Rupes BigFoot LHR21 MarkII is a Beast!

Troy@Protekt

Troy@Protekt

a.k.a. Troy@DetailCity
Finally broke down and bought the new MarkII. Ummm. Wow!

I giggled like a little girl when it showed up. :chairdance

Smooth. Powerful. Solid. Hands down best polisher out there.

I started my long throw experience with a Rupes LHR15 a few years ago. Since then I have had 2 Zentools and a Griots Boss21 (I've owned 2 Flex 3401's too). I jumped ship when cheaper, more powerful polishers came out but I have been somewhat disappointed with each one I have used.

After seeing the new MarkII in action at the mobile tech show I knew I had to get it. I'm keeping one of my Zentools as a back-up but I doubt I will ever need it.

Did I mention this thing is powerful? I usually never go above speed 4 when I polish but in the interest of science (new toy) I went to speed 6. I very quickly learned how much more powerful this machine is. The Meguiar's MF finishing pad couldn't handle the power. Never had that problem with any of the other polishers. Nice to know it has that much power but what really won me over is that it seems like it has forced rotation at any speed and over contoured areas (just giggled again).

Rupes out did themselves. Feels more solid and even higher quality then there first Big Foots. I feel well armed now.

Way to go Rupes! :bigups
 
Ronkh said:
please don't make me buy another polisher........please
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If you want the best then you must. :)

Seriously, if you do a lot of paint correction then it's the polisher to have. I will be polishing more efficiently with this polisher and you know what they say, "Time is money".

If you just correct paint occasionally then it might not be worth it to you to make the jump.
 
craigdt said:
Can you compare it to your impressions of the G21?
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I did not have a good experience with the Boss21. It looked good. Felt solid. Seemed powerful enough but... I think it has a design flaw that needs to be fixed. A few months into using it the shaft broke. Luckily no damage to the car I was working on. I called Griot's and they sent me a new one but I never really trusted it. Then I heard of it happening to someone else. Same thing. That's when I decided to not use that polisher anymore.

I did like it over my Zentools though even though they have never let me down. The build quality of the Zentools is not great.
 
sealthedeal said:
Kindly elaborate on MF pad being unable to handle speed 6?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Too fast of speed = heat = break down or delamination of the backing material. Foam pads will also likely fail if run on speed 6. I run my MKII at speed 3 most of the time.
 
donbeezy said:
which has more power? mkII or g21?
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IMHO the MKII is a better quality machine than the G21.
I'm not sure but I read somewhere that the G21 is a (less expensive) copy of the MK I.
That said...It would make sense that the MKII is redesigned & more powerful (than MKI by 30%) machine.
 
donbeezy said:
which has more power? mkII or g21?
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I played with both machines side by side for several days at MTE and I'd say they've got very similar power. The G21 had much more power than the MK1 polishers. So it makes sense that with 30% more power, the MKII's are now on the same power level as the BOSS polishers.
 
Vega@Autopia said:
I played with both machines side by side for several days at MTE and I'd say they've got very similar power. The G21 had much more power than the MK1 polishers. So it makes sense that with 30% more power, the MKII's are now on the same power level as the BOSS polishers.
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Thanks for the feedback.
 
Nice Troy!
I toasted a Meg's MF Finishing pad over weekend with my 15 Mark II. I was trying out Essence with the 'slow' method, got lazy and was not switching pads after each panel. Not having 'cooling' hole really makes a difference! Switched to Scholl S3 on a Lake Country HD orange pad to finish up.

On the Zentools, were you using the 'full size' machines or the 'mini'?
 
sealthedeal said:
Kindly elaborate on MF pad being unable to handle speed 6?
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It's no knock on the MF pad. I can't think of any foam or MF pad that would have held up to the heat the buffer was generating at that speed. Granted if you didn't apply any pressure at all they might.

The Meguiar's MF pads are the pads I use most and have the most experience with. They usually hold up very well to heavy polishing.

donbeezy said:
which has more power? mkII or g21?
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Have not used them side by side but the Rupes seems more powerful to me. Like I said before, it acts almost like a forced rotation machine. I don't remember being as impressed with the G21's power.

mc2hill said:
On the Zentools, were you using the 'full size' machines or the 'mini'?
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Full size. Never tried their minis.

Rsurfer said:
Troy, are you using the washer mod?
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No washer mod necessary. Used it straight out of the box.
 
Ronkh said:
Wonder if the
LC variable contact would work. They do have a hole in the middle
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Bottom line is, I wouldn't use the polisher at speed 6. It's not necessary. You're going to polish just as well if not better at 3 or 4 or even 2 depending on the paint you're working on. Proper technique with the right product-pad combos will give you all the cut you need.
 
Troy@Protekt said:
Bottom line is, I wouldn't use the polisher at speed 6. It's not necessary. You're going to polish just as well if not better at 3 or 4 or even 2 depending on the paint you're working on. Proper technique with the right product-pad combos will give you all the cut you need.
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Proper technique ?!?!?! Troy, this is me........... :D

Actually I have had trouble with any regular lc pad on my rupes mini.
 
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