303 Protectant

[Starter986]

Read enough here about the 303, and purchased a bottle of the fabric protector. Late 2017 I used the Raggtop product, and wasn't entirely satisfied. Not driven much (1%) in rain and when washing the top a few months after that application... zero beading.

Last weekend washed the top with Raggtop. Yesterday vacuumed the top, then ran some tape over it removing every last speck of dust/hair/debris.

So... decided to brush on the 303 starting near the front of the top. When I got to the side... above the window glass... the plastic top pieces... I found that trying to nestle in the brush to "get in the crack between the fabric and plastic" tedious. Some of the 303 swiped the black plastic and, just a minute later, started whitening up. Clearly there was a chemical reaction. STOP!

Used rubbing alcohol to remove the "marks"... helped some... then some back-to-black. That worked. At that point I decided it would be far less time consuming to tape off everything... than to go back after the application cleaning up a bunch of misapplied product.

Blue painters tape on everything plastic meeting with fabric. Taped the conv window edges as well. That was a big assist as now I could nestle in that brush to the nooks and crannies. Removed the tape... all good. A litle 303 slipped under the conv window tape... left some residue... rubbed finger on it... gummy. Rubbing alcohol cleared that up... and then a quick wipe with the Novus 1. I can't imagine spraying this product on a top... as the overspray mandates cleanup... thus, 5 mninutes taping v. 15-30 minutes cleaning/correcting residue.

In the sun for a few hours. Looks great. I'm satisfied with the product. Top looks relatively new, again, absent the usual and customary scuff marks (associated with open/close).

The only thing that bothers me about the product is that it contains petroleum distillates. When, as a youngster, I learned about what petroleumn distillates in detailing products (Think" Armor All, etc.) I stopped using those products. It wasn't until after I received in the mail the 303 I saw it contained the petroleum crap. So, in spite of having that information still I applied the product. I'll be looking for the next product, and one that doesn't contain those chemicals and...

A product that protects against UV rays. I can't believe a product that is endorsed by Sunbrella doesn't contain a UV protectant.

I've about 15% of the product left in the, what... 12/16 ounce bottle. I brushed in on and when I was about 15 minutes into the process thought I might have insufficient product to complete the application. My top was drinking up the product. I found that once I covered a section (about 1x1 foot at a time) it was clear when continued brushing was overkill... as the product made it evident that continued brushing in that area was unecessary... as the product became milky white and the fabric "saturated". Move onto the next section.

I'm all ears if anyone has used a brush on product with zero petroleum distillates, and with UV protection.

Done.