Rupes Mini As Wet Sander Demo

[TundraPower]

I tested Rupes Mini as a wet sander today. I used 3M Trizact 5000 grit sanding discs, Rupes yellow microfiber pads, Rupes Quarz Gloss Medium Gel Compound, nothing else. Test vehicle was passenger door of 2013 Toyota 4Runner in fair condition, numerous minor scratches from hunting season last year. I apologize for my crap camera and photography skills.

Here we go:

1. Rupes Mini on speed 2. I made one horizontal and one vertical pattern that took maybe 45 seconds. Zero pressure other than to guide the polisher.

Wipe off slurry:

And another shot:

Half of sanding area corrected:

And again:

Entire panel corrected (note that left side was sanded too just no photos).

And again:

Summary:

- Other than orange peel, I was able to get this panel to near 100% in about 40 minutes, and I work very slowly.
- Probably advisable to follow up with Rupes White pad and Sonax Perfect Finish or Rupes Ultra Diamond. But many people would call it here and be very happy.
- The Mini, like the Duetto with the same throw, cuts very quickly as a wet sander. Way faster than Griots 3".
- If defect are severe I could see using 3000 grit, but boy you had better be paying attention. Under no circumstances would I use anything more aggressive on OEM paint, and that's pushing it.
- The Duetto is marketed as a "total paint rectification system" and I think they nailed it. But only if you've got a lot of experience wet sanding.

Please let me know what you think of this review.

 

[Chris@AutoCleanse]

Mark great review, the Rupes system does make short work of any job. Thanks for posting and sharing.

 

[TundraPower]

Mark great review, the Rupes system does make short work of any job. Thanks for posting and sharing.

Thanks Chris. I believe I have found a knock-out 2-3 step combination here. Rupes hit this one right out of the ball park. Sure beats using extremely aggressive compounds and pads.

 

[Tato]

Great post and work. No matter what quality picture was taken, if your idea was plentiful showed and explained, however you got some nice pictures indeed.

I'm really in for machine sanding, as I do a lot of hand sanding... Also, I believe you're one 'authority' when we're talking about Rupes polishers, and I always listen and learn a lot from your experience, thanks for sharing.

Nice to hear your experience with this polisher/sander and trizact 5000 discs (which I've ordered and I'm waiting for delivery) - Ordered only the trizact 5000, not the polisher, lol!.

Kind Regards.

 

[TundraPower]

Great post and work. No matter what quality picture was taken, if your idea was plentiful showed and explained, however you got some nice pictures indeed. I'm really in for machine sanding, as I do a lot of hand sanding... Also, I believe you're one 'authority' when we're talking about Rupes polishers, and I always listen and learn a lot from your experience, thanks for sharing. Nice to hear your experience with this polisher/sander and trizact 5000 discs (which I've ordered and I'm waiting for delivery). Kind Regards.

'Authority' is reserved for Paul Dalton, Barry Theal, and a few others.....certainly not me. Trizact sanding discs are superb, similar to Mirka Abralon discs.

 

[JRivera]

Great post! We picked up the Rupes 15 and Rupes 21 polishers and I haven't put them to use that much yet. I will try this same system soon and post my finished product.

 

[TundraPower]

Great post! We picked up the Rupes 15 and Rupes 21 polishers and I haven't put them to use that much yet. I will try this same system soon and post my finished product.

The 15 and the 21 had no part in this demonstration. Only the Mini was used.

 

[TundraPower]

Thanks for all the useful comments and feedback. Ya'll be sweet now!

 

[Pureshine]

Great review thank you!

 

[Detailing by M]

DA's blow as wet sanders, they throw the slurry everywhere.
A rotary will work a lot better with less mess.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

DA's blow as wet sanders, they throw the slurry everywhere.

That's your opinion and you're entitled to it but I 100% disagree and I'll explain why not for you but for all the people that will read this into the future.

My first choice to wetsand is by machine using an electric dual action polisher like the Porter Cable or for precision work the Griot's Garage 3" Mini Polisher.

Been there done that a whole lot in my life and I can sand down a car faster by machine and then buff it out faster than if the paint were hand sanded.

Besides doing a MUCH better job of sanding the paint while leaving behind a sanding mark pattern that's easier and faster to buff out the process itself will leave more of the precious paint on the car.

Also, just to point out to anyone reading this into the future, both air sanders and electric polishers used like an air sander are both going to sling some sanding slurry, (water with paint particles suspended in it), the fact is wetsanding in any fashion is a mess project and you don't do this type of work in your living room.

A rotary will work a lot better with less mess.

I have know idea what you're talking about here Mario? The context of what you wrote implies you're saying a rotary buffer would work better to wetsand with instead of a dual action polisher but I've never seen anyone wetsand with a rotary buffer.

You can grind with a rotary buffer but that's not sanding.


Did you mean to say that compounding with a rotary buffer is less messy than wetsanding with an electric polisher? That's just my guess that's what you meant but what you wrote in context doesn't read that way.

Buffing with a rotary buffer is a great way to remove defects fast but it's NOT the best way to remove orange peel, which is why the majority of wetsanding is performed. So while using a rotary buffer to do rotary buffer work "might" be less messy than using an electric dual action polisher to wetsand and remove orange peel these are two completely different topics and only one is the topic of this thread.


So anyone reading this into the future if you do have a wetsanding project, since the "forum group" this thread is posted in is called Wetsanding, Cutting & Buffing, please post any questions you have about how to tackle your wetsanding project before you start and I would also strongly recommend machine sanding over hand sanding and while machine sanding can throw a little slurry splatter in my book it's a non-issue because no one should be entering into a wetsanding project without already knowing this and understanding it.


:dunno:

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

I tested Rupes Mini as a wet sander today. I used 3M Trizact 5000 grit sanding discs,


Please let me know what you think of this review.

Well I think you demonstrated by way of your review that #5000 Grit Trizact discs are very NON aggressive and the sanding mark pattern is very easy and fast to buff out.

The bonus is that this type of work is cooler to the paint and that's better for the paint as clearcoats don't like heat.

Also, in context I'm guessing this project is an offshoot of the other thread you started about machine wetsanding here.

Wet Sanding with Rupes Mini?


Mike, I currently use the GG mini polisher to wet sand in small areas with 3m Trizact 3000-5000 grit disks.

Have you ever used the Rupes Mini for the same purpose?

My theory is to use my Mini for wet sanding in the same capacity as my Duetto...same throw of 12mm.

What are your thoughts?

Nice demo... thanks for sharing....


:dblthumb2:

 

[Michael Stoops]

I have to agree 1000% with Mike Phillips here - you do not want to use a rotary for wet sanding, damp sanding, or ANY type of sanding on an automotive finish.

It should also be noted that, while 3M Trizact 5000 and even 3000 grit finishing discs can be quite non invasive to the paint when used properly; in many cases, such as when removing very severe defects, this light damp sanding can be preferable to aggressive compounding alone. With a proper foam interface pad you can even retain the original paint texture (ie, orange peel) even while remove those severe defects. Why retain orange peel? What if you only need severe defect removal on a single panel - you don't want to level the orange peel on that panel and leave it on the rest of the car because then you'll have one panel that does not visually match the rest of the vehicle. And you aren't getting paid to sand the entire vehicle, just fix that one panel.

One last observation on this post: the longer throw of the Rupes buffers will increase the aggressiveness of the sanding when compared to more typical DA buffers with shorter throws (Meguiar's G110v2, Porter Cable 7424, Griot's Garage 6", Shurhold, Harbor Freight, etc), all else being equal. Just keep that in mind as you work and remember, take your time and pay attention!

 

[TundraPower]

Well I think you demonstrated by way of your review that #5000 Grit Trizact discs are very NON aggressive and the sanding mark pattern is very easy and fast to buff out. The bonus is that this type of work is cooler to the paint and that's better for the paint as clearcoats don't like heat. Also, in context I'm guessing this project is an offshoot of the other thread you started about machine wetsanding here. Nice demo... thanks for sharing....
:dblthumb2:

Thanks Mike. I am very excited about the way this worked with such speed and so little effort. As I said, I would probably make an additional quick pass with Rupes Ultra Diamond. Looks like my days of multiple passes with super aggressive pads and polishes are over. I will post more results when I do a white Mercedes with bone-hard clear coat this week. (Yes this post is related to the other post.)

 

[Detailing by M]

Just my opinion and experience.
DA= mess
rotary=clean

 

[cire]

Mark, while I can still acquire good knowledge from your wording, I cannot see the pics? There is nothing showing at all in between your descriptions.
Is there an issue with how you uploaded them? Thanks for the Demo write-up.