Rupes Blue Juice/Pad, Optimum Compound and Polish and HD Speed

[lj993]

Had a couple of free nights this week and decided to help some friends out by detailing their cars.

Car No. 1:

The son of a buddy just bought a 2008 VW Golf, silver/grey 2-door. He is heading off for college next week so he wanted to get it looking good for the ladies. It looked good from 50 feet. Up close it needed help. The contaminants were so thick that the paint surface felt like 80 grit sand paper. After painstakingly claying and then rewashing the car, we started to compound, polish and wax. I gave my buddy the Rupes 21mm with a UHS Pad and Polishing Compound. I put him on the top and doors. I started with the Flex 3401, an Lake Country CCS Orange pad and HD Speed, The HD Speed just wasn't enough to take out the scratches and marring on the hood. I switched over to the Optimum spray compound and spray polish, still using the Flex 3401 and a clean orange pad for the compound and white pad for the polish. I hadn't used either of those products for some time. My professional grade products that I ever used were the Optimum Spray Compound and Spray Polish. Wow, they worked great. Took out lots of medium to medium/heavy defects and polished out to a beautiful finish. Downside, I did have some dusting, something that I never get with the HD Speed. My buddy did a pretty good job on the top and doors with the Rupes UHS, not perfect but pretty good, mainly due to operator error, not product limitations. He just wouldn't slow down with the arm movements. Slow and steadly.....People, slow down and let the machines and product do their job! Topped everything off with Chemical Guys Better Butter Wax, it looked great (easiest stuff in the world to put on and take off). Used Black Wow on the plastic and rubber parts (not tires), The VW looked fantastic. Fun working on a small car with lots of larger flat panels. (we put the soon to be college student inside with window cleaner and a microfiber towel, after about thirty tries, he finally got the inside of the windows clean! We gave him some Nextzett Cockpit Premium and had him work on the interior surfaces. I love the cockpit premium, nice flat finish and it smells great!).

Car No. 2:

A friend has a newer Toyota Rav4. Black. This car has some many nooks and crannies! ridges everywhere, what was Toyota thinking. The car is owned by a young woman working two jobs and attending school full-time. It rarely makes it through a car wash, let alone a detail. Although it had lots of micro scratches, it was surprisingly free of contaminents, except on the hood and top. After a wash, clay and rewash, I started on it with the HD Speed. The hood looked tons better but it still showed medium and heavier scratches and some water spots. I broke out the Rupes Blue and Rupes Blue pad along with the Rupes 21mm. I had forgotten how well the Rupes Blue works . It still took some effort, but the hood came out looking incredible. Even some pretty sizeable marks from a minor accident came out. Only thing, the Rupes Blue will sling. I splashed product all over the wipers and windshield.......rookie mistake that I should have avoided. With all of the complex angles on the Rav4, the Rupes did tend to stall out on vertical surfaces, I had to really watch it. The Flex on the other hand is just a beast, not as smooth as the Rupes, but it really can cut through defects. Time was running short so I followed up with the HD Speed with an orange pad. I used the Rupes Blue on several other areas where there were deeper scratches and marring on a few of the doors and fenders. I was out of time or I would have used the Rupes Zephir Gloss Coarse Gel and Blue pad on the top, there were still some water spots showing under my garage lights.

Overall, I was very impressed with all of the products. Cars turned out looking great, the owners were blown away. The Toyota Rav4 really came out well. Nothing quite a nice as a freshly-detailed black car...........a day later.....not so much.........The problem is which one to choose! Have fun. Phil

Products Used:

Rupes 21mm, generation 1
Rupes Blue Zephir Gloss Coarse Gel
Rupes Blue Course Pads
Rupes UHS Polishing Compound
Rupes UHS Foam Pads

Flex 3401

Lake Country Orange CCS Pads
Lake Country White CCS Pads
Lake Country Blue CCS Pads

Optimum Hyper Compound Spray
Optimum Hyper Polish Spray

Chemical Guys Better Butter Wax

Nextzett Cockpit Premium

[Mike Phillips]

Had a couple of free nights this week and decided to help some friends out by detailing their cars.


Overall, I was very impressed with all of the products. Cars turned out looking great, the owners were blown away.

The Toyota Rav4 really came out well. Nothing quite a nice as a freshly-detailed black car...........a day later.....not so much.........The problem is which one to choose!

Have fun.

Phil

Hi Phil,

Always great to see someone share with others... like the saying goes...


Each one teach one

[dlc95]

Those Optimum products are on my "to try" list.

I really like the Rupes polishes too. I use the Zephir/blue mf a lot. Cuts like demon claws, and finishes down well enough to clean up with a fine cut Keramik/Yellow foam.

The blue foam.... That is one heck of a nice pad, when paired with Zephir. Mike has a great write up on it, and how well it finishes despite it's coarseness.