Anyone went from Flex to Rupes?

[dlc95]

I really don't like the PC. it makes my hands itch from the vibrations lol... I put a 4 inch bp on it and do the small areas with it.

Yeah, that a common complaint from any users. I actually prefer the old school 7424 to the 7424xp. It's smaller, lighter, seems to vibrate less, and a touch quieter.

[Mike Phillips]

Does this mean you can do a section of a panel twice as fast just because you are covering that much more ground?

• As someone that has used and uses both tool.
  
• As someone that teaches dedicated classes for both tools.
  
• As someone that has written dedicated books for both tools...
  

From my experience the fastest way to correct a car without the risk of burning the paint or inflicting holograms into the paint from the use of a rotary buffer is to use a FLEX 3401.

The gear-driven forced rotation and forced oscillation, (that's two things), enables you to do what I call,


Power through a detail job


Simply put, you cannot get the pad to stall or stop it's rotation or oscillation no matter what the design of the panel is or how hard you push against the polisher.

I do think the free spinning, large orbit stroke tools like the RUPES 21 BigFoot do take the edge when it comes to finishing out to the highest gloss, most perfected finish possible.


Don't know if that helps but that's my experience. I know there's fan-boys for both tools, I'm not a fanboy for either tool, just an equal opportunity showcase. I simply like to show people how to polish paint and what I say is,

If the tool works I can make it work. If the tool doesn't work then no one can make it work.

Both the FLEX and the RUPES tools work. At the end of the day it really comes down to personal preference and matching the right tool for the job.

This is one of the benefits of my Competition Ready 3-Day Detailing Classes and one of the things I personally really like about teaching the classes is that the people that attend my classes get to use ALL the tools on really cool cars and get hours of hand-on experience. By the time the class is over they know which tools they like and which tools they want. And it's always different for each individual.

When I taught Meguiar's classes all I could show was a signal tool. So while it's a lot more work to show around a dozen different tools it's also rewarding as I know it clears up all the confusion for the people attending.

[Zubair]

I do think the free spinning, large orbit stroke tools like the RUPES 21 BigFoot do take the edge when it comes to finishing out to the highest gloss, most perfected finish possible.

Agreed x 1000%

[11B250]

• As someone that has used and uses both tool.
• As someone that teaches dedicated classes for both tools.
• As someone that has written dedicated books for both tools...

From my experience the fastest way to correct a car without the risk of burning the paint or inflicting holograms into the paint from the use of a rotary buffer is to use a FLEX 3401.

The gear-driven forced rotation and forced oscillation, (that's two things), enables you to do what I call,


Power through a detail job


Simply put, you cannot get the pad to stall or stop it's rotation or oscillation no matter what the design of the panel is or how hard you push against the polisher.

I do think the free spinning, large orbit stroke tools like the RUPES 21 BigFoot do take the edge when it comes to finishing out to the highest gloss, most perfected finish possible.


Don't know if that helps but that's my experience. I know there's fan-boys for both tools, I'm not a fanboy for either tool, just an equal opportunity showcase. I simply like to show people how to polish paint and what I say is,

If the tool works I can make it work. If the tool doesn't work then no one can make it work.

Both the FLEX and the RUPES tools work. At the end of the day it really comes down to personal preference and matching the right tool for the job.

This is one of the benefits of my Competition Ready 3-Day Detailing Classes and one of the things I personally really like about teaching the classes is that the people that attend my classes get to use ALL the tools on really cool cars and get hours of hand-on experience. By the time the class is over they know which tools they like and which tools they want. And it's always different for each individual.

When I taught Meguiar's classes all I could show was a signal tool. So while it's a lot more work to show around a dozen different tools it's also rewarding as I know it clears up all the confusion for the people attending.

Thanks much Mike!

I'm not far from you, and would love to take the class one day when I'm able to. I'm very confident I can learn so much from a class like that. I've been to the autogeek fest few times in the past and you guys are doing great things.

2 machines is always possible too I guess. Sounds like do correcting/polishing with flex if you have some work to do and then get on the rupes 15 or 21 and put on the finishing polish followed by the protectants. Just like cutting mf pads and foam pads. Both work, but one sometimes does a better job and is better suited for it.

Perhaps I'll look around for a used bigfoot that someone is upgrading from and I'll just have both in my arsenal!