# Buffing CURVED PANELS with NEW RUPES Mark II BigFoot 21 & 15 Polishers



## Mike Phillips

*Buffing curved panels with NEW RUPES Mark II BigFoot 21 & 15 Polishers*










Below you'll find a full picture essay showing the new RUPES BigFoot 21 Mark II and the RUPES BigFoot 15 Mark II in action!

First however I would like to thank all my friends at RUPES for their trust. I appreciate and value your trust to provide me with your newest evolution in large stroke orbital polishers to test them out here at Autogeek's Show Car Garage.

Upon finding out I would have access to these new production units I sought out just the *right car* put these new tools to the test while at the same time a car with a *cool factor* that any new tool introduction deserves.

When I first saw Larry Jone's *1951 Mercury Coupe* with it's new custom paint job with flames by JoAnn Bortles owner of Crazy Horse Custom Painting I instantly recognized it as the car that Sylvester Stallone, (The Italian Stallion), drove in the movie Cobra.

Sylvester Stallone - Cobra


















James Dean - Rebel without a cause
Another famous movie star is also associated with this Mercury coupe. James Dean drove a 1949 Mercury Coupe in the movie which is the same body style as this 1951 Mercury Coupe.



















Besides the cool factor being a car driven by two legendary movie stars and by the way *car guys*, the 1951 Mercury has a lot of curves so it makes a perfect test car for the new RUPES Mark II series tool.

Again thank you to everyone at RUPES and especially Chip Case, Todd Helme and Alberto Quiroscabrera for coordinating with me to make this project happen before SEMA.


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## Mike Phillips

*My take...*

I'm going to share a lot of picture in this thread to really showcase the,


*Before condition of the Mercury.*
*The during shots of this tool in action.*
*The after shots showing the results.*
Before getting to the pictures however I just want to cut to the chase to share my experience after tackling a very swirled-out paint job.

Todd and Alberto brought three Mark II polishers, two BigFoot 21s and one BigFoot 15. Since I gravitate towards the BigFoot 21 this is the tool I used for the majority of this project.

Todd and Alberto when over all the new changes and explained the practical advantages and benefits they provide. I found their information very interesting and Todd has a way of explaining things that makes understanding very easy.

After discussing the changes we went to work following this process,

*1.* Machine decontaminating the paint using RUPES polishers with Nanoskin Autoscrub Pads.

Performing a Test Spot to dial-in and prove our system approach.

*2.* Compounding with Blue/Blue

*3.* Polishing with Yellow/Yellow​(We stopped after machine polishing as I also have a new coating to use and share in an upcoming write-up)

*My experience in one word...*

Impressive

After Todd did the Test Spot and we all inspected the results I placed a RUPES 7" Coarse Foam Cutting Pad on the RUPES BigFoot 21 Mark II and started compounding the paint.

Todd and I started on the front of the car as that's where the majority of the curves are found. Pad rotation was dramatically improved both when buffing out curved panels and even when applying firm pressure. The increased performance impressed me and made quick work of removing the holograms from the paint. To be honest... there were convex curved areas that required more focus on my technique to buff completely but this was accomplished simply by adjusting how I held the tool in relationship to the panel.

Besides the increase in pad rotation and overall power and performance the other aspect that I love about RUPES tools as does everyone else I know and that is the smooth, zero vibration from the tool even after the increases in performance.

I'm happy to say RUPES has taken their long stroke orbital technology to a new and higher level.

Now on to the pictures....


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## Mike Phillips

*Before pictures in full sun.*






















































































































*Under florescent lights after chemically stripping the piant*


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## Mike Phillips

First up... mechanical decontamination.

One of the important lessons I teach in all my classes is that *gloss comes from a smooth surface*.

After doing the *Baggie Test* we found the paint was contaminated so we used the Medium Grade Nanoskin Autoscrub Pads on speed setting 1 to mechanically decontaminate the paint.
































































:xyxthumbs:


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## Mike Phillips

The next step is doing a Test Spot.








































































































































*That's what you want to see on paint on a car like this....*


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## Mike Phillips

Get busy!

After dialing in our approach it was time to get busy....










The front clip on the Mercury is very curvy and a great test for the new Mark II series polishers.

















































































































































Here's some more very curvy panels...














































The polishing step
Alberto has started in on the polishing step while Todd and I tackle the louvers using the RUPES TA50


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## Mike Phillips

Results
I always have a hard time picking out the best so here's something for everyone...


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## Mike Phillips

Two new how-to books

In time for SEMA and Christmas I have two brand new how-to books.

*How to use the RUPES BigFoot Paint Polishing System
for Production Detailing and Show Car Detailing*










*How to Detail Boats with Marine 31*
(Includes RUPES Polishers and Sanders)










While Todd and Alberto were here they both received signed copies.









































































Thank you Todd and Alberto for spending a day sharing the new RUPES Mark II series polishers with me here at Autogeek's Show Car Garage.

Again thank you to everyone at RUPES for your trust.

*Looking forward to seeing everyone at SEMA!*


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## chongo

What Amazing detail guys, are they doing a 12m Detto


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## WHIZZER

Looks amazing , was in pretty bad shape to begin with


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## cossiecol

Stunning :thumb:


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## Mike Phillips

chongo said:


> What Amazing detail guys, are they doing a 12m Detto


I don't know. My guess is they will share this type of info at SEMA


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## Mike Phillips

WHIZZER said:


> Looks amazing , was in pretty bad shape to begin with


Thank you sir!

I have something similar scheduled for next Monday...

A reall special project.


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## Leebo310

Excellent work and write up as always Mike.

When will the Rupes book be available out of interest?


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