Top protected... rain water beads up nicely

[agiannam]

I did a couple coats (enough to use the entire bottle). First coat was not enough. I then applied a 2nd coat and for me it worked very well.

I'd be interested to see a follow-up photo of your top after driving through moderate to heavy rain at highway speeds.

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[SVT-DADDY]

My 303 protected top is still beading water like a duck after a summer of use.

 

[Hidalgo]

I have been using 303 since 2015, once a year application.
All year long the water beads like the day it was put on.

 

[jimbabwe]

+1 for 303. Granted, this was from 1/4 a bottle of water, but it beaded similarly most of the year. I apply it every spring

 

[Johnnybee]

+1 for 303. Granted, this was from 1/4 a bottle of water, but it beaded similarly most of the year. I apply it every spring

Mine has been performing well. The other day we had a skim coat of snow, then it warmed up enough to melt. When I went out to the car to go home, the entire top looked like your picture. I think that driving in the rain gives it the appearance that it's soaking in because there is always going to be some "wet" on the top but in reality most of the water has been ejected by airflow over the top.

 

[Intrepid175]

An alternative to 303 protectant is to go to West Marine and buy their own brand of canvas water repellant.

Works great!

CVCashmere

I'll second this one. I've used both. The West Marine protectant appears to do a good a job as the 303 and it's noticeably cheaper. Also, I don't spray it on, I brush it on. You'll wind up using much more of the product in the application process but it also works better and last longer. My results have been pretty much identical to the OP's picture.

Drive Safe,
Steve R.

 

[agiannam]

My top always looks like the OP's for a short time after light rain. After anything more than a short time or a light rain, and it doesn't bead. It's as if it takes a time for the water to start soaking into the fabric, and it beads until then. I'm interested to know if, after driving at highway speeds in heavy rain, others see beading like in the OP's photo.

 

[Intrepid175]

My top always looks like the OP's for a short time after light rain. After anything more than a short time or a light rain, and it doesn't bead. It's as if it takes a time for the water to start soaking into the fabric, and it beads until then. I'm interested to know if, after driving at highway speeds in heavy rain, others see beading like in the OP's photo.

I've had a couple of times when the water seemed to quit beading but that was after driving through some really heavy rains. There will come a point when the water will get through I guess. Once I was out of the heavy weather and the top had a chance to dry off, the next showers I hit, or the car was parked in, the water was beading again. One thing I'm convinced of is that while the product may not be perfect, it does a very good job overall and is way better than nothing. Besides, if I'm not mistaken, it also offers a level of UV protection too.

 

[agiannam]

I've had a couple of times when the water seemed to quit beading but that was after driving through some really heavy rains. There will come a point when the water will get through I guess. Once I was out of the heavy weather and the top had a chance to dry off, the next showers I hit, or the car was parked in, the water was beading again. One thing I'm convinced of is that while the product may not be perfect, it does a very good job overall and is way better than nothing. Besides, if I'm not mistaken, it also offers a level of UV protection too.

Thanks for your reply. Your experience might be similar to mine. I compare the performance of 303 Fabric Guard to the performance of wax on painted surfaces, which always beads, no matter how much rain for how long, or how fast I drive, and lasts for more than 6 months. 303 Fabric Guard is probably way better than nothing, but in that comparison, it falls short of expectations. I still wonder if, after driving at highway speeds in heavy rain, anyone has experienced beading like in the OP's photo.

 

[Intrepid175]

Thanks for your reply. Your experience might be similar to mine. I compare the performance of 303 Fabric Guard to the performance of wax on painted surfaces, which always beads, no matter how much rain for how long, or how fast I drive, and lasts for more than 6 months. 303 Fabric Guard is probably way better than nothing, but in that comparison, it falls short of expectations. I still wonder if, after driving at highway speeds in heavy rain, anyone has experienced beading like in the OP's photo.

I'm not sure comparing a fabric guard to a hard painted surface is a fair comparison. The paint isn't porous. I took a 2.5 week, 3500 mile road trip last August. The weather was Ok most of the time but I drove for several hours through some real frog strangling rain. One was on I-30 between Texarkana and Little Rock. The other was driving through Indianapolis. The leading edge of the top at the windshield header wasn't beading much at all when I stopped for fuel. The rest of it, while not quite as good as the OP's picture, was still trying. I was heading to Muncie, IN and stayed there for several days. The weather cleared out and the top was able to totally dry out. The next time I ran into a few showers, it was beading up as before. Overall, I'm very happy with the 303's, and the West Marine protectant's performance. I'm also pleased to report that I never saw one drop of water enter the car even during the heaviest downpours I was driving in. I've owned three convertibles. The first leaked like a sieve after the first year or so. The second, a Honda S2000 was water tight. I'm thrilled to see that my Mustang appears to be water tight too, at least so far!

 

[agiannam]

I'm not sure comparing a fabric guard to a hard painted surface is a fair comparison. The paint isn't porous. I took a 2.5 week, 3500 mile road trip last August. The weather was Ok most of the time but I drove for several hours through some real frog strangling rain. One was on I-30 between Texarkana and Little Rock. The other was driving through Indianapolis. The leading edge of the top at the windshield header wasn't beading much at all when I stopped for fuel. The rest of it, while not quite as good as the OP's picture, was still trying. I was heading to Muncie, IN and stayed there for several days. The weather cleared out and the top was able to totally dry out. The next time I ran into a few showers, it was beading up as before. Overall, I'm very happy with the 303's, and the West Marine protectant's performance. I'm also pleased to report that I never saw one drop of water enter the car even during the heaviest downpours I was driving in. I've owned three convertibles. The first leaked like a sieve after the first year or so. The second, a Honda S2000 was water tight. I'm thrilled to see that my Mustang appears to be water tight too, at least so far!

Thanks for the additional information. It still sounds like your experience is similar to mine. Maybe I'm being too rigorous in expecting water to bead on my convertible top, like it does on the painted surfaces of my car, but failure to bead is the only indication that a leak might be imminent. I don't want to wait until water appears inside, before deciding that the product doesn't work well enough. When it beads, I have good reason to think that it's working well. When it stops beading (as it does after driving at highway speeds in heavy rain), for all I know, water is collecting in the liner, potentially leading to mold.

Please don't get me wrong; I've got nothing against 303. I just want to know if my experience is typical. If, after driving at highway speeds in heavy rain, there are credible reports of beading like in the OP's photo, then I might conclude that I should change something in how I apply the product. So far, no one is so reporting. Absent such reports, I plan to try one of the other products suggested in this thread.

 

[Intrepid175]

Please don't get me wrong; I've got nothing against 303. I just want to know if my experience is typical. If, after driving at highway speeds in heavy rain, there are credible reports of beading like in the OP's photo, then I might conclude that I should change something in how I apply the product. So far, no one is so reporting. Absent such reports, I plan to try one of the other products suggested in this thread.

I tried using the spray applicator a couple of times. It was ok I guess but like you, I wasn't that impressed with the results and it was a pain keeping the overspray off the windows and paint. Then I saw a post on the web somewhere where the guy was applying it with a soft bristled paint brush so I tried that. I poured the protectant in an empty margarine tub and brushed it on. You'll use quite a bit more doing it this way than using the spray bottle but it seems to work a lot better. I generally do it in the evening and let the top dry in the garage. It also tends to leave a bit of a smell in the passenger compartment for a couple of days but that doesn't bother me. That might be a problem for some. I've done this with 303 and was happy with the results but the only place I seemed to be able to find it was through the web. Then I discovered that West Marine carries the 303 and there are a couple of those stores within about a ten mile radius from where I live. That's when I discovered their West Marine branded protectant, which looks and smells just like the 303 and it was noticeably cheaper than the 303 was so I gave it a try and it seems to work just as well. I don't think you'll have a problem with either.

Good luck,
Steve R.

 

[Johnnybee]

As a follow up to my earlier reply, I can say that the top with 303 has been performing well through the winter. With the exception of a couple of small streaks from the front corners, the top is nice and black, that is, no salt stains on it. It appears to shed whatever it comes in contact with. Meanwhile the rest of the car is filthy, to say the least. So from that perspective, I'm quite happy with the results, as one of my fears was that the salt spray would get to the top and shorten its lifespan. We're finally coming out of the deep freeze here this weekend with, incredibly, rain in the forecast for Sunday and Monday. I'm pretty sure a little rain will clean off the little bit that remains on the top.

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