Rupes LHR 21ES & Pinnacle XMT 360 vs Soft Hyundai Paint

**Nick McKees37** · 04-27-2013, 10:32 AM

Trey, Autogeek's newest product specialist, came in bright and early this morning to give his just-purchased 2001 Hyundai Tiburon a much-needed polishing. Trey had a limited amount of time so he decided to take the simple, yet effective approach, and use a one-step cleaner wax with the Rupes LHR 21ES Big Foot Random Orbital Polisher. Since my Nikon camera had a fully charged battery, I figured I would grab some pictures of the action!

The best way to describe Pinnacle XMT 360 is to call it a cleaner-wax on steroids. Not only does Pinnacle XMT 360 cleanse paint of gloss-hindering below-surface contaminants while leaving a durable layer of protection behind, it polishes it as well thanks to an advanced blend of micro-abrasives. If you're working on a vehicle that has clay-induced marring or light swirl marks, Pinnacle XMT 360 will enable you to save time and money by correcting, cleaning and sealing in one simple step. What's more, Pinnacle XMT 360 can be used in direct sunlight.

Trey's daily driver is a 2001 Hyundai Tiburon. He started out by giving the car a much needed bath. Since time was of the essence, Trey used the Nanoskin Autoscrub Medium Grade Wash Mitt to remove above-surface contaminants. Paint decontamination is probably the single most important step in detailing a car. If the surface isn’t squeaky clean, your polishes won’t be as effective and your wax, sealant or coating won’t fully bond to the surface. With the Nanoskin Autoscrub Wash Mitt, you can save time by "claying" the paint as you wash it.

Since time was limited and Trey's hands were sore from typing all week, the obvious choice for a polisher was the buttery-smooth Rupes LHR 21ES Big Foot Random Orbital Polisher equipped with a Rupes 7 inch Yellow Polishing Pad. The Rupes LHR 21ES Big Foot Random Orbital Polisher gets its name from its massive, industry leading 21 millimeter throw. The throw of the machine indicates the size of the orbit the pad makes. Consider this: a conventional random orbital polisher has a throw between 4 and 8 millimeters. The advantage of a larger throw is that more surface area is being covered as you polish, thus saving time.

Trey's Hyundai looked like your typical 12-year old car that has never been polished (or at least polished correctly). Check out the swirl marks:

After priming the Rupes 7 inch Yellow Polishing Pad, Trey applied two dime-sized drops of Pinnacle XMT 360 and performed a test spot.

Notice how Trey is holding the head of the polisher - he's only applying enough pressure to point the machine where he wants it. With the Rupes LHR 21ES, you don't need to apply an excessive amount of pressure because the massive throw ("stroke") does the work for you. This, in turn, reduces user fatigue.

Trey's Hyundai has relatively soft paint so the Rupes LHR 21ES paired with Pinnacle XMT 360 removed the swirl marks without any effort.

One of the many benefits of using a cleaner wax/AIO is that they deep clean the paint, removing below-surface contaminants that otherwise hinder the gloss and color from shining through. Check out how dirty the YELLOW pad was after polishing just the hood!

By combing the exceptionally large throw of the Rupes LHR 21ES Big Foot Random Orbital Polisher with Pinnacle XMT 360, Trey's Hyundai looked brand new in a matter of hours - all with one step.

Pinnacle XMT 360

Rupes Polishers