Auto Obsessed here at the SEMA Show 2022 and I'm in the RUPES Booth we've got Todd Helm here yeah
hey Troy how are you good seeing you again yeah good a pleasure you were just at our store here
just what a couple months ago yeah maybe two months ago two months ago did a nice product
session and right before it got too cold out exactly yeah we have snow today yeah I'm glad
to be in Las Vegas we got snow in Edmonton Alberta Canada today the crew was sending me back pictures
and yeah not good but we're in Las Vegas right now much warmer we've got some new products that
Rupes is releasing six new products to talk about the big one is the HLR75 it's the new mini hybrid
so hybrid means we can run it either battery or corded which is obviously a big advancement but
that's not you know there's more to it than that when you first look at it the first thing that
you probably notice is the new form function it doesn't look like any other polisher on the market
and this was this was designed this way this kind of praying mantis look we've been calling it right
because we did a lot of investigation with ergonomics and when people are polishing
edge work in small areas you're not generally holding the polisher straight so this kind of
new angle allows you to operate it as a one-handed tool you can use it as a two-handed polisher you
can use it do it like palm down like a palm sander so the tool has been out in
Europe for a few months and the feedback we've gotten on this style or this form function has
been phenomenal people are super happy with it so it looks a little awkward at first but they
love it but even more than that in the Battery Technology this is actually lighter by almost a
pound and more powerful than the existing LHR75E the standard mini version yeah wow
your brand more powerful lighter more powerful correct so almost in every parameter it's an
improvement right so it's a big deal the trigger is actuated on off speed dial is one to five
same counterbalance technology that kind of made RUPES famous and allowed us to invent that large
orbital style with no vibration so super excited about that so that's one of the new products and
probably the one yeah just quickly so in all the accessories of course will fit everything right
backing plate is the same as the corded version backing plate backing plate pads obviously and
then of course the full throttle base system too yeah like the polishing system and the 12mm orbit
is perfect for you know power polishing with a small pad or sanding so just like the other
minis you can use it to sand or polish so it fits right into that mini family perfectly and at first
I know myself we were talking about this earlier and did a little demo like at first to me it seems
a little awkward yeah for sure it's an odd shape it seems a little bit awkward but once you do
know once you do hold it you know it actually isn't that bad you know it makes sense right
you get one-handed or you can do it two-handed and that's exactly the market feedback yeah
that is exactly what we hear so it is probably the biggest thing that we're releasing at SEMA
it's definitely getting the most traction and you know they're selling through really quick
so we're really happy we've got them coming ASAP they're on route so we'll have them in
the stores by the time this video is out and all I have to say too on this is like the first nano
is absolutely an amazing piece of technology I always tell people it's like something NASA
built or yeah medical industry and this you know by its feel and everything it absolutely fits the
RUPES name for sure yeah and the hybrid technology you know we launched that with the Nano in 2015
it's been a little while since we've produced another Nano tool but really what you're holding
is the future of RUPES yeah so stay tuned we're in development and a lot of cool Nano that way to the
hybrid I should say the hybrid technology to go between battery and corded is yeah we'll light the
future of RUPES for sure excellent and you've got some other stuff here yeah a couple other
things to talk about so this is a new product in the UNO family of products so anytime you see a
RUPES white bottle UNO means one product right UNO and Italian or Spanish means one obviously we're
an Italian brand but we'll let it slide at Spanish one tool or one product for any tool so when it
comes to our traditional polishes and compounds we segment them into dual action and rotary but
you can use this on a dual action rotary the UNO family so far has been limited to Finishing
Products UNO Pure is our Pure finishing polish UNO Protect polished with wax or an all-in-one
yeah and this is a development or an advancement of that technology so UNO Advanced uses the latest
and protective ingredients kind of I'll park it there as a placeholder and read between the
lines all you will okay yeah but not only does it polish and shine the paint but it also offers up
to 12 months protection in long-term testing we're seeing longer than 12 months but the official line
we're towing is 12 months what makes UNO Advanced super unique is it can be used as a standalone
product so an all-in-one right and all polished protect shine it up give you 12 months all in one
can be used as a second step after compounding so a little bit of D.A Haze or something you use it
to refine that right there are abrasives in it so it will mechanically remove it and shine the
paint or what really makes this exciting is you can use it to polish and do maintenance polishing
on existing paint ceramic coatings okay so with a really fine pad like one of our white pads right
you apply it almost quickly and the abrasives can remove light surface marring from the coating but
the ingredients in there are going to replenish right the code so for cases where someone has
a ceramic coating and that ceramic coating is getting lightly scratched or marred this compound
can be used to correct that like and replenish and then exactly top it back up again yes okay perfect
so it and the water beading is exactly what you would expect from a product in that category the
chemical resistance and right all the advantages is why we've seen the protective industry move
into that ceramic coating right category so we're really excited about this product I mean is the
evolution or the advancement of all-in-one products right another addition we have to
line up these are rotary waffle pads same foam as our traditional rotary pads the main difference is
the convoluted or waffle face so you're going to get the same performance what it is with a waffle
pad if you're using a rotary is whenever you have that convoluted face you're trading surface area
so you're losing a little bit of cut right for a much smoother ride right so you're a bit you know
they're not ground-breaking in the sense that nobody's done it before or they're the a new
tool but basically you're tuning the way your pad works so if you value smoothness and performance
go with the waffle finish if you want maximum cut stay with the traditional flat face exactly
so same foams white is for ultra-fine yellows are fine or medium blue is our heavy cutting and
then finally we're showing these at SEMA they've been out for a while maybe three or four months
yeah but blue yellow white so blue is our most aggressive yellow and white but these are our
new DA microfiber pads for newish you're still new they're using them in the shop they're fantastic
right so the market feedback on these has actually been incredible you know if you notice compared to
our previous generation they're a more traditional design and we did that on purpose right that
design works for a reason but there's three levels so when you look at most RUPES pads blue goes with
blue so heavy cut medium finish microfiber is a little different you know the fabric does most of
the work right so technically you could use this with a compound and cut so we're not necessarily
saying you have to stay in our color system which can get a little confusing but what we're tuning
here if you notice the blue one has a stiffer foam and it's much shorter so this one's maximum
cut right all out cut but it could be a little bit of a rough ride it's a little choppy because you
don't have a suspension built into it okay so you have a 21 millimeter orbit with a stiff foam and
it you're getting a lot of cut but you're going to feel it right yellow is kind of the compromise
white is the softest so softest and tallest foam the fabrics are also you can kind of see it may be
hard to pick up on camera but they are different fabrics tuned to the job so the density and pile
length is different yeah this one's really fine right yep exactly right but again the white will
cut where it gets a little confusing though is imagine we're polishing the hips of a 911 turbo
right where you have that deep concave well in that one the white actually might cut more
because it's going to contour into that so even though the blue is the heavy cutting right it
would almost make sense to use like an interface pad when you're sanding or something right so feel
with anything with polishing you have to dial in for that the right combination for that pain for
that combination for that pain anyways right my favorite's yellow I think it's the perfect
compromise but we've got blue fans and white fans yeah and obviously you can use them with
our color coordinated DA Polishes and feel free to experiment with them and play with them and
find the one that you like the best right or in our preference all three yeah one thing that you
brought to my attention not that long ago was and I didn't know this before all of the RUPES Pads
are balanced specifically for the 21 or the 15 now or the mini or the yeah all the machine types and
you know previously you know I don't think a lot of people know that and that's absolutely critical
information you know as far as I'm concerned so the thickness of these pads is not just you know
it wasn't random right so basically if you have this pad on the machine or this pad now these I
know this is a road yeah but they're actually perfectly balanced for the machine yeah so the
weights and the density is all kind of factored in and you also mentioned with the proper amount of
compounds so there's a lot of thought that's been put into these pads to make sure they absolutely
work with the machine right another right and then recently too you mentioned that who
is making the pads and the compounds well we do yeah everything we do is designed and manufactured
in-house currently some of the pad production is in the United States some of it's in Italy all of
the liquid compounds are still coming from Italy but we may we have a new Factory in Houston Texas
right so over time yeah we will ship more and more production here but RUPES designs everything yeah
and it you know with a lot of other companies they may design a very cool component and then they out
source and find the best and there's nothing wrong with that approach right we're just very lucky and
unique in the fact that we have an engineering team that works group is as unique in the fact
that this is our industry yeah if you look at 80 of our sales we're in automotive so we're people
think of as a tool manufacturer we make some tools but this is what we do and smooth and shiny tools
right you know we don't sell power drills for example right exactly so it makes it fun for us
because this is the world we live in in fact the counterbalancing was the whole reason that 21 we
were able to go from an eight millimeter orbit to a 21 millimeter orbit right that was when
we invented that technology what was necessary was yeah that ability to counterbalance and it
was all predicated on pad design and height yeah counterweight design and height yeah so critical
information so you mentioned on the 15 and 21 so I'm sure the same thing with this that RUPES makes
every component virtually yeah we've been I mean like within reason we don't make bearings we don't
make power cords yeah we don't make the batteries right those are that's third-party components so
these are all made by RUPES right yeah virtually every component except for bearings and core yeah
what would cost us too much to make yeah right yeah so that's really important information yep
and then the last two products again sticking with our color system blue means count you know
stronger compound or in this case strong right and yellow being fine or in this case light we have
two new panel wipes so the idea here when we talk to the market is we wanted to make an inspection
spray to remove fillers and oils and waxes and half the market wants alcohol-based which is safe
and easy and you can use on fresh paint that's light okay the other part of the market said
give us something nuclear powered that's going to pull off certain compounds on the market they may
say they don't have fillers but they do they have durable fillers right and alcohol won't touch them
right this is going to completely remove waxes fillers I mean this is going to get you to bare
paint we don't recommend this one on fresh paint right and we would tell you not to spray it on
the panel and let it sit you're either going to spray and wipe immediately or in our preferred
method of application spray on the towel and wipe just because there's a lot of solvent it
is a strong panel wipe right this is more of an inspection spray cleaner but two options so we
have the strong and the lights staying within our color coordination but both should do the same job
right okay so just to clear yeah so once again we would dial this into the job exactly right so
not necessarily when we're cutting we're using this and we're finishing we're using this we
would dial it more to the job yeah and we've got fresh paint we don't need anything heavy we just
need to inspect what's going on maybe we have a situation where we're polishing and we don't know
what was put on their previously yeah we need to remove fillers and we need maybe remove previous
yeah for sure and the truth is most sealants and even waxes are pretty impervious to alcohol yeah
let's use a strong compound so right in this case you're going to go with the solvent now
the thing with RUPES and all of our polishing compounds they're all water-based or at least
water soluble so you would never need something more than this to remove no okay and really
none of them are designed to fill except for UNO Protect and a little bit about UNO Advanced has
got some filler exactly so you shouldn't need it but it's still a good idea to wipe and make sure
any paint can fill you know you never know what you're working on but we're really happy about
all of these new products and the feedback has been phenomenal really exciting yeah so
we'll have all this in store very soon I want to thank Todd yeah it is always a pleasure to
see you man it's fun to hang out and I look forward for my next trip up to Edmonton not
right now though no right now I'm from Florida we just got pictures we've got six inches of
snow in places right now I don't know what that looks like we'll stay on the sunny side
right maybe in the spring yeah thank you so much for stopping by we'll see you guys later