Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
- 51,004
- 6
Review: RUPES D-A Fine Polishing Compound with ULTRAFINE Foam Pad
RUPES D-A Fine Polishing Compound with ULTRAFINE Foam Pad
RUPES D-A Fine Polishing Compound
What is it?
It is a FINE cut polish. For some reason, RUPES uses the word COMPOUND to describe both their compounds and their polishes. This could be an Italian thing or a European thing but it's different than how we label and refer to products here in the U.S.A. In the United States aggressive cutting products are referred to as compounds and products less aggressive than a compound become polishes and there are generally 4 categories of these items.
In the RUPES world there is,
What does it do?
It removed light or shallow paint defects.
When do I use it?
It can be used as a stand-alone or dedicated product for car paint with only minor/shallow paint defects or as a follow-up polish after a first, more aggressive compounding step like when using the new RUPES D-A Coarse Compound.
Why should I use it?
To remove paint defects to restore a factory-new looking appearance or to perfect paint for show car results.
From the manufacturer
RUPES DA-FINE is the result of extensive testing to develop a fine polish that combines noticeable cutting performance with impressive finishing. The proprietary formula developed and blended in house by RUPES is designed to perform with Dual Action Orbital polishers, including both large-stroke random orbital and gear-driven tools.
Color-coordinated to RUPES yellow foam and wool pads, DA-FINE delivers excellent defect removal, incredibly high finish quality, and a super-easy wipe off for great user experience. DA-FINE represents the perfect second polishing step after DA-COARSE on virtually every type of painted, gelcoat, or varnished finish or a stand alone solution for light polishing needs.
FEATURES AND BENEFITS
My comments...
Over the last 10 years I've invested a lot of time getting my fellow enthusiast detailers as well as pro detailers to focus on these two words,
Abrasive Technology
In fact, I think it's fair and honest to say steered more people to focus on abrasive technology than any other person in the detailing industry via the written word and/or video. My favorite article that explains the reason why abrasive technology is so important, (not the tool, pad or technique), is this article.
Ever since the RUPES brand was introduced to the U.S.A. market and since I was introduced to the brand, one thing I've always said about RUPES abrasive technology - it's Top Shelf. That is, it's as good as it gets. For sure there are other top shelf brands that you can trust on any paint and also black paint, but RUPES abrasive technology is consistently top shelf in quality and their new compounds in the new D-A line of products are no exception.
Test Vehicle - 2018 Chevrolet Colorado
When it comes to testing out products and writing reviews and how-to articles, I don't do mock-up. So in order to do a real-world test of the new RUPES D-A system, I've been waiting for some neglected cars to come my way. That's where this Colorado Z71 Truck comes into play. It's 2+ years old and while in very respectable condition overall, the paint was far from perfect but at the same time, not in too bad of condition. The worst area was the hood, but every panel need paint correction.
Looks okay under florescent lights from 15 feet away...
Let's throw the Speed Master Swirl Finder Light on the paint and see how it looks...
Here's the hood.
There's water spots, marring, swirls and scratches and even some Love Bug damage in the way of an etching that's through the clearcoat and the basecoat.
Failed the Baggie Test
The paint failed the baggie test so after a waterless wash I used an ultra-fine grade clay to remove all the above surface bonded contaminants.
Here you can see a brownish color on the green clay.
My favorite color for clay is white like the Meguiar's clay in their Consumer Line of products because it works best for showing contaminants in general and the color of the contaminants in specific. Here's the BIG PICTURE - after washing the truck, anything that did not come off in the wash is BONDED onto or IMPACTED onto the paint with a strong enough bond that it didn't wash off. This simply demonstrates or reveals the level of contamination that can, will and does build up on all cars and truck over just the course of a 2-year time span. If you have a car that is 2 years old or older and it's a daily driver and you have never clayed it. My guess is it will fail the baggie test and chances are really good, like this 2018 Colorado - it needs to be clayed.
Time for a Test Spot
Because I've already worked on a few Chevrolet's from this era as well as the new RUPES pads, I tested the RUPES FINE Compound first with the RUPES ULTRAFINE foam finishing pad on the RUPES Mille. This is a very NON-AGGRESSIVE combination and my guess is most people would think I need something more aggressive to remove the level of paint defects photo-documented above.
Here's a couple of pictures showing the swirl and paint defects level on both sides of the tape-line
New, dry pad AND I'm going to tackle a fairly large section for my Test Spot to show the power of a gear-driven orbital polisher, so I placed an AMPLE amount of product on the pad. After breaking this pad in I then cut my product usage way down as this is a fairly wet product.
This was 8 solid section passes over most of the passenger side of the hood.
Wipe wipe wipe....
BOOM!
That's as perfect as this paint on the hood is going to get. All the defects have been removed. The white specs you see are simply tiny pits in the paint from impact between the hood and road debris. Only touch-up paint or a new paint job is going to fix these areas. For me however, this looks great.
About 4 hours later...
Here's the truck completely corrected using the D-A FINE over everything but the hood. After doing my Test Spot I did in fact go ahead and compounded the hood with the RUPES D-A Coarse Compound and the new RUPES Coarse Blue foam cutting pad. I did this to remove the deepest of the water mark etchings called Imprint Rings.
Sealed the paint with a ceramic coating
After the paint correction step I chemically stripped the paint and installed the BLACKFIRE Pro Ceramic Paint Coating "Black Edition". This is a 5-year coating that claims high chemical and corrossion resistance. This truck is a daily driver parked outside 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, so due to the frequent rain in this area of Florida this seem like a good match for the paint and the owner.
And here's the beauty shots...
This is a reflection shot off the driver's side door...
Looks like new again!
Review
I made a short video for my Facebook page after using this new FINE Compound and one of the things I said was,
It's nice to be able to use a new product and then share something unique or some subtle nuance about the product that the company left out in their marketing material but alas - RUPES covered the benefits and features spot-on. Although this is a FINE-cut compound or polish, (whatever you like to call it), it has excellent correction ability. Found the paint on this Chevy Colorado to be on the medium side of the paint hardness spectrum. In fact I would put it on the medium to soft side and not the medium to hard side of this spectrum. Using only FINE grade polish with the soft white foam finishing pads I was able to pull-out around 90% to 95% of all the paint defects. In my opinion and experience, that makes this a very capable polish but it also reflect nicely on the new RUPES white foam finishing pads.
Compounded the hood
While my test spots showed the RUPES FINE compound was able to remove the majority of the paint defects there were water spots or more specifically imprint rings all over the hood that this combo simply didn't remove to my satisfaction. So instead of doing more section passes, slowing down my arm-speed or doing a second set of section passes I jumped down to the more aggressive RUPES Coarse Compound and the new RUPES COARSE blue foam cutting pads and obliterated these defects. I did as a professional, re-polish the hood sing the yellow/white combo to ensure no marring was left behind from the more aggressive coarse compound/pad step.
Cutting ability? A+
This fine cut polish cut great for a fine cut polish.
Finishing ability?A+
Impressive finishing quality and this is not only black paint, which shows everything but also on the soft side of medium.
Dusting? A+
Zero dusting. I've never met a single detailer that wishes a product was dusty.
Buffing cycle? A+
This polish has an infinity buffing cycle - this means that as long as you keep moving the polisher over the paint the polish stays liquid on the surface. No drying-out, no dusting.
Wipe-off? I would give it a solid B+
I'm not sure I can think of a compound or polish that ever gets an A or higher so a B+ is very good.
One thing about RUPES - their people are passionate about perfection. They also are the personification of TEAMWORK. And the results from their combined efforts as well as specialized efforts show up in all they do but especially their abrasive technology. All of the past RUPES compounds and polishes were great in my opinion. This new evolution of abrasive technology? Surpasses great.
If you're a fan of RUPES products and especially a RUPES Fanboy, you're going to love this new system.
On Autogeek.com
Rupes DA Fine Polishing Compound - 250 ml
Rupes DA Fine Polishing Compound - 1 Liter
Rupes DA Yellow Fine Foam Pad - 7 Inch
RUPES BigFoot LK 900E Mille Gear Driven Polisher
All RUPES Tools, Pads & Products
RUPES D-A Fine Polishing Compound with ULTRAFINE Foam Pad
RUPES D-A Fine Polishing Compound
What is it?
It is a FINE cut polish. For some reason, RUPES uses the word COMPOUND to describe both their compounds and their polishes. This could be an Italian thing or a European thing but it's different than how we label and refer to products here in the U.S.A. In the United States aggressive cutting products are referred to as compounds and products less aggressive than a compound become polishes and there are generally 4 categories of these items.
- Aggressive or coarse compound
- Medium cut polish
- Fine cut polish
- Ultra-fine cut polish
In the RUPES world there is,
- Coarse Compound
- Medium Compound
- Fine Compound
- Ultra-Fine Compound
What does it do?
It removed light or shallow paint defects.
When do I use it?
It can be used as a stand-alone or dedicated product for car paint with only minor/shallow paint defects or as a follow-up polish after a first, more aggressive compounding step like when using the new RUPES D-A Coarse Compound.
Why should I use it?
To remove paint defects to restore a factory-new looking appearance or to perfect paint for show car results.
From the manufacturer
RUPES DA-FINE is the result of extensive testing to develop a fine polish that combines noticeable cutting performance with impressive finishing. The proprietary formula developed and blended in house by RUPES is designed to perform with Dual Action Orbital polishers, including both large-stroke random orbital and gear-driven tools.
Color-coordinated to RUPES yellow foam and wool pads, DA-FINE delivers excellent defect removal, incredibly high finish quality, and a super-easy wipe off for great user experience. DA-FINE represents the perfect second polishing step after DA-COARSE on virtually every type of painted, gelcoat, or varnished finish or a stand alone solution for light polishing needs.
FEATURES AND BENEFITS
- Excellent cutting performance relative to most "fine" polishing compounds.
- New micro-abrasive technology and proprietary blend enhance finishing ability.
- Easy wipe off, for less towel marks on soft paints or delicate surfaces.
- Easy application when used with RUPES color-coordinated pad system.
- One-step light defect removal and finishing on most paints.
- Can also be excellent 2nd step polish following DA Coarse Compound.
- Recommended for use with BigFoot Random Orbital or Gear-Driven tools.
My comments...
Over the last 10 years I've invested a lot of time getting my fellow enthusiast detailers as well as pro detailers to focus on these two words,
Abrasive Technology
In fact, I think it's fair and honest to say steered more people to focus on abrasive technology than any other person in the detailing industry via the written word and/or video. My favorite article that explains the reason why abrasive technology is so important, (not the tool, pad or technique), is this article.
Ever since the RUPES brand was introduced to the U.S.A. market and since I was introduced to the brand, one thing I've always said about RUPES abrasive technology - it's Top Shelf. That is, it's as good as it gets. For sure there are other top shelf brands that you can trust on any paint and also black paint, but RUPES abrasive technology is consistently top shelf in quality and their new compounds in the new D-A line of products are no exception.
Test Vehicle - 2018 Chevrolet Colorado
When it comes to testing out products and writing reviews and how-to articles, I don't do mock-up. So in order to do a real-world test of the new RUPES D-A system, I've been waiting for some neglected cars to come my way. That's where this Colorado Z71 Truck comes into play. It's 2+ years old and while in very respectable condition overall, the paint was far from perfect but at the same time, not in too bad of condition. The worst area was the hood, but every panel need paint correction.
Looks okay under florescent lights from 15 feet away...
Let's throw the Speed Master Swirl Finder Light on the paint and see how it looks...
Here's the hood.
There's water spots, marring, swirls and scratches and even some Love Bug damage in the way of an etching that's through the clearcoat and the basecoat.
Failed the Baggie Test
The paint failed the baggie test so after a waterless wash I used an ultra-fine grade clay to remove all the above surface bonded contaminants.
Here you can see a brownish color on the green clay.
My favorite color for clay is white like the Meguiar's clay in their Consumer Line of products because it works best for showing contaminants in general and the color of the contaminants in specific. Here's the BIG PICTURE - after washing the truck, anything that did not come off in the wash is BONDED onto or IMPACTED onto the paint with a strong enough bond that it didn't wash off. This simply demonstrates or reveals the level of contamination that can, will and does build up on all cars and truck over just the course of a 2-year time span. If you have a car that is 2 years old or older and it's a daily driver and you have never clayed it. My guess is it will fail the baggie test and chances are really good, like this 2018 Colorado - it needs to be clayed.
Time for a Test Spot
Because I've already worked on a few Chevrolet's from this era as well as the new RUPES pads, I tested the RUPES FINE Compound first with the RUPES ULTRAFINE foam finishing pad on the RUPES Mille. This is a very NON-AGGRESSIVE combination and my guess is most people would think I need something more aggressive to remove the level of paint defects photo-documented above.
Here's a couple of pictures showing the swirl and paint defects level on both sides of the tape-line
New, dry pad AND I'm going to tackle a fairly large section for my Test Spot to show the power of a gear-driven orbital polisher, so I placed an AMPLE amount of product on the pad. After breaking this pad in I then cut my product usage way down as this is a fairly wet product.
This was 8 solid section passes over most of the passenger side of the hood.
Wipe wipe wipe....
BOOM!
That's as perfect as this paint on the hood is going to get. All the defects have been removed. The white specs you see are simply tiny pits in the paint from impact between the hood and road debris. Only touch-up paint or a new paint job is going to fix these areas. For me however, this looks great.
About 4 hours later...
Here's the truck completely corrected using the D-A FINE over everything but the hood. After doing my Test Spot I did in fact go ahead and compounded the hood with the RUPES D-A Coarse Compound and the new RUPES Coarse Blue foam cutting pad. I did this to remove the deepest of the water mark etchings called Imprint Rings.
Sealed the paint with a ceramic coating
After the paint correction step I chemically stripped the paint and installed the BLACKFIRE Pro Ceramic Paint Coating "Black Edition". This is a 5-year coating that claims high chemical and corrossion resistance. This truck is a daily driver parked outside 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, so due to the frequent rain in this area of Florida this seem like a good match for the paint and the owner.
And here's the beauty shots...
This is a reflection shot off the driver's side door...
Looks like new again!
Review
I made a short video for my Facebook page after using this new FINE Compound and one of the things I said was,
It's nice to be able to use a new product and then share something unique or some subtle nuance about the product that the company left out in their marketing material but alas - RUPES covered the benefits and features spot-on. Although this is a FINE-cut compound or polish, (whatever you like to call it), it has excellent correction ability. Found the paint on this Chevy Colorado to be on the medium side of the paint hardness spectrum. In fact I would put it on the medium to soft side and not the medium to hard side of this spectrum. Using only FINE grade polish with the soft white foam finishing pads I was able to pull-out around 90% to 95% of all the paint defects. In my opinion and experience, that makes this a very capable polish but it also reflect nicely on the new RUPES white foam finishing pads.
Compounded the hood
While my test spots showed the RUPES FINE compound was able to remove the majority of the paint defects there were water spots or more specifically imprint rings all over the hood that this combo simply didn't remove to my satisfaction. So instead of doing more section passes, slowing down my arm-speed or doing a second set of section passes I jumped down to the more aggressive RUPES Coarse Compound and the new RUPES COARSE blue foam cutting pads and obliterated these defects. I did as a professional, re-polish the hood sing the yellow/white combo to ensure no marring was left behind from the more aggressive coarse compound/pad step.
Cutting ability? A+
This fine cut polish cut great for a fine cut polish.
Finishing ability?A+
Impressive finishing quality and this is not only black paint, which shows everything but also on the soft side of medium.
Dusting? A+
Zero dusting. I've never met a single detailer that wishes a product was dusty.
Buffing cycle? A+
This polish has an infinity buffing cycle - this means that as long as you keep moving the polisher over the paint the polish stays liquid on the surface. No drying-out, no dusting.
Wipe-off? I would give it a solid B+
I'm not sure I can think of a compound or polish that ever gets an A or higher so a B+ is very good.
One thing about RUPES - their people are passionate about perfection. They also are the personification of TEAMWORK. And the results from their combined efforts as well as specialized efforts show up in all they do but especially their abrasive technology. All of the past RUPES compounds and polishes were great in my opinion. This new evolution of abrasive technology? Surpasses great.
If you're a fan of RUPES products and especially a RUPES Fanboy, you're going to love this new system.
On Autogeek.com
Rupes DA Fine Polishing Compound - 250 ml
Rupes DA Fine Polishing Compound - 1 Liter
Rupes DA Yellow Fine Foam Pad - 7 Inch
RUPES BigFoot LK 900E Mille Gear Driven Polisher
All RUPES Tools, Pads & Products
