marquez93

Awesome work. The shine and reflections are just amazing, Adams saves another paint job. 

My Dad had been wanting me to detail his '99 Mustang Cobra convertible for a while now and I finally got around to it while he's out of town. I spent all day just doing the paint correction and I'm amazed at the improvement. I guess I have to do the interior tomorrow so it looks as nice as the exterior.
 
I used my Rupes 15 and did 2 passes with a microfiber pad and 1 pass with the white foam pad. Then I joined the camp of Brilliant Glaze before Paint Sealant, only because I needed the BG to get the polish residue off. It wouldn't budge.

My Dad had been wanting me to detail his '99 Mustang Cobra convertible for a while now and I finally got around to it while he's out of town. I spent all day just doing the paint correction and I'm amazed at the improvement. I guess I have to do the interior tomorrow so it looks as nice as the exterior.
 
I used my Rupes 15 and did 2 passes with a microfiber pad and 1 pass with the white foam pad. Then I joined the camp of Brilliant Glaze before Paint Sealant, only because I needed the BG to get the polish residue off. It wouldn't budge.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

BigFoot Production Officially Starts in the USA

Longmont, Colorado – July 27th, 2016 - Continuing their commitment to growth in the US market, RUPES announced today the beginning of production for a number of their popular BigFoot electric polishers at their North American facility. This event marks the first time that the primary manufacturing of the class-leading BigFoot tools will occur outside of Italy.

“It’s truly an honor.” says Chip Case, General Manager for RUPES USA. “The investment and the faith in our team here in the US to build these tools shows just how committed to supporting the US market RUPES is.”

Manufacturing tolerances and standards set in Italy are maintained in the Colorado facility, including strict quality control. LHR21ES and LHR15ES tools from the US factory have already begun to make their way into the market with the Mark II versions and other BigFoot models to follow by the end of Q4 2016.

After bursting onto the scene about 5 years ago, the RUPES BigFoot family of tools have become the preferred option for professionals and enthusiasts. With manufacturing of the tools now a reality in the US, the company will be able to provide even higher levels of service and produce tools to meet the ever increasing demand.

RUPES SpA is a one of the leading manufacturers of specialty electric and pneumatic tools as well as vacuum dust extraction systems for a variety of industries including detailing, body shop, industrial, woodworking, and marine.





PRESS CONTACTS:

International -
RUPES S.p.A. Vermezzo (MI) - Italy                            
Francesco Ginocchio | Marketing Manager
E-mail: fginocchio@rupes.it
Phone: +39.02.94694.304       


North America -
RUPES USA, Inc.  Longmont, CO - USA
Dylan von Kleist | Marketing Manager
E-mail: dylanv@rupesusa.com
Phone: +1(970)535-0100 ext 322

Why not just do the paint sealant on each panel after you correct? It doesn't take any longer than doing buttery wax. And then if you wanted to, you could do a second coat over the whole car when you finish.

There are a number of knock offs on the market of our BigFoot polishers, pretty much carbon copies under their colored plastics and rubber accents. The difference is that we actually build ours... every component including even the winding of the motor is done in house and based on our design. With the knock offs you're generally looking at a copy that doesn't meet very precise engineering tolerances (because its just a copy) and also uses off the shelf parts from other kinds of tools. With a tool orbiting at such a big distance and high speed the precision and quality of every single component will be stressed to the max - as a percentage of tools in the market we are proud to have EXTREMELY low failure rates because of our level of precision.
 
Why does the motor matter? We tune our motors for the task they're doing. So in the LHR21 or LHR15 for example, the motor is specifically tuned for polishing operations at speeds ideal for that task, designed, built, inspected, and assembled in house. This is why our BigFoot tools we only need to consume 500w of power to out perform the knock offs that use a 900w grinder motor. You can learn more about this in the write up I posted: http://www.adamsforums.com/topic/30044-power-vs-consumption-why-bigger-isnt-always-better/
 
Brands that knock off products are about the lowest form of operation IMO. Their low quality copies of precision engineered innovative technology undermine the industry and supporting that kind of action has a detrimental impact that hits vendors, distributors, professionals, and DIY enthusiasts. Support INNOVATION not IMITATION.
 
(for anyone interested in seeing a tiny glimpse of the factory operations Larry Kosilla did a great video on it last year. You should be able to find it on google)
 
Adding to that... earlier this year RUPES shifted production of 120v LHR21ES and LHR15ES tools over to our US facility. This means that at this exact moment BigFoot tools are being assembled right along side Cyclo polishers in our Longmont factory. This has not been made a public announcement just yet as there are other big announcements that will be coupled with it, but I can confidently say now that many RUPES tools are now built here in the USA. This also gives us the ability to provide factory level support for everything we sell. Not some 3rd party tool repair place, so if your tool ever needs to come in for repair it will be done by professionals that build the tools using factory parts and it will be done quickly - usually the same day it arrives here. None of the knock-offs can claim the same and are often pumped out of one of only a handful of the same Chinese factories, just with a different color or shaped plastic on the outside.

But I digress - I'll comment on this as a comparison between the LHR15 and the Cyclo Model 5 Pro as that would be most relevant with those being the tools Adam's stocks/supports:
 
The Cyclo is certifiably the lowest vibration orbital polisher in the industry thanks to its dual headed design. Basically the whole thing is one big counterbalance. This provides the most operator comfort and lowest fatigue. Its also, as far as I'm aware, the last tool in the business that is made using cast metal housings. This only adds about 1lbs of weight over plastic tools, but provides a much higher level of durability. The knock on the Cyclo, if there is one, is the lack of power... its perfect for common swirl removal, but in some cases it will lack the 'oomph' to do more serious defect removal and because of its overall lower operating speeds it can tend to be slower thru a process. I would recommend the Cyclo for anyone maintaining their personal vehicles or who isn't in need of heavy/fast correction work.

NOTE : the Cyclo was a 'bigfoot' even before the acquisition by RUPES - since the 1940's the Cyclo has had a 16mm orbit on each head... thats 2x the orbit size of a Porter Cable, so its correcting power comes mostly from the stroke and not the speed, however both things do play a role.
 
Now the LHR15ES and LHR15II are going to give you the power to take on virtually any level of defect depending on your pad/polish combo. They will have extremely low vibrations levels, honestly the only lower vibration tool is the Cyclo. The higher speeds and torque of the LHR15II mean that at speed 4 you have all the correcting power you need for most jobs, but you can ramp up to speed 5 or 6 when the need arises.
The LHR15 is definitely more of a professional tool capable of heavy correction as well as fine polishing depending on how its used. The ES comes in at a great price point now if you don't need the additional 30% power, but if you do the Mark II provides class leading performance at every single level.
 
Any other questions about BigFoot or Cyclo don't hesitate to ask. Cheers!

I have not used a cyclo, but I also would recommend the Rupes 15. It's a better comparison to the G15 also as they are the same type of machine. Rupes is the original design and of high quality engineering. I'm not saying the G15 is not high quality because I don't know, but I consider it a knockoff.
 
And no one is trying to push you away. They're just not well informed on Griot's products since most people are exclusive Adam's users. And they're not willing to offer much advice on competitor's products as that is frowned upon here. It's a private forum, paid for by Adam. So no reason for him to allow discussion on competitor's products.

Good idea. I've got a Sun Joe SPX3000 which is currently $146.99 on Amazon and highly rated. It is 2030 PSI (pretty high for an electric) and 1.76 GPM.
 
I've only used it maybe 10 times but I've been happy with it. And I've only used my MTM foam cannon once with it. It was probably somewhere in the middle of shaving cream and runny, but I never took the time to dial it in perfectly.
 
And I don't think I had to make any modifications to work, but the Adam's foam cannon could be different. It uses standard fittings though, where I think the Karcher's usually have their own style fittings.

I believe Adam has also mentioned about how he doesn't want beginners to have to dilute their own products and possibly make mistakes that would cause them to have bad results and be unhappy. Since he offers a 110% guarantee, he wants to be sure the products are being used as intended and not too weak or too strong. It makes sense from a customer service perspective.

I came in to post that Dan I hope your dad gets better, praying for your family.
 
Let's MAKE ADAMS FORUMS GREAT AGAIN
 
lolol

No offense Dan but, in the interest of customer satisfaction, you should probably just turn that feature off if you don't have the manpower to handle it. That way people won't even be able to leave messages if there's no one with time to reply to them.

Went road racing down at New Jersey Motorsports Park on my Yamaha R6. Won both races and $100 each race payout. Adam's looking to sponsor a regional road racer ???

I believe Adam has also mentioned about how he doesn't want beginners to have to dilute their own products and possibly make mistakes that would cause them to have bad results and be unhappy. Since he offers a 110% guarantee, he wants to be sure the products are being used as intended and not too weak or too strong. It makes sense from a customer service perspective.

Coming from a background in professional detailing and now working for a company that is engaged entirely in surface restoration theres just a couple of things to consider:

The more aggressive the operation the more stress is placed on the pad - heavy correction work beats up pads, so your compounding phases will eat up pads rather quickly, so if you have some pretty serious defects to work on have lots of spare pads.
 
The more aggressive the operation the more residue management you have to contend with - as you are doing heavy correction work your pad is being loaded up not only with compound, but the byproduct of abrasive actions (clear coat and paint). To remove deep defects you need to remove more material, the more material you remove the more your pad loads up, the more your pad is loaded the less effective it is. Its considered best practices to replace those pads more frequently during the heavy cutting phases.
 
Keep those 2 things in mind as you decide how many pads to have on hand. At a MINIMUM no one should have fewer than 2 of every pad just out of common sense. If you drop a pad or a pad comes apart you need to have a backup at a minimum to keep going. If you are planning heavy correction work (i.e. - our first full paint correction) I recommend at least 4 pads for your cutting phases so you can at least divide the car into 1/4 chunks and work it that way.

For your finishing work you are doing much less aggressive work, and removing far less material, so 2 pads for your finishing is generally enough. Also consider though - you will do fine polishing work more often as a touchup exercise (at least you should) so if thats the case then having a couple of spares on hand isn't a bad idea either.

The one place I think you can generally get away with 1 or 2 pads is your LSP steps (glazes, waxes, sealants) - its not cutting any material so you have no residue management to deal with, the action is low stress on the pad so no issues there, and in the worst case you can jump to hand application if you lose a pad in the process (not an option in the cutting and finishing phases).
 
My 2 pennies worth - that and $6 will get you a latte at Starbucks. Cheers!
 
 
-DvK
 

I believe Adam has also mentioned about how he doesn't want beginners to have to dilute their own products and possibly make mistakes that would cause them to have bad results and be unhappy. Since he offers a 110% guarantee, he wants to be sure the products are being used as intended and not too weak or too strong. It makes sense from a customer service perspective.

And since no one else has said it yet - you do not need to buy anything specialized for black cars. And that other place just has too many choices that it's hard to figure out what to use. Adam's is the way to go. Simple product line, great customer service and 110% guarantee.

^i vote new best answer lol

I don't think these threads are complete without a quote from the guy who was behind the technical development and testing of the current Paint Sealant.
 
 
 
(emphasis added)
 
*you're 

Wife: why do you need that Adams foam thing when you have that foam cannon you bought last year.
Me: you know how noisy the gas pressure washer is?
Wife: I know and you start it so early in the morning when you wash the cars.
Me: I know, and I don't want to disturb you or the neighbors any more in the mornings on the weekends, and the Adams foam thing works with just the hose!
Wife: oh, why didn't you get it sooner if it doesn't make as much noise!
 
And that was the reasoning I used after I got mine.

You can absolutely do a Rinseless wash on that.

I guess there's probably some kind of tire marker you can use. Or you can just have the tires mounted the other way around. They're usually only white letter on one side. It's not the cheapest option, but it's guaranteed to stay black.

You can absolutely do a Rinseless wash on that.

You can absolutely do a Rinseless wash on that.

You can absolutely do a Rinseless wash on that.

I guess there's probably some kind of tire marker you can use. Or you can just have the tires mounted the other way around. They're usually only white letter on one side. It's not the cheapest option, but it's guaranteed to stay black.