Rupes making my life easier

I use Rupes DA machines as well, extremely easy machines to work with, especially when you are a newbie but just as good machines for a pro, steady and strong! The rupes polishing compounds is also nice, good smells compared to fex menzarena. The blue one is a bit dusty though.

I got the Rupes LHR 21ES and 75E mini, these covers about all my needs. The 75e mini is also good with wet sanding, used them plenty on restoring headlights.

I really want the rupes kit, i opted to buy a cheaper DA and polisher combo, because the rupes kit is expensive, and i baulk everytime i look at the price, however based on my behavior recently i'll get one, which is what i should of done in the first place, do you get the rupes swirl spotter torch in the kit?

Gib said:

In the kit I bought had the LHR 15, compounds, microfibres, carry bag, and pads. As for the swirl spotter torch I use a torch very similar to the 3M sun gun, but not at its price! very effective though.

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Which torch? i have an LedLenser p7 which is good, although very bright, I almost bought a Rupes swirl finder this morning but i am very keen to find out what everyone else is doing.

Did you get this one from slims?

http://www.slimsdetailing.co.uk/acc...oot-lhr15es-machine-deluxe-polishing-kit.html

if so I am going to order it today, i am doing so much polishing now I reckon it's worth an upgrade, anyone want a second hand DAS 6 pro?

So at the advisal of the OP I bought the LHR15ES Mark II BigFoot deluxe kit from Slims and the LHR75E standard kit from another vendor. I am now regretting not getting the LHR21ES, as it was only £20 more...

Why did i get two of them? so i could get into tighter area's without swapping backing plates. So now I want the Smaller Nano polisher (it never ends)

Thoughts;

If you asked me two weeks ago, I would of probably told you a DA was all you needed, well that and decent pads. Let me tell you I was wrong, the Bigfoot makes a massive difference as stated by Gib, for example I was able to use all 4 pads to refine the Boot lip on a Merc E-Class wagon, to the extent were i was 100% happy with it in the time it would of taken me to just compound it with the DA, and the finish was so much better (probably because I had the time to properly refine it). Furthermore, at the beginning I thought i was robbing myself as I thought doing the Merc was a going to be a 3 day job when i saw the paint under artificial light, I started on Saturday morning and Finished just after lunch on Sunday. (i'll post pictures on a well known detailing forum when I get them off my camera)

The Rupes in my opinion is so much more usable than a DA, and the results are so much better for a given time period, and that is what your paying for.

If you have a DA and gotten comfortable with it consider getting the LHR15ES MkII, its not that much difficult to use than a DA (if at all) and you'll be impressed with the results, as i was.

Glad you found value for your money

But that said your LHR15ES is a DA machine. DA stands for "dual action polisher", which means that it is not just spinning (like a rotary polisher) but it is also throwing randomly around. This is what makes these machines so excellent and easy to work with compared to a rotary polisher which gives an insane amount of holograms if you are not trained, and a DA has also better "cooling" in terms of how fast you will burn trough the paint, an rotary can burn almost instant on a flat panel as it is concentrated right where you put it while a DA will throw around.

The new rupes nano is a handy tool too have, but think about how much you are going to need it compared to the cost of the machine. I have never yet after thousands of detailing hours had the need for a smaller machine than my 75e mini

And youll come a long way with the lhr 15, tho the thing with the 21 is not only that you can change backplate to a 15 but it has a much bigger throw than the lhr 15, thats the main comparison between the two, not just the size.

Solberg said:

Glad you found value for your money

But that said your LHR15ES is a DA machine. DA stands for "dual action polisher", which means that it is not just spinning (like a rotary polisher) but it is also throwing randomly around. This is what makes these machines so excellent and easy to work with compared to a rotary polisher which gives an insane amount of holograms if you are not trained, and a DA has also better "cooling" in terms of how fast you will burn trough the paint, an rotary can burn almost instant on a flat panel as it is concentrated right where you put it while a DA will throw around.

The new rupes nano is a handy tool too have, but think about how much you are going to need it compared to the cost of the machine. I have never yet after thousands of detailing hours had the need for a smaller machine than my 75e mini

And youll come a long way with the lhr 15, tho the thing with the 21 is not only that you can change backplate to a 15 but it has a much bigger throw than the lhr 15, thats the main comparison between the two, not just the size.

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I use DA as an interchangeable term for DAS 6 pro, the Rupes is called a "random orbital" which as pointed out before just means Dual Action, That being said using the Rupes had very little learning curve to it, It's definitely more stable and produces hardly any vibration, secondly and this is a big thing for me (although I didn't think it would be), the pads and compunds/polishes and Microfibres from Rupes are all colour coded, it just makes it so easy to use.

Gib said:

LHR15 is a great machine! I sampled the 21 and found it equally great, easy if you have a larger car! I am in the process of buying the Nano as I am starting to do a lot of cars and found it is very versatile in that you can use it on the interior too. But as you said Solberg..... the cost is a big issue! being £400+ it is a very costly tool to have if your using it on the 'odd' occasion.

And the moment with the amount of cars I detail I find it would be beneficial. Another thing which had me swaying if I should buy one or not was the fact a lot of my customers now are buying new/newish cars on lease which means the paint work is already in great condition, therefor not needing much correction.

My previous Kestral DA sat for months not being used until a flood of cars needed doing. It would annoy me if this happened if I bought the nano.

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I find that most of the cars I have been correcting/enhancing have been 'sportier' ones, which have lots of vents and splitter's that you could use a nano to get into properly, it seem's to me that people with 'mundane' models don't seem to care as much and just want them valeted (which is a shame)

Gib said:

I find there are the people who 'like' there cars, they like them clean and shiny and care for them as best they can - but yet its just a car to them (a form of transport) and not fussed about cleaning it every weekend.

Then there are the people who 'love' there cars, doesn't matter the age or what car it is they take great pride in it, clean it every weekend and even though still a form of transport they are very protective over it.

Im somewhere in-between.... I love my car and look after it but yet its used as a daily, so it will get stone chips small marks on it.

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I love my car too, but its depressing me at the moment, with the way the weather is it stays looking good for about 2 days. I hate the winter.