The Rupes yellow "fine" D-A polishing pad is a tick on the firm side compared to the Meguiar's pads that I am more familiar with.
While it's a good starting point choice for an AIO, I'd also have some of the white "extra fine" D-A polishing pads on-hand to try out.
I'd say your description is accurate.
The yellow RUPES foam "polishing" pads, have always been a tick coarser than most other brands of "polishing" foam pads.
Their white foam finishing pads have also been a tick firmer and even coarser than most other brands of foam "finishing" pads.
It's important to know the above. RUPES foam pads the old models and now the new models are great foam pads but you need to know and understand the unique characteristics of both the yellow and white foam formulas.
The yellow, because it's a tick coarser and firmer than most polishing pads, even after it gets wet with product, makes a great pad for doing one-step production detailing with products like BF One Step. On softer paints you may be able to get enough correction out of the RUPES white foam finishing pads. You won't know until you do a Test Spot.
At the same time, their NEW white foam finishing pad is firm enough, and coarse enough that it will not work on stupid soft paints.
How do I know? I tried to use the new white foam finishing pads on some stupid soft paint. The pad itself left marring. So I switched over the the other brand of foam pads I recommend in this article, the Buff and Shine pads.
See here,
Barn Find - 1950 Pontiac Chieftain Deluxe Convertible - Extreme Paint Correction
From post #4
Begin excerpt
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First Test Spot
For the first test spot I used a popular AIO and while it easily removed the swirls, scratches, water spots and oxidation it also left micro-marring in the paint. The results from this Test Spot told me not only was the paint soft it was STUPID SOFT. I don't use the term stupid soft to describe paint unless it's accurate. This paint was so soft that even using a great AIO with a super soft foam "finishing" pad, there was still micro-marring being left in the paint.
Second Test Spot
For my second test spot I remember that RUPES had recently introduced a brand new ultra finishing polish called UNO 1 PURE. This product was specifically formulated for super soft, finicky and sticky paints. I wouldn't call the paint on this 1950 Pontiac finicky or sticky but it definitely qualifies as super soft.
I tested the RUPES polish with a
Buff & Shine 7" Uro-Tec soft white foam finishing pads. Together, the RUPES ULTRA fine polish and this softest foam pad formula in the Buff & Shine line-up, this is about as non-aggressive as you can get and still have enough cutting or abrading ability to actually remove the swirls and scratches.
RESULTS
This combo did the trick. It removed the majority of swirls and scratches without leaving any micro-marring behind. After PROVING my system, I then proceeded to machine buff the entire car after doing a waterless wash with SONAX Glass Cleaner and claying the paint with Pinnacle Ultra Fine Detailing Clay.
Pictures - Paint Correction
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End of excerpt
Think.
If I'm using the RUPES Ultra Fine Polish on this stupid soft paint...
why wouldn't I have also used the RUPES white foam finishing pad?
I've already stated I LIKE this design, that is the new RUPES
CP Foam Pads or
Contour Profile Foam Pads. So why would I have
NOT used the correlating pads with the RUPES polish?
The answer?
Because the RUPES white foam finishing pads are not as soft as most foam finishing pads and the pads themselves were leaving
pad haze in the paint.
So I switched to the Buff and Shine equivalent. And is my norm - I included not only a full photo-documentation of the work but also the tools, pads and products used.
After re-visiting the above write-up, heck there's enough information in this
ONE write-up to write a how-to book. Could never do this on Facebook or Instagram. :laughing:
Barn Find - 1950 Pontiac Chieftain Deluxe Convertible - Extreme Paint Correction
Point being, the new RUPES yellow and white foam pads in both 7" and 6" are GREAT foam pads but like all things, they have a spectrum or work they can accomplish and a spectrum of work they cannot accomplish. And this is why you need a variety of pads from different manufactures to...
Get the job done...
Re-visit the first page of this thread to see the variety of pads I included in this article to - help you round out your pad collection so no matter what you're working on - you have enough of the right pads to tackle anything.
And that's how I roll. I don't just type for the moment... I type for the future. And when I discover new pads or better pads for the BEAST family of FLEX tools I'll update this thread.