RO Polisher - New plate or new polisher?
 

My PC RO polisher I bought back in 2003 has the foam on the backing plate starting to disintegrate. I'm pretty sure I could just buy this (or similar) and keep using it. But I wonder if in 18 years there have been improvements.

Any thoughts on if it's worth upgrading and if so, any recommendations?

not enough to buy another one for your usage. but if you do, i could use one. mine got lost and borrowing mike’s is inconvenient. :)

I am expecting a very much overkill one for impending birthday... This is going to be a new area for me.

rupes?

Yes :eeps:

Bigfoot LHR15 Mark III

As I said, "very much overkill"

Cool. I think you should come to Doom and practice. :lol:

I really want one of the tiny orbitals.

That is not a ridiculous suggestion.

If I get into this, a small one may be a future thing. Time will tell.

It was ordered today and I am very much looking forward to using it on some cars.

To go back to the OP and question...

I've done way too much research on this stuff in recent months. The short version is that if everyone that does this stuff a lot and makes lots of good Youtube videos is anywhere close to accurate, the technology has advanced about a millionfold since 2003 and today's dual-action polishers are way, way better than the Porter Cable stuff everyone bought back then.

If I were you, I'd give a lot of thought to buying a Griots G9 or the one they sell in Autozone retail locations. About $150 and is pretty universally loved. I went back and forth a million times between that and the considerably more expensive Rupes thing I'm getting.

Ultimately, it came down to that the Rupes is supposed to be a little more comfortable to use, has a longer throw (15mm vs 9mm) which means less time for a given amount of surface area (and the comparable Griots model doesn't sound as great as the G9 and is large enough step up in price that it's easier to choose the Rupes), possibly a little more durable long term (designed and built for a working environment where it's used many hours every day, but OTOH Griots has a lifetime warranty that people say they honor), some ridiculously enthusiastic advice from a friend that is way into this stuff, that I can afford it, and it was a good fit for the birthday present role.

I plan to get started with it on the E46 and the RAV4 pretty quickly. I may even talk to Nick about a visit to Doom for extra learning before I go to work on the Camaro (which I'm tentatively hoping to work on Thanksgiving weekend). As soon as I get going, I'm sure I'll be posting about it.

The X5 definitely needs work and it has a lot of surface area for practicing!

As long as you're okay with a novice fuckwit going to town on your car and all that could happen, I'm game!