thing that might bother people new to it is that when you turn the motor off, when you start it again you have to speed it up from speed 0 on the electronic speed control. So it's one more step to do everytime you stop and start. It takes about a second to do but still, it's something I find useless in the user experience.
- Overall appreciation: If this thing is capable of removing defects, it will very likelly become my daily driver. Costing 40% of the price of the Boss, I like it a whole lot more. Paid 200 CAN$ for the Torx and 550 CAN$ for the Boss. I am seriously surprised at this result.
So to conclude, if you are used to Rupes tools, you might be disapointed with Griot's answer to them. I feel the Rupes product is far superior but they really need to step up their customer support and warranty. For me in Canada, it makes no sense at all to own a Rupes polisher. If I had known they do not support their Canadian customers, I would not have purchased it. If you live in the USA, they are no where close to Griot's in terms of support but they do have a repair facility that offers a flat fee for basic repair... so it's not horrible. For me, I will need to be without my tool for at least 2 or 3 weeks when I send it in, and will have to pay 70$ shipping to send it there and get it back. Not sure what I will do yet. Including the repair, that may come to over 200$ to get it fixed if it's something basic, and probably the cost of a new Rupes if it's something serious.... ;(
Last week-end I decided to order two new polishers to replace it. Well... one to replace it and one as a backup in case the new polisher breaks.
So I ordered a Griot's Garage Boss G15 and a Torx 10X. The Griot was recommended by many people and I did want the better warranty. The Torx is the cheapest Chineese knockoff I could find that would ship to Canada. What I really wanted was the Hyet 21mm but no luck. Not sure why american companies refuse to ship to Canada but it's really annoying.
So... received both machines yesterday and was able to try them today.
The project was a GMC Savana 2014 (white). It's the full lenght version, quite a large vehicule about twice the size of a mini-van.
The client uses it as a work truck. The client wanted the vehicle decontaminated and polished. I spent 3 hours cleaning it and removing thick road film and a million iron particles on it.
Then I got to play with the new toys (tools) ;)
So first I tried the Boss 15 using a Lake Country HDO Blue foam Heavy cutting pad. The product of choice for the detail: Meguiars D151 Paint reconditionning creme. Decided to use a cutting disk because of the heavy contamination, was not sure if I got it all during all the decon steps so I wanted to make sure to have an agressive combo. And it's white so you can't really tell between the finish of a cutting foam pad and a heavy polishing one.
So here are my thoughts on this machine:
- Vibration: Holy smokes! I had a flashback to 2014 when I was doing correction with the Meguiars 110V2 and has cramps after working on a car. After doing only 2 panels my forearms and shoulders were on fire! Afer doing 3/4 of the truck I had issues closing my hands and could barelly feel anything. And I was doing all I could not to squeeze the tool and used the lock on mechinism on all panels. I think it's a combination of the weight of the machine (feels much heavier than the Bigfoot 21) and the vibration it puts out. I was using it at speed 5. So that is really really bad. This means I cannot use this tool as a daily driver.
- Grip: I love the way this tool is designed. No matter how you need to hold it to correct a panel, the grip is easy. I also love the lock mechanism on it, very easy to use compared to the one on the Rupes.
- Noise: Much noisier than the Rupes. The noise also sounds cheaper... like metal on metal grinding type of thing as opposed to more of an electric motor noise on the Rupes. This is not much of an issue but it does make the tool feel cheaper.
- Performance: Hard to say. Was using a cleaner wax on a white truck. Not like I was going after defect removal on a black car. But it feels like the pad was spinning easilly and could not notice it stalling. I did mod the tool with the included washers. One thing I did notice was that when using the pad washer, the pads came out perfectly clean. This never happens with the Rupes, there is always some kind of residue or dirty spot on the pad. So for some reason, cleaning the pads with this machine is easier.
- Overall appreciation: Will have to try it on a smaller vehicle. Having to lift the machine over my head to work on super tall panels is not something I do often and it has certainly contributed to the severe muscle fatigue I experienced. But I can't say I enjoyed the experience at all.
I switched to the Torx 10X for the last 3 panels of the truck.
- Vibration: Smootest machine I have ever used. I could not believe that at full speed it was smooter than the Rupes. Now, the documentation doesn't mention the throw, so I am guessing it's a 8mm machine... but still, my Porter Cable, Meguiars 110V2 and GG 3" make a lot more vibration than this thing. Very amazing.
- Grip : It's very light and it has a very good grip on it. Not as good as the Boss 15 but because it is so much lighter, it's super easy to handle, think of Rupes with half the weight. Very impressed with this as well.
- Noise: Very quiet machine. It's 700W compared to the 900W of the Boss 15 but it's like half as loud.
- Performance: Again, can't tell how good it will be at defect removal. But for all the other aspects, have to give at top marks. Easy to handle, pad rotation was good, does't try to fight you at all no matter the angle you need to use it at. It also came with 2 backplates, one of them rigid and one soft. I used the soft one which might be why it's not stalling. Real test will be with a compound on a black car, but so far I have nothing negative to say about it. On thing that might bother people new to it is that when you turn the motor off, when you start it again you have to speed it up from speed 0 on the electronic speed control. So it's one more step to do everytime you stop and start. It takes about a second to do but still, it's something I find useless in the user experience.
- Overall appreciation: If this thing is capable of removing defects, it will very likelly become my daily driver. Costing 40% of the price of the Boss, I like it a whole lot more. Paid 200 CAN$ for the Torx and 550 CAN$ for the Boss. I am seriously surprised at this result.
So to conclude, if you are used to Rupes tools, you might be disapointed with Griot's answer to them. I feel the Rupes product is far superior but they really need to step up their customer support and warranty. For me in Canada, it makes no sense at all to own a Rupes polisher. If I had known they do not support their Canadian customers, I would not have purchased it. If you live in the USA, they are no where close to Griot's in terms of support but they do have a repair facility that offers a flat fee for basic repair... so it's not horrible. For me, I will need to be without my tool for at least 2 or 3 weeks when I send it in, and will have to pay 70$ shipping to send it there and get it back. Not sure what I will do yet. Including the repair, that may come to over 200$ to get it fixed if it's something basic, and probably the cost of a new Rupes if it's something serious.... ;(