initial e

Have you parked in a parking garage in an old building recently?

Well I park daily in a parking garage at my condo but there are no pipes or anything to potentially drip.  I thought the same thing so I took out my flashlight and inspected the ceiling and it's completely dry. 

Guys/gals, 

When I got home I noticed the below on my paint.  It's absolutely stuck on there even with my cquartz coating (sorry adam's product wasnt available at the time I got my car ).  I tried the following: soap & water, general wipe, some tar cleaner, goo gone, and clay.  I did however manage to use the blue heavy correcting polish on a pad and about 80% came off with no apparent damage to the paint or clear.  I used it by hand just incase there were some adverse effects.  

Should I go ahead and throw it on my orbital?  The paint surface less than the stupid contamination has been cleaned to best I can.  Or should I try something chemically aggressive like the wheel cleaner and treat the spot? It has completely ran down the entire side of my rear quarter panel. 

It's not really rough to the touch and it's very smooth but it simply will not come off.  It's all over my rear glass however, I'm able to scrape it off.  Ideally I dont want to take a razor blade to the glass but it'll come off.  I have some 3000 grit auto sandpaper but I'd like to avoid wet sanding it.   :( 

anti-money laundering global financial crimes investigator 

What is the purpose of the gamma seal lid? I fill mine, wash and then dump it out.  

Need to be more active... get some snap of Kourtney

I'm up in Baltimore 

lol @ that dog in the vid   

Buy it in gallons especially when it's on sale.  I also started using it with the Kwazar spray bottle and it's able to atomize the cleaner into a fine mist that covers more area and evenly.  I've noticed that the product is lasting a whole lot longer and cleaning just as well if not better since it's evenly spread across the wheel. 

Hi everyone, 

So I decided to quickly throw together a review of the Rupes pen that was previously talked about. I will admit I have been eyeing it on Amazon for a bit but was put off by the price and a bit of skepticism.  

The Rupes light is a very nice piece of equipment and is delivered that way.  When I opened the box I was impressed at the nice package. It absolutely feels premium like a nice solid pen.  Even without the batteries you can feel the solid weight.  I'll present the comparison at the very end.

You cut the seal at the bottom, push down and out slides the bottom that holds the pen.

There is even a nice piece of paper that blocks the batteries from contacting the terminal in case for some odd reason the button was pressed.

Comes with two Raymax AAA batteries

What's great about the Rupes pen is that it's adjustable to almost infinite settings given the focal constraints that is built around.  This is not like a low, medium, high selectable light.  You push and pull the head of the pen to adjust the focus of the light.  The amount of light output remains the same but focal point will go from wide to narrow. 

The head fully compressed to the body:

Pulled all the way out for a narrow focus:

More on this to come when inspecting paint.......

Pain points:

Here is a picture of the glass lens.  Now from inspection it is a very nice clear piece of glass.  However, feels VERY thin.  I do not think it would survive if you were to drop this from chest height.

If you look closely, the head of the pen does not line up perfectly with the body. It's off just by a little but for $50 this thing needs to be spot on.  When you run your finger over it you can definitely tell it doesn't line up and is flush.  Personally, this is a huge deal with me especially for $50

Conclusion:

This is a very solid no compromise in quality of a product that you can expect from Italian manufacturing and Rupes.  The fact that the adjustment is almost infinite within the restraints of the extension movement will allow a user to find that sweet spot depending on angle, lighting and color of paint.  No two paints are the same so this pen will allow you to adjust as needed. The weight is good and makes you feel like your $50 was well worth it just based on manufacturing quality alone. Rupes chose to go with the 2x AAA setup for a pen light but I wonder if it could've been reduced to to a smaller form factor using a single AAA to make it about half the size.  The two AAA batteries will offer up a ridiculous amount of runtime though as opposed to a single AAA setup.  However what gets me is the head of the pen does not sit flush with the body of the pen as pictured above.  Maybe it's just mine but for $50 this thing needs to be flawless.  The LED produces a bright yet soft white beam that is easy and not blinding to the eye. The power button is a little mushy rather than a solid sharp click. Most likely to allow the user to just quickly fire up the light and if need be push the button all the way in in to lock it in place allowing for constant power. 

In terms of identifying swirls it works as advertised and upon testing this on a few different colors, the ability to adjust the focus of the light sets this apart from just the standard 3 setting light.  The ability of this thing to be adjustable sets it apart.  Now, do not expect to just light this thing up and point it at paint and the swirls appear... each situation is unique and it may take a minute or two to find that sweet spot so that the swirls do clearly appear.  In some cases you'll get an instant result just based on the fact you're using a light but when adjusted properly you are able to really see them. Of course the opposite may occur. 

The big question.... Is it worth $50?? - Hard to say really.  I would consider this a 'professional' tool that hobbyist can afford and easily use. The more patience you have with it the better it works.  To me the build quality is absolutely top notch.  Aside from the head of the pen not lining up with the body (on mine at least) it is flawless.  

Do I feel guilty about spending $50 on this thing? Hell yes I do. Do I regret it? NOPE.  (maybe when the next mystery box comes up or I run out of wheel cleaner).

Should you purchase this? If you have the spare $50 and do a lot of paint correction, just curious about how bad other people's paint is or you detail professionally and would like to use this to point out paint flaws during a consultation - then yes, you should.  If you do paint correction once a year or hardly ever, then no - it's hard to justify spending this kind of money on a pen light.  

Now let's compare it to a low cost alternative......

Lets get started and meet the two contenders - 

Brand: Rupes

Model: LL150

Weight 4oz

Light Source: LED

Battery: 2 x AAA

Focus: Adjustable 

Lumens: 140

Material: Aluminum alloy

Lens: Glass

Origin: Italy

Price: $50

Brand: Nestling

Model: Black Shadow EVA 130

Weight：.03oz
Light Source: LED
Battery：1/ AAA 
Focus：High, one brightness mode 
Lumens：130 

Material：Aluminum alloy
Lens：dense plastic

Origin: China

Price: $10

As you can see the Nestling light is half the size of the Rupes.  Both are made out of the same hardened aluminium. The Nestling light is 130 lumen LED with a very clear plastic lens and the Rupes is a 140 lumen LED with a glass lens. 

I chose the Nestling Black Shadow EVA based on price ($10), form factor, and intentionally a lower 130 lumen for a price to performance ratio comparison. 

The Rupes adjustable focus make the light come out at sort of a square beam with a very bright center.  The Nestling is just a round non adjustable focus with constant high power.  While I just thought about this, my back was facing the background light source so the pictures appear to be taken in black room... this is not the case.  Sorry... my photography lighting knowledge and skills are poor. lol

The test subject is a VW Beetle with some very light blue paint.  Almost exactly as pictured below but due to years of neglect, lacks a great shine. But this is for reference:

Both lights were held off the paint from about 8-12 inches. 

Initial focus of the Rupes light:

Notice how wide the light is.

Initial focus of the Nestling:

Same distance as the Rupes but round and a little more dispersed. Still very bright despite being 10 lumens less than the Rupes. 

Narrow focus of the Rupes:

Notice that the focus is sharp compared to the Nestling which is more dispersed but both appear to be equally as bright. 

There pretty much is no narrow focus for the Nestling

However, being that the Nestling is a sharp white light compared to the soft white of the Rupes, it appears to be about the same brightness and even when holding both lights just inches from the paint, the Nestling will look brighter. 

Here are some examples on dark paint: (just to show light color)

Car: BMW 428i Grand Coupe (2016)

Paint: Black Sapphire Metallic

Location: Hood

The specs are not dirt but are the 'metallic' flakes that BMW uses.  I previously corrected and polished the paint this am, however it may be a little dirty from a short drive.  Sidebar - this paint is extremely hard and despite it only having 3k miles and the paint being in great condition... I had to use the microfiber pad to correct.  The standard orange just wasn't cutting it. I felt like I was fighting it the whole time.  

Rupes: 

Nestling:

As you can see, there are some huge differences such as the width of the light and then some that are minor such as the actual brightness.  The Neslting's sharp white light, despite it being 10lumens less, is very bright.  The Rupes' soft white light and 10 lumen advantage allows it to negate the soft white and produce an equally bright light.  

Comparison Conclusion:

The Nestling puts up a solid fight and is as far as price:performance ratio.... is great. It'll fit nicely on your keychain or in your pocket.  However, expect to be frustrated with it at times on various colors.  I used it to check my paint (Sakhir Orange as pictured in my sig) and it couldn't make anything appear.  I even tapped of an area that I knew had some swirl marks and compared it directly with the Rupes and the Nestling couldn't do it.  I switched to the Rupes and after about 5 min of adjusting the focus and angles I was able to see some small swirl marks.   So it really depends on your paint and atmospheric lighting.  The Nestling is a great value for a light to just keep around your kit for just $10 and is a very good alternative to the Rupes.  However, there is no comparison when it comes to the Rupes ability to be adjusted in almost any way possible.

I hope this helps anyone considering buying the Rupes pen light or any light to help identify swirls.  

Alrighty... a quick unboxing for those who maybe are interested.  I can probably try and test it tomorrow for a full review and comparison against 2 other lights that I used today, which upon my initial observations, may be strong contenders if you don't want to drop the cash on the Rupes light

Let me also say this is a VERY well made product and does feel absolutely premium. 

pics! (ignore my dirty scratched up table ) 

   thanks for looking

I have the rupes pen and its a very nice tool to have. On my candy red mustang not many lights work but this one shows everything. Like with everything you get what you pay for.

Mine is a red/orangeish so I went and bit the bullet and bought one off Amazon. It's at least worth a try. 

Ah just a bit out of my way for a 9am show.

let me get that foam gun! 

some pics

If you let them soak with APC and rinse them out with fairly hot water while massaging the polish out with your fingers, you should hopefully be able to get the majority of the polish out, but if it has hardened too much you might have difficulty. Do you have any current pictures of the pads? The foam material is fairly durable so you should still be able to clean them out.

 

Cleaning out pads the same day after a detail session is considered a requirement to me, if you want to get the longest life out of the pads.

Thanks Dan, I'll get a pic tonight.  I did clean them right after but just by hand in the sink... not a scrub down on a grit guard though. They aren't crusty or anything like that. 

Ok cool guys thanks!

These pads have been sitting there for like 6 months tho.  Will they be ok after I soak and scrub them? 

Hi all - I have a few older 4" pads that have been sitting around for about 6 months and previously used with the paint correcting polish.  I tried as hard as I could at the time to wash these by hand but I'm trying to be cautious on the state they are in.

Should I buy one of those bucket pad washer things or is hand washing fine?  I feel like I cant get all the polish out of the pad when hand washing though.  Being that these pads have sat in my detail box for 6 months, should I attempt to re-clean them or ditch them?  

Also how do you guys store your pads when no in use?  Right now I just have mine sealed up in zip lock bags to minimize any fine contaminants on them. Is that good enough? 

let me know what you think! 

Can the light be too bright? I find it difficult to look into a really bright led looking for swirls.

In a sense yes it can.  I use a Nitecore P12 which has up to 1000 lumens but it also has 3 other different settings.  It's not just my swirl finder light but my go to flash light.  At full power this thing is stupid bright.

http://www.amazon.com/NITECORE-Version-Tactical-Flashlight-Waterproof/dp/B00GZYNX8G

I dont remember the price being that much though.... but if you're looking for an all around great LED flash light, I recommend the P12

This is good! I'm pretty excited about getting it.  Thanks for the insight on it 

Yeah... Just use it. I am brainless noob with respect to using polishers and I just used it to polish and seal a brand new 2016 M3. It was incredibly easy to use. Smooth, light and very quiet. I will never use my hands again with the exception of about 5% of the hard to get to area of that car. I had always been a little intimidated about using a polisher but the Flex XFE 7-15 was really really nice to use. Just keep it flat to the surface you are working and don't let the pad get too close to a body work edge. I just got a feel as to how close I could edge with the pad and it worked out nicely. Great great product and very happy with it. I can tell this is an extremely well made piece of gear that will last a long long time. I hope Flex will introduce a DA mini because as soon as they do I will buy that too. I wish I could post more tips or critique but it really was easy to use and took virtually zero time to dial in a technique to use it. It just felt right from the beginning. The thing is so smooth that I felt comfortable one handing part of the carbon fiber roof with sealant. Sounds dumb but applying the menzerna powerlock sealant with the foam pads required no pressure and the Flex is extremely smooth and easy to control. I know it sounds kind of risky but the polisher was so easy to control that I felt it was a safer choice than sticking a step stool or ladder next to the car. Bad things happen when ladders are close to cars. It worked great and I would do the same thing again with this polisher and sealant. One hand paint correction definitely not! GREAT POLISHER.

Literally happened today   

When you're detailing your car... and a charity 5k comes by

in my sig 

I didnt want to thread jack the other Flex thread so I'll start this one. I'm retiring my PC for limited use now and just scooped up the Flex XFE7 after reading some great reviews on it over the interweb.  

Does anyone else here have some advice or comments on this polisher? 

 x 10

my roof