Question on 303 for top maintenance
 

Guys, I was finally getting around to applying some treatment to my new top and am a little confused. There appears to be four flavors of 303 that might be suitable for us:

303 Cleaner, pretty self explanatory
303 Fabric Guard, one of the options I'm considering for use after the top is clean, calls out water repellency
303 Protectant, one of the options I'm considering for use after the top is clean, calls out UV protection
303 Aerospace Protectant, one of the options I'm considering for use after the top is clean, interesting but not sure if others have considered this one

What 303 product are others using for their top to protect it after its clean? I'm on the fence since water repellency seems nice, but UV protection seems nice too.

Fabric Guard seems to be the best suited to fabric tops, but want to see what others think. Any thoughts on the Aerospace Protectant?

P.S. this isn't intended to be a 303 vs Raggtop thread, more focused on if one choses 303, which 303 to use.

I use the first two-
303 Cleaner, pretty self explanatory
303 Fabric Guard, one of the options I'm considering for use after the top is clean, calls out water repellency

Then a car cover.

Every 3 mo-

You should get an extended warranty. That's what you NEED

@DE, none of the Nissan extended warranties cover the soft goods (fabric) on the top, including the Gold warranty that I bought a while ago.

Somehow the forum member with extended warranties have had them replaced. Either way, anyone with a convertible should spring for the most expensive warranty Nissan offers

I have the most expensive extended warranty that Nissan offers, and it specifically states that the fabric of the top is not covered. I certainly hope that if I ever need it, that line of the contract is overlooked, but I don't know that it would be wise to count on it.

Looks to me like they've changed their labels. The one I use on my top is green, but has a picture of a car, boat, and RV on it. It says Fabric Guard. It also has the Sunbrella logo on it - they make the fabrics that fabric boat tops and covers, among other things, are made of.

The Aerospace was blue with the same picture in the middle. The Aerospace used to specify that it is for plastic, rubber, leather, and fiberglass. I use the Aerospace on the toneau cover on my wife's pickup truck since it's naugahyde, or the equivalent.

This is the one I use on the Z top:
303 Aerospace Fabric Guard Water Repellant

That's the first link I found that had the picture of the bottle(s) I have. I'm not specifically suggesting buying from them.

When I run out, I'll look for the Fabric Guard version, which appears to still be green.

Though I've said it several times elsewhere, I'll say it again here - I use a cheap paintbrush (not the disposable sponge type), not that whimpy spray bottle. I put on a couple of coats, then I do it again in a few days. If I don't go through a whole bottle each time, I figure I'm not trying hard enough. I do it at the beginning and end of each warm season.

When it runs I wipe it off the rubber, glass, and paint as soon as I can. It's never been a problem.

I use this one, works well so far

http://autoglym-canada.com/spree/pro...png?1380543332


Convertible Top Maintenance System - Products - Autoglym

I followed bummer's exact method and I've never seen water bead up on fabric like it does with the 303 repellant stuff! The brush method worked easy although it is alarming when you brush the liquid on a black top and it looks kind of whitish. It soaks in quickly and the top looks like a very rich black. It only took about an hour to do everything and I was being very careful.

Good job bummer!

Thanks, I try. :cool:

I just got a bottle of the Aerospace Protectant, but I haven't actually had a chance to try it yet. I bought it to shine up the engine bay of my 2001 Jeep, which has never been cleaned before.

When I started this, a couple of years ago, all of the bottles of 303 product had "aerospace protectant" on them. The important point, at least for use on the top of a Z Roadster, is the word "Fabric". One type of protectant was for fabrics, another was for non-fabrics like rubber, plastic, and leather.

Personally, I would not use the non-fabric on my top. I don't know what difference there might be, but I wouldn't want to be the guy who found out there was one.

On the other hand, if you are planning on using it to pretty up the engine compartment, sounds good to me. Let us know how things turn out. (Either way, I suppose.)

I'll throw my 2cents in on this subject. I wash the engine compartment on my cars with soapy water and an RV brush. It gets in all the cracks and crevices real well, I hose it off and then take a towel and cover the fan belt. I then spray Armor All over the entire engine compartment while it dripping wet, coating everything. Pull the towel out and close the hood. Wash the outside of the car in your favorite way, any over spray from the Armor All will be washed off then. When the AA dries you will be surprised at how good it looks.

Certainly seems worth a try. Gotta keep the engine compartment car show ready.

This is the 303 I just used on my top:

Amazon.com: 303 (30606) Fabric Guard Trigger Sprayer, 32 fl. oz.: Automotive

It worked very well. I covered all the windows/seals near the fabric top with cut up garbage bags + painters tape. Then I just sprayed it on with a good even coverage per the bottle instructions. The prep work took longest, about 30 minutes, the spraying took 5-10 minutes. When I finished spraying, I just removed the plastic and dried any drips/overspray from glass/rubber surfaces. Then it sat in the sunshine for a couple hours to dry. I ended up using about 1/2 - 2/3 of the bottle.

The results are quite amazing. The first time I washed it after coating I couldn't believe how the water beaded up and ran off. I plan on applying this every year now to protect/preserve the top.