Which Rupes to Purchase

hammargren said:
So what your saying Mike, you would choose the Mille over the Mark II, just your personal opinion?
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What I said is when I buff out cars I like to work fast, as in buff them out as fast as I can. For this reason, any gear-driven orbital will be faster than any free spinning orbital when you take into account not just the flat panels but the curved panels and thin panels.

I'm fast. I don't let tools slow me down.



hammargren said:
With the Mille being new, how do you feel it is standing up next to the Flex 3401?
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The only Mille I've had in my hands is the one Jason Rose left me to use and then write my review for after the RUPES class Jason and I taught here at Autogeek back in December of 2017 (a few months ago), after I wrote my review we shipped it and the new RUPES rotary to Todd Helme (I believe).


So I've only used it once but I used it on a HUGE car. And I'm pretty good at this stuff. I've also used the Makita PO5000C, which operates the same as the Mille except with the Mille the pad rotates clockwise and with the Makita the pad rotates counter clockwise. I know this makes a difference to some guys and it's even a "deal breaker" for some guys but for me I don't care one whit which way the pad rotates as long at it rotates.

So from my limited experience with the RUPES Mille, my experience with the Makita PO5000C and my experience with the FLEX 3401 - if I want to buff out a car as fast as I can without burning the paint or instilling holograms (from using a rotary buffer), to date I grab the FLEX 3401. The longer orbit stroke length makes a difference in speed to me.

Hoping to get some RUPES Mille polishers in the future but so far.... don't have any in the garage.


:)
 
Great response Mike. I have narrowed it down to the Mark II 15 or the Mille. I just need to decide if I want forced rotation or not. This is a hobby, not something I am making money at but I do see your point of getting it done as quick as possible. The reason I would like to stick with Rupes is just from what I hear they are smoother and quieter.
 
There will be a learning curve with the Mark II, especially with the pad stalking on curved panels. It's nothing you won't overcome with practice. A gear driven machine isn't going to stall no matter what the shape of the panel. Also if you don't have a machine to run 3" pads on you're probably going to want to use the edge of the pad for some tight areas, the Mille would definitely be better for that.
 
Buy the 15. It’s the only one that says Detailing right on the machine handle!
 
That is correct. Just working out of my house on my own projects :)
 
The Griot's Garage 3" is a steal at 125 bucks for the kit. Use that little guy for tight areas. You can even convert to 2" for really tight areas, if you need to. It's light, easy to handle, and powerful enough for most jobs. It's pretty smooth, too, which is why my Porter Cable isn't getting the love. The vibrations make my hands tingle. A lot.
If you have the dough, you could always upgrade your 3" polisher to the Rupes Mini, and you will already have plenty of pads.
You won't go wrong with either the Mille or Bigfoot 15mm.
 
I ordered the Mille so hopefully I will like it :). Eventually down the road I will invest in a 3".
 
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