Rupes Recommended Method for Pad Priming

[Eldorado2k]

Existing hidden damage must be a nightmare for the pros

You can go around a car 19 times with a magnifying glass and a bloodhound and the minute you actually start working you almost always find a “gotcha”




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Bigtime. And how are you really supposed to find flaws when the vehicle is in this condition during the pre inspection?

 

[chilly]

Bigtime. And how are you really supposed to find flaws when the vehicle is in this condition during the pre inspection?

Seriously

The clear coat could be completely failed under something that awful and you would never know

Then it’s “it wasn’t like that when I brought it in”

Sheesh


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[2black1s]

... As long as you or the customer are happy, what the detailer down the street thinks, doesn't even matter.

Amen!

 

[dlc95]

You shouldn’t have been surprised… What did the Meguiars Asia dudes tell you? SPEED 4.

You went against the word of the gospel and got a Rude Awakening.lol.

Lol!!

I never saw those videos before that. I was barely on this forum. I was on the Megs forum on 06 or 07, and Autopia in 07.

Meh, da, what can this thing do....

Oh boy...

 

[dlc95]

I bet that was a sobering moment…

Fingers crossed I never go through that


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You'll probably be ok. I was trying to polish something without realizing that more polishing was causing the problem!

 

[dlc95]

I’ve had at least 5-6 sobering moments, but somehow, by the grace of God, and a sprinkling of sheer luck I’ve somehow managed to escape Scott free each time they’ve happened.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I was polishing the door on a Nissan Armada when the freaking chrome door handle flew off, landing in my neighbors yard… Everything turned into slow motion as I immediately turned my polisher off thinking “well holy crap, this is Horrible”!
Luckily, somehow…. I was able to put the door handle back on the door. It didn’t snap back on, but it didn’t fall back off either… Whew!

Needless to say I didn’t come near that spot with the polisher anymore. I’ve gotten lucky several times and all I can say is thank you to the little angel watching over me during those times.

Yes, just this week polishing that Mercedes S550. The drivers side upper door molding got squirrelly when the pad got too close!

 

[dgage]

Bigtime. And how are you really supposed to find flaws when the vehicle is in this condition during the pre inspection?

That’s where you’d have to require a wash before you’re able to give a quote. And setup a camera of you washing the car to protect you. You might lose some customers that way but some you might want to lose anyway if the car is that bad or the owner really doesn’t care.

 

[chilly]

That’s where you’d have to require a wash before you’re able to give a quote. And setup a camera of you washing the car to protect you. You might lose some customers that way but some you might want to lose anyway if the car is that bad or the owner really doesn’t care.

CYA....

Sadly

 

[2black1s]

BigFoot 101: Priming Pads [Chapter 03] - Bing video (Jump to 2:50 minute mark)

Does anyone else see this pad priming process as unnecessarily risky? I certainly do!

I would never, ever, under any circumstance, press down on a polisher in a single location for 20-30 seconds as shown in the linked video.

I cut my teeth with rotary polishers in the late 1960s so my opinion may differ from those of you who learned with Random Orbital Polishers. While I completely understand that Random Orbital Polishers are less aggressive and much more forgiving than a Rotary Polisher, I can't see myself ever running ANY polisher in a single location for that period of time.

Keeping a polisher moving at all times is something I learned a very long time ago and that practice is something I still employ, regardless of polisher type.

If I were ever to use this Rupes recommended method to prime a pad, I'd have to have a dedicated scrap panel to use for pad priming. I could never bring myself to doing that process on a car I was polishing.

What do you guys and girls think?

I could see priming the pad on a window, or a scrap panel like I mentioned in the original post. Other than that, no way am I running the polisher in a stationary position for 20-30 seconds as depicted. Doing so is contrary to everything I have learned since my first use of a polisher in the late 1960s.

Yesterday I was looking for some "busy" work to pass a little time as I had a few hours of nothing to do. So... I went out to the woodshop and whipped up a pad priming tool out of some MDF and 1/4" glass plate.

Now I can try the Rupes priming method. As I said in my previous posts, I would never use this method on my own vehicles, or a customer's vehicle, especially on the paint. With this tool I can now try the Rupes method without any risk to whatever I'm working on.

I don't know how much I'll ever use the tool, but I'm going to give it a shot this week when I detail my daughter's car. We'll see how it goes.

View attachment 76264 View attachment 76265

 

[luckydawg]

I am still on the side that the manufacturer of these pads/ products knows what they are doing- they would not tell us to do something that was THAT STUPID as a lot of folks think. Do you think when those tech reps there were first told by the enginering dept/ product development dept thats how to do it they weren't apprenhensive about it also?-- bet they were. Does any one think that this method was not tested out SKADS & SKADS of times prior to it being the approved procedure ? No doubt they tested this out and had BIG time testing instruments that cost more $ than any tools we use ( except our eyes mostly ) . They are using THEIR liquids also. Bottom line ( at least for me ) I am gonna follow instructions. But all that really matters in the end is what you feel comfortable doing, and if that gets the results your after--- well keep doing that!

But then you'll never know what you could be missing

 

[PaulMys]

I am still on the side that the manufacturer of these pads/ products knows what they are doing- they would not tell us to do something that was THAT STUPID as a lot of folks think. Do you think when those tech reps there were first told by the enginering dept/ product development dept thats how to do it they weren't apprenhensive about it also?-- bet they were. Does any one think that this method was not tested out SKADS & SKADS of times prior to it being the approved procedure ? No doubt they tested this out and had BIG time testing instruments that cost more $ than any tools we use ( except our eyes mostly ) . They are using THEIR liquids also. Bottom line ( at least for me ) I am gonna follow instructions. But all that really matters in the end is what you feel comfortable doing, and if that gets the results your after--- well keep doing that!

But then you'll never know what you could be missing

Yeah, but as a mechanic, I've been listening to engineers my entire life. If I had a dollar for every time they were wrong, I could afford to pay my numerous Rupes repair bills...... Im the MAN

 

[luckydawg]

I heard it was a mechanic who came up with the idea

 

[PaulMys]

I heard it was a mechanic who came up with the idea

You heard wrong, palm tree hugger............oke::cheers:

 

[2black1s]

I am still on the side that the manufacturer of these pads/ products knows what they are doing- they would not tell us to do something that was THAT STUPID as a lot of folks think. Do you think when those tech reps there were first told by the enginering dept/ product development dept thats how to do it they weren't apprenhensive about it also?-- bet they were. Does any one think that this method was not tested out SKADS & SKADS of times prior to it being the approved procedure ? No doubt they tested this out and had BIG time testing instruments that cost more $ than any tools we use ( except our eyes mostly ) . They are using THEIR liquids also. Bottom line ( at least for me ) I am gonna follow instructions. But all that really matters in the end is what you feel comfortable doing, and if that gets the results your after--- well keep doing that!

But then you'll never know what you could be missing

Following instructions is always a good starting point, but if there is something in those instructions that doesn't make sense to you, you would be foolish not to question it. Blindly following (anything or anyone) is not in my nature. It's gotta make sense to me and if it doesn't, I'm not buying it. Of course, there can be exceptions, but generally speaking, that is my philosophy.

In this case, I kinda liked the premise of priming the pad as shown although I would never do it on a painted surface of a car I was working on... There is absolutely not a chance in hell that I would voluntarily run a polisher in a single location for 20-30 seconds without moving it on anything other than a disposable surface, and certainly not on the hood of anything I was polishing. That is the part I questioned.

I look at the tool I made as a process improvement to the Rupes process. I can now use their method to prime my pads when I feel like it, while at the same time eliminating the part of their process that didn't make sense to me.