Brand New iBrid HLR15 Vibrating like Crazy

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pgeorgan

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Just got one delivered today off Amazon and something is definitely wrong. There's no way Rupes let this thing leave the factory without turning it on first. It clearly has vibration issues. I have 3 other Rupes polishers and all pass the "air test" with flying colors. This fails miserably. Yes I tested it using Rupes pads - the brand new Intermediate ones, to be exact.

Not blaming Rupes just yet, since it did come from Amazon. I inspected it and the washer between the nut and backing plate was bent quite substantially. I put a flat one on and there was only a marginal improvement. No idea what happened to this machine but whomever owned it before I did must've tampered with it or who knows. My theory anyway.

Will keep you posted if/when the Amazon seller sends me a new one.
 
pgeorgan said:
Just got one delivered today off Amazon and something is definitely wrong. There's no way Rupes let this thing leave the factory without turning it on first. It clearly has vibration issues. I have 3 other Rupes polishers and all pass the "air test" with flying colors. This fails miserably. Yes I tested it using Rupes pads - the brand new Intermediate ones, to be exact.

Not blaming Rupes just yet, since it did come from Amazon. I inspected it and the washer between the nut and backing plate was bent quite substantially. I put a flat one on and there was only a marginal improvement. No idea what happened to this machine but whomever owned it before I did must've tampered with it or who knows. My theory anyway.

Will keep you posted if/when the Amazon seller sends me a new one.
Click to expand...

Did you buy it as refurbished or something?
 
pgeorgan said:
Just got one delivered today off Amazon and something is definitely wrong. There's no way Rupes let this thing leave the factory without turning it on first. It clearly has vibration issues. I have 3 other Rupes polishers and all pass the "air test" with flying colors. This fails miserably. Yes I tested it using Rupes pads - the brand new Intermediate ones, to be exact.

Not blaming Rupes just yet, since it did come from Amazon. I inspected it and the washer between the nut and backing plate was bent quite substantially. I put a flat one on and there was only a marginal improvement. No idea what happened to this machine but whomever owned it before I did must've tampered with it or who knows. My theory anyway.

Will keep you posted if/when the Amazon seller sends me a new one.
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Just curious. How much did you pay for it?
 
chilly said:
Did you buy it as refurbished or something?
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Purchased new. My theory is that it was returned and resold as "new", otherwise I can't explain the horribly bent washer, and why it's vibrating so horribly. A lot of times with Amazon it's hard to distinguish what's new from what was sold once before, opened and returned.
 
Optimus Grime said:
Just curious. How much did you pay for it?
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$735 for the kit. I think that's minimum MSRP set by Rupes, since it's identical everywhere.

I really liked the tool otherwise and was very disappointed. The replacement will be shipping out tomorrow and will probably arrive in 3-4 days. I understand it's absurdly expensive, which is why I promptly sent it back. It doesn't even compare to my Duetto or MarkIII, so it has to be defective.
 
pgeorgan said:
$735 for the kit. I think that's minimum MSRP set by Rupes, since it's identical everywhere.

I really liked the tool otherwise and was very disappointed. The replacement will be shipping out tomorrow and will probably arrive in 3-4 days. I understand it's absurdly expensive, which is why I promptly sent it back. It doesn't even compare to my Duetto or MarkIII, so it has to be defective.
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:wow:
 
pgeorgan said:
$735 for the kit. I think that's minimum MSRP set by Rupes, since it's identical everywhere.

I really liked the tool otherwise and was very disappointed. The replacement will be shipping out tomorrow and will probably arrive in 3-4 days. I understand it's absurdly expensive, which is why I promptly sent it back. It doesn't even compare to my Duetto or MarkIII, so it has to be defective.
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If you had gotten a refund I could have helped you out. I have a wholesale account t and get it for $610. I could have had it shipped straight to you.
 
Optimus Grime said:
If you had gotten a refund I could have helped you out. I have a wholesale account t and get it for $610. I could have had it shipped straight to you.
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Unfortunately all the Amazon listings have "no returns" listed due to "shipping restrictions" presumably because of the battery, which is obv. bunk because the non-Amazon websites have returns. We'll see how the replacement goes, there's still the option to return if item is "not as described".

Good to know though thanks for the offer. What else can you get? I am in need of some products and other miscellaneous items.
 
pgeorgan said:
Unfortunately all the Amazon listings have "no returns" listed due to "shipping restrictions" presumably because of the battery, which is obv. bunk because the non-Amazon websites have returns. We'll see how the replacement goes, there's still the option to return if item is "not as described".

Good to know though thanks for the offer. What else can you get? I am in need of some products and other miscellaneous items.
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I have an account at detailed image. If they have it I can get it for you.
 
Optimus Grime said:
I have an account at detailed image. If they have it I can get it for you.
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Much appreciated and will keep that in mind. Right now I think I'm stuck with the item, just praying that the replacement functions because I'm getting annoyed being without the tool for longer than anticipated.
 
pgeorgan said:
Much appreciated and will keep that in mind. Right now I think I'm stuck with the item, just praying that the replacement functions because I'm getting annoyed being without the tool for longer than anticipated.
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At least they sent you a new tool. Griots Garage did the same for me when I 1st received my Boss 21 polisher because I noticed the backing plate didn’t line up perfectly level along the shroud. They asked me to send it back and sent me a replacement, hand inspected by 1 of their supervisors.
 
pgeorgan said:
Much appreciated and will keep that in mind. Right now I think I'm stuck with the item, just praying that the replacement functions because I'm getting annoyed being without the tool for longer than anticipated.
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I hope yours works as expected. I have one and it’s smooth and quiet and the battery life exceeds expectations.
 
Optimus Grime said:
I hope yours works as expected. I have one and it’s smooth and quiet and the battery life exceeds expectations.
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Well if that's the case, I am especially confident that mine was a defective unit. Honestly I have a Griots G9 that is smoother than the HLR15 sent to me, so something was definitely amiss.
 
Optimus Grime said:
I hope yours works as expected. I have one and it’s smooth and quiet and the battery life exceeds expectations.
Click to expand...

Alright the new machine arrived. It's definitely smoother than the one I sent back, but it's still not as smooth as my MarkIII. Is that what you experienced as well? I was going to sell my MarkIII but now I think I'm going to keep it.

Some folks said the MarkIII was more powerful but I'm not experiencing that. At full speed the HLR15 is definitely spinning faster, so maybe that tweaked the ECU or something, not really sure. So at full speed for both at a 6, the HLR is definitely spinning/orbiting/oscillating faster than the LHR.

Edit: So I just triple checked and in the "air test" the LHR really doesn't spin, it just stalls, so that might be what I'm experiencing. It appears to be smoother than the HLR, but isn't really. It seems Rupes has listened to its customers and gotten rid of some of the pad stall, so during the air test the HLR is spinning considerably faster over its predecessor, and it's manifesting itself as more vibration.
 
Does it maintain that same speed & strength you’re experiencing while the battery is at 100% once it gets down to 15% or lower?
 
Eldorado2k said:
Does it maintain that same speed & strength you’re experiencing while the battery is at 100% once it gets down to 15% or lower?
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I didn't get that far yet, but it's quite powerful at 30%.
 
Eldorado2k said:
Does it maintain that same speed & strength you’re experiencing while the battery is at 100% once it gets down to 15% or lower?
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I finally got a chance to do a full polish on a car. There was no degradation of power after close to 50 minutes of polishing and the battery still had enough juice to go another 10 to 15 minutes.
 
pgeorgan said:
Alright the new machine arrived. It's definitely smoother than the one I sent back, but it's still not as smooth as my MarkIII. Is that what you experienced as well? I was going to sell my MarkIII but now I think I'm going to keep it.

Some folks said the MarkIII was more powerful but I'm not experiencing that. At full speed the HLR15 is definitely spinning faster, so maybe that tweaked the ECU or something, not really sure. So at full speed for both at a 6, the HLR is definitely spinning/orbiting/oscillating faster than the LHR.

Edit: So I just triple checked and in the "air test" the LHR really doesn't spin, it just stalls, so that might be what I'm experiencing. It appears to be smoother than the HLR, but isn't really. It seems Rupes has listened to its customers and gotten rid of some of the pad stall, so during the air test the HLR is spinning considerably faster over its predecessor, and it's manifesting itself as more vibration.
Click to expand...

I’m coming from a Griot’s G15 so my perception may be skewed. The G15 had plenty of power but that thing is noisy and your wrists are gonna feel it after a while. In comparison, my Rupes feels like it glides across the paint.
 
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