Review: RUPES NEW Contour Profile DA Foam Pads

[Mike Phillips]

Review: RUPES NEW Contour Profile DA Foam Pads



RUPES NEW Contour Profile DA Foam Pads






From the manufacturer


BLUE
The DA COARSE foam pad is specially designed to be used with both random orbital and gear-driven tools. The unique open-cell all new foam material removes mild to severe defects from most paint systems. When paired with RUPES DA-COARSE compound provides improved cutting and finishing ability. This new pad combines the best aspects of the previous blue and green foams, with an increased durability and a more vibrant blue color.

My comments...
This is a new foam formula that retains it's aggressive cutting action while finishing out nicer with better durability.



YELLOW
The DA FINE foam pad is the most versatile foam pad in the RUPES BigFoot range, delivering an effective rate of defect removal and capability for high-gloss finishing on most paint systems. Pair with RUPES DA-FINE polishing compound for moderate to fine defect removal, paint refinement, or final finishing after heavy compounding steps. This new pad provides the same great performing foam material as the current random orbital yellow foam, expanded to also work with gear-driven orbitals, just with a more vibrant shade of yellow.

My comments
The foam formula for the new yellow pad is the same consistent performance with just a tweak in the color and of course the new design.



WHITE
The DA ULTRAFINE foam pad is our finest grade of foam, designed for ultra-high gloss finishing and polishing haze-prone or very soft paint surfaces. The new unique material composition of the DA ULTRA-FINE pad shows a brighter white color with less propensity for yellowing over time and can also be used for the application of sealants or waxes when no correction is required. Pair it with UNO PURE ultra-fine universal polish to remove extremely fine defects or to bring out a show car level finish on even the most difficult-to-finish and delicate vehicle paints.

My comments
The new foam formula for the ULTRAFINE white foam finishing pads offers a brighter white that's less prone to yellowing. One of the reason many foams are pigmented is because in the past, white colored foam would quickly turn a dingy yellow or brown color. The pigment used was simply unstable and especially when exposed to UV light. RUPES has somehow found a way to overcome this color flaw so their new foam formula for their white foam pads is dramatically more stable. Besides the color difference, the actual feel of the pad is much softer to the touch and with extended durability.



Pad Specs and pictures

The new RUPES DA Foam Pads come in 3 different sizes (currently), and three different levels of aggressiveness or non-aggressiveness.


Metric and U.S. Standard Pad Diameters

Back in the 1975, President Gerald Ford and his Administration tried to get the U.S. to switch to the metric system but alas the effort failed. So while most of the world uses the metric system for measurement back here in the good old USA we're still using inches.

180mm diameter = 7" or for the OCD 7.09" in U.S. Standard

150mm diameter = 6" or for the OCD 5.9" in U.S. Standard

100mm diameter = 4" or the the OCD 3.94" in U.S. Standard









Pad height or thickness

The new RUPES DA Foam Pads are 25mm in thickness, which is .98" or just call it 1 inch thick.






The first generation RUPES foam pads are 28.5mm thick or about 1 1/8" in U.S. Standard






The new RUPES DA FOAM pads are approximately 3.5mm thinner.






Demo Car

I recently detailed this 2015 C7 Z06 using the new RUPES DA Foam Pads and the RUPES UNO Protect. I received 3 each for all the new pad types and sizes. To do the paint correction step I chose to use the RUPES UNO Protect. The UNO Protect is an AIO and as a general rule-of-thumb, I practice and teach that when using an AIO you want to try to stick with foam polishing pads. Sometimes a coarse pad can be too aggressive when doing a one-step process to paint and often times too soft of a pad won't offer enough polishing action when using a one-step product. The yellow DA FOAM Pad is the perfect balance between too coarse and to soft and is the natural match for UNO Protect.

While I normally use and recommend using more pads to buff out a car, in order to save one of the 180mm or 7" yellow foam pads for pictures, I only used 2 of these pads to buff out the entire car. Surprisingly, the pads held up and continued to cut throughout the detail very well.






Review

First - Historically foam buffing pads are pretty much the same, that is you have different levels of aggressiveness or non-aggressiveness and also different sizes and different colors. There's not much to patent when it comes to foam pad design. So if a company IS able to patent some aspect of the pad design - well that's special.

Second - I think it's fair to say most people, even most professional detailers don't know much about pad design and how it affects the performance of the buffing action as well as the buffing experience to the user BUT - there are differences. So it's fair to say not all foam pads are created equal and in this example, what makes the new RUPES pads unique is the contoured profile of the side of the pad.


Here's the new contour profile design of the new pad and on the right side is the tapered design of the first generation RUPES foam pad design.




What benefit does the contour profile offer from a practical point of view?

Great question.

Here's a standard foam buffing pad with no taper and no contour - when you press the side of the pad against the surface, in order for the face of the pad to flex or contour to the panel shape all of the foam behind the face of the pad must compress. This volume of foam behind the face of the pad decreases flex and makes the overall pad stiffer and less able to contour the the shape of the panel being buffed. The contact between pad and paint is reduced and the overall buffing experience is more harsh.






With the contour design, because there is a lot less foam behind the face of the pad, the edge of the foam pad can easily flex or contour outward and backward to adjust to the shape of the panel being buffed. The contact between pad and paint is increased while the overall buffing experience is smoother.




As I always say in my detailing classes,

The little things are the big things



Smooth Operator

While the change in design for the outer portion of the pad can seem like a small change it actually makes for a better foam pad both in performance and in user-experience. Anyone that has ever buffed out a C7 Corvette knows there's nary a flat surface on these cars and this makes the paint correction step a tick more difficult as you move around the car buffing out the various planes that make up each body panel. I'm happy to say the new pad design works AMAZING on the 5mm gear-driven RUPES Mille. Because the RUPES Mille is gear-driven there is zero pad stalling and ALL the POWER you need to make quick work buffing out an entire car. This new pad design and thickness perfects the buffing experience and ability for the RUPES Mille.



Pad thickness

This new pad system will replace the first generation BigFoot pads and also the super thin Mille foam pads. This is great news. I always thought the original foam pads were too thick for free spinning random orbital polishers and I always thought the super thin Mille foam pads were two thin for a gear-driven orbital polishers. This new line of foam pads is like the Goldilocks's story, not to thick, not to think just perfect.


Even better news....

I've always shown the RUPES brand in it's complete form in my car detailing classes, that is I show the RUPES tools with the matching RUPES pads and products. This is somewhat unique as other detailing classes you can attend the tools are shown with a mis-match of pads and products. I do this both as a professional courtesy to the RUPES brand but also to ensure those attending my classes get an authentic and real-world hands-on experience with the RUPES Paint Polishing System. Once my students leave and go their own way they can use whatever they like but in my class - they get the real-deal, true to the brand.

This said, I've always loved the quality of RUPES pads and these new pads have not let me down and I'm confident you will love them too. And the good news is - not only will they work great on RUPES free spinning and gear-driven orbital polishers but I know they're going to work on whatever polisher you currently own.




And for what it's worth, the old 2-door Chevy came out really nice using the new RUPES DA Foam Pads on the RUPES Mille using the new RUPES UNO Protect















On Autogeek.com

All RUPES products
(At the time of this review the new pads are not yet available - check the Autogeek RUPES store page often)

RUPES BigFoot LK 900E Mille Gear Driven Polisher

RUPES UNO Protect

[Mike Phillips]

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[Mike Phillips]

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Besides all the stuff I wrote above, just wanted to say,



These are REALLY NICE pads.


Hats off to the RUPES Team.

[Billy Baldone]

Mike thanks for the write up as always. Do you think these will take a pounding like the LC force pads on the Beast? I know you mentioned gear driven, I'm just picking your brain on that. Thank you

[TMQ]

Thanks for the insight...

Making the switch to Flex---trying to decide which pads.

Hydro force or the Rupes...

Tom

[DUBL0WS6]

It seems as if the long throw machines are more finicky about pads.

[Dereksdtail]

any time frame on when we can pre order these pads and polishes?


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[The Guz]

Mike, how different is the blue foam from the previous generation?

[Mike Phillips]

Mike thanks for the write up as always. Do you think these will take a pounding like the LC force pads on the Beast? I know you mentioned gear driven, I'm just picking your brain on that. Thank you

Works great!

We’re polishing with the coarse blue after machine damp sanding and rotary work.













Almost done with the Port side.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mike Phillips]

Thanks for the insight...

Making the switch to Flex---trying to decide which pads.

Hydro force or the Rupes...

Tom

Which FLEX Tom?

It seems as if the long throw machines are more finicky about pads.

Due to the free spin characteristic of long strokes it is important to have a pad that is tuned to the tool.

any time frame on when we can pre order these pads and polishes?

I'll see what I can find out.

Mike, how different is the blue foam from the previous generation?

It's less course, looks and feels to be a very different foam formula.

I'll take a picture to show the foam pore structure like I did here,

Mind Blowing - Rupes Blue Foam Cutting Pad and Zephir Gloss Coarse Gel Compound