Or, you can look at it as removing more clear coat than necessary. Whenever I touch up my paint, all it takes is ONE pass with the PC, a light polish and the white pad. One pass with that combination fixes whatever damage I may find. That same pass with the Flex or the Rupes is going to remove MORE clear coat than the PC will. With the work time being equal, using a more powerful machine not only offers no advantage, it removes more clear coat than necessary. If you are needing the power of something like the Flex to do light work on your paint AFTER you have completely corrected it, then there is something flawed in your paint maintenance process.

For heavy work, I agree. For light work, the PC is a smarter choice when considering the preservation of your clear coat.

You kinda lost me there but but I think the rule of using the least aggressive method to repair you paint damage when it is not severe is basically the rule of thumb that I always preach. You can always buff more clear off the car but you can't buff it back on.

Supposedly the Rupes is pretty awesome because of the larger throw of the orbit. I guess it moves more, therefore it can do more work in the same amount of time?

I dunno but the praise is pretty universal. Damn expensive, though.

I'm not a professional but I can understand why pros like it- time is money for them and anything that can save time (like the nanoskin autoscrub over a claybar) = money for them.

When it comes to effectiveness, I can see what you guys are talking about. They basically do the same thing, right?

When talking about the Rupes polisher, why is the amount of "throw" so important? It's all simple math, really. If you have one machine with 10mm throw, and another with 20, then it means you get twice the polishing action in the 20 versus 10 when working the same sized area for the same amount of time. Most DA polishers on the market are in the 8-10mm range of throw, whereas the Rupes polishers are 15 and 21.

For someone in business where time is money, this is important. If you're just a weekend warrior fixing only your car, it's really a waste of money.

One thing about the detailing arena is that you'll see a lot of people buying stuff on hype rather than need or common sense. It's like these people who buy carbon fiber panels for their car, every kind of horsepower upgrade that they can find and the most expensive tires for racing, Then they cruise the car to car shows once a month and the car never sees the track. I just shake my head and laugh. To me, that's like marrying Halle Barry and making her sleep in another room. :confused: