Some initial thoughts on the Rupes 21

[ihaveacamaro]

So these are my initial thoughts on the Rupes 21 after about 1 hour behind it... I may or may not change my stance after more use. Also note that all of my findings are with the Kevin Brown Washer Mod.


First off, let's discuss the hype. Let's face it, the Rupes 21 has the most hype a machine has seen in quite a little while. When the new GG came out it was just a splash in the pond compared to the tidal wave of hype that the Rupes is.

I half believed that it would take only one pass of the mythical rupes to get a panel perfectly polished and LSP ready.

If you can read my tone and where I'm going with this, you will see that what I'm trying to say is this machine is great, but don't believe that it is the end all be all of DA machines. It's not magic, it still takes time and slow arm movement to achieve good results





Let's now talk about the throw. The throw is certainly huge, and you can tell if you move from a Griot's Garage or Porter Cable as I did. The pad seems to spin much further than you would imagine it to. This took a few moments to adjust to and then I got used to it. I have yet to do any tests (you know I like to do my tests), so I can't comment on the efficacy of the bigger throw vs the smaller throw of other DA's, but I'm sure it does help.







Let's now talk about the vibrations. This is one of those things that people keep on and keep on bringing up. Rupes = no vibrations, rupes makes your hands feel better, rupes rubs you in all the right places while you rub your paint... ok I may have just made up that last one lol.

The fact is, yes, the hype on this vibration is true. The rupes vibrations are extremely minimal. One thing I found interesting is there is a heck of a lot more vibration at speed 1 than at higher speeds like 5 and 6. It seems like the rupes wants to go fast to be vibration free.







Let's now talk about the pressure. That is another thing you won't see a rupes comment without. "You can correct with a rupes 1 handed" and such and "with the rupes, you need no pressure to correct."

Is the hype here true? Yes and no in my opinion.

Yes because all that is needed to correct is very light pressure. You only need to put enough pressure for the pad to contact the panel firmly for it to correct. I would say the weight of your hand and the tiniest amount of pressure on top.

No because I don't think that I can correct a car using this with no pressure. I tried one handed and wasn't really getting anywhere. As soon as I put on my hand and used the tiniest amount of pressure, the swirls were gone.






Now let's talk about this backing plate. This is something I have yet to hear anyone say. The backing plate holds those pads like a freaking bear hug. It takes a huge amount of pulling to take pads of that backing plate. Maybe I'm just weak, I don't know, but what I do know is that it was very hard to pull the pad off for me.






And now, let's talk some Rupes polishes and pads. "What are the pads like, what are the polishes like?" This is a question a lot of people have and not many people answer. Well here's my opinion on the YELLOW pad and polish and the GREEN pad and polish:

They're nothing special.

Yup, they work, but the polish hates being overworked, makes it rather difficult to buff off. They dust when being buffed off, but not so much when you are working them in with the buffer.

They work, but I've used better. Hell, I would go so far as to say I've used MUCH better.

I have yet to try them in heat, so I imagine they would be even worse/more finicky in the sun. As someone who lives in Florida and can't use a garage or canopy, this makes the polishes undesirable to me.

The pads are also fine, but nothing jumped out at me that made me think, "these pads are worth twice as much as the other ones I have laying around."




Let's also discuss the Kevin Brown Washer Mod. I have only used it with it on, and tried to bog down the machine (I used a huge amount of pressure) on speed 1 on purpose. Let's just say I got nowhere close to bogging down the machine. Can't comment on anything else ie washer vs no washer, which is more effective? I have no idea, and probably won't. The washer is there and I see no reason to take it out. Maybe, just maybe, for comparison purposes, but that's the only reason I can tell.





So there you go, if you got through all of this, those are my initial thoughts.


Now here are some things that I will be testing in the future:

1) Rupes 21 with 5" bp on it and 5.5" microfiber/foam pads

2) Just about every polish I have

3) Correction speed vs my GG DA.

4) Optimal speed on Rupes for compounds and optimal speed for polishes (I switched
between 4, 5, and 6 and couldn't decide which I liked best)

5) Rupes blue pad and polish and white pad and polish.


Thanks for reading