# How do I prime a Rupes Foam Pad on a Rupes Polisher?



## Mike Phillips

*How do I prime a Rupes Foam Pad on a Rupes Polisher?*

I get asked this question a lot and I see it asked a lot so here's the answer.

*Question:* *How do I prime a Rupes pad on a Rupes Polisher?*

*Answer:* *You don't.*

That is you don't prime a RUPES pad with RUPES compounds and polishes the same way you prime pads for other dual action polishers.
​Instead, you *KISS or Keep it Simple Simon* and _*simply*_ apply 3 drops about the size of dimes on the face of the pad like this,



















This is *ESPECIALLY TRUE* for the Rupes Blue Coarse Foam Cutting Pads as they have a _*very large open cell foam structure*_ and if it's very easy for any excess product to sling out and off the pad and end up as splatter dots all over the car and even you if you over use the product.

From this thread,
*Mind Blowing - Rupes Blue Foam Cutting Pad and Zephir Gloss Coarse Gel Compound *



















*Here's a tip...*
When you go to add fresh product, don't add it to the same place you previously applied the product. Space out future drops of fresh product to different areas on the pad.

Interesting Pattern Develops
I thought this was very interesting, it's a picture of a Rupes pad after placing three dime sized drops of product on a clean, dry pad and then buffing just one section of single stage paint.

Look at the pattern created by the product, it shows how the product settled out under use...

The below pictures were taken from this recent show car/race car we buffed out...

*Pictures: 1966 Orange Chevy Nova Super Sport Extreme Makeover*

Here's an excerpt...

Rupes Bigfoot Orbital Polishers

First we tested the green medium foam pad with the Blackfire SRC Compound.

Key Points.

No need to prime pad, simply place product directly onto the face of the foam pad, place the pad against the paint, use a medium speed to spread the product out then begin making SLOW overlapping passes with just a little more than the weight of the tool for downward pressure.



















Triangle Pattern
Now look at this crazy patter created from three dime sized drops of product after buffing out one section of paint.










And yes... the car came out nice using this simple technique to get the product onto the pad.










Before


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## Leebo310

Hi Mike

Apologies if this has been asked or covered somewhere else before but with regards to spreading the product out, do you use the same medium speed to then actually work the panel? So say using speed 3 for spreading it out and then just up the downward pressure of the actual machine, but still using speed 3 to do the slower overlapping passes?
Do you use the same technique for the finishing stages on the yellow/white pads too?

Thanks in advance

Lee


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## Mike Phillips

Leebo310 said:


> Hi Mike
> 
> Apologies if this has been asked or covered somewhere else before but with regards to spreading the product out, do you use the same medium speed to then actually work the panel?
> 
> So say using speed 3 for spreading it out and then just up the downward pressure of the actual machine, but still using speed 3 to do the slower overlapping passes?


When I'm doing correction work with any of the Rupes polishers after using a slower speed to spread the product out I then increase the speed to the 5-6 setting and almost always the 6 setting. I know I read other guys using slower speeds to do correction work with Rupes polishers and if that works for them that's great.

I fully believe correction work can be done using slow speeds in fact when I use my Flex PE14 rotary buffer I rarely go over the 2 - 3 settings which are 900 RPM and 1200 RPM. Some modern compounds are actually made for low RPM. Heat is a bad thing for clear coats and high speeds on rotary buffers generates a lot of heat.

When I use my Flex 3401 I use a range of 4-6

But when I use any of the Rupes polishers I'm for the most part on the 6 setting for removing paint.



Leebo310 said:


> Do you use the same technique for the finishing stages on the yellow/white pads too?
> 
> Thanks in advance
> 
> Lee


Yes.

Good questions....

:thumb:


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## Leebo310

Thanks for answering so quickly Mike, it's much appreciated :thumb:


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## G4V JW

The best piece of info I've read on here this week , spent 10 hours over the last 3 days correcting my van with my new Bigfoot , still a quarter to go

Had major issues with polish getting everywhere , now I know why , and the rest of the correction will hopefully go a lot cleaner

Thanks mike


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## Bikeracer

Hi Mike,

I'm totally new to machine polishing and I have a Rupes Duetto,as yet not even switched on.

I would like to know if using the three blobs of product on the Rupes pads is correct with other products such as Meguires 105,205 and ScratchX,Poorboys Black hole,SRP,and paste wax.

Allan


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## AllenF

Yup three or four pea size drops and away you gooooooooo


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## Bikeracer

AllenF said:


> Yup three or four pea size drops and away you gooooooooo


I tried that with some SRP and a yellow Rupes pad and found that there was still a lot of dry pad,same with Poorboys BH on a white pad.
Admittedly this was my first attempt,but I'm going to prime in the usual way next time so that the whole of the pad face is primed and see how that works out.

Reading back through the opening post,it does state that this is the way to do it with the Rupes gel polishes.

Allan


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## AllenF

Its going to get messy and the pad will start to sag if you overload it. Then they dont work as well
Maybe try using more dots but smaller round the pad ( like 8-10 small garden pea not processed pea size). You could also try a mist of water on pad to start with


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