{"id":5611,"date":"2011-07-25T06:43:13","date_gmt":"2011-07-25T10:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/?p=5611"},"modified":"2016-11-16T09:34:54","modified_gmt":"2016-11-16T14:34:54","slug":"303-aerospace-protectant-review-and-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/303-aerospace-protectant-review-and-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"303 Aerospace Protectant Review and Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 303 Aerospace Protectant (303 AP)<\/a> is a major tool in any detailer\u2019s arsenal.\u00a0 It is not only very good at what it does, but it is so easy to apply and serves so many various functions that it\u2019s a no brainer to have and keep for good.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimply spray or wipe the 303 Aerospace Protectant on any vinyl, rubber, plastic and leather surface and you’ll instantly have a richer looking finish with valuable UV protection. The superior protection this product provides is critical to the long term care of your vehicle. The 303 Protectant is great to use on your vehicle’s rubber (tires, seals, hoses), vinyl (dashboard, doors, armrests, interior and exterior trim, engine casings, convertible tops), plastic (car bras, gauges, grills, trim, convertible’s soft windows), leather (seats, trim) and so much more. This versatile product gives all of these surfaces valuable conditioners and protection that will keep each surface looking new and fresh for years to come with regular treatments. The tires, leather seats, exterior trim and dashboard often get prolonged exposure to harmful UV rays so it’s important to thoroughly protect those surfaces. Keeping your interior looking clean and dust free can be challenging, but the 303 Protectant is up to the challenge. Applying the 303 Protectant to your dashboard, arm rests, seats and doors will help repel dust, dirt and human oils from collecting. Many other dressings are oily and greasy which can actually attract dust and dry out the surface. Any surface you apply Aerospace Protectant to will leave behind a beautiful matte finish. For best results just apply one nice thin coating and you’ll instantly notice the beautiful finish it leaves behind!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The description alone makes my review useless to a degree :), but I\u2019ll try anyway to further explain the product\u2019s advantages.<\/p>\n

\"303<\/p>\n

303 AP Advantages<\/h2>\n

First off, 303 AP<\/a> is extremely easy to use, as you\u2019ll see in my quick guide below.\u00a0 You simply need to wipe on, wipe off and you\u2019re done.\u00a0 All that\u2019s necessary for this application is some 303 AP and a microfiber towel<\/a>, that\u2019s it!\u00a0 If you care to see a bit more gloss you can go with 2-3 coats and notice quite a difference.<\/p>\n

Second, 303 AP<\/a> has various uses around the vehicle.\u00a0 As noted in the description above, it can protect anything from tires, to exterior trim, to interior leather, and so on.\u00a0 It\u2019s just as easy to use on one as it is on another part of the vehicle and does a great job no matter what it protects. \u00a0Also, it never leaves a glossy\/oily surface that detracts from the cleanliness of the car or car part.\u00a0 The finish is matte and clean looking.<\/p>\n

Lastly, durability of it is comparable to or better than most dedicated dressings out there, such as vinyl dressings, tire dressings, etc.\u00a0 On tires, I find it to last for a week or two easily and keep a nice dark look, especially if a couple coats are applied.\u00a0 On the interior, you can usually check durability of it on the dashboard by noting how easy it is to wipe off any dust that has settled.\u00a0 With 303 AP applied, I notice my dashboard to be much cleaner as well as easier to clean.\u00a0 A microfiber towel<\/a> with some Optimum No-Rinse (ONR)<\/a> will glide across the dash and pick up dust much easier when there\u2019s some 303 AP applied to the dash.\u00a0 Also for the interior, the durability is much better and, other than the dash which gets most damage from the sun, you can easily see 303 AP<\/a> protecting for a good 6-8 weeks.<\/p>\n

How to use 303 AP<\/h2>\n

Below is a very short guide on how I like to use the 303 AP<\/a> and a few photos to show the results. I prefer a dark matte surface on pretty much anything I condition and protect, which is why I use 303 AP for almost any sort of dressing or conditioning that I\u2019ll be doing on a vehicle.\u00a0 For this guide, I used a small trim piece from my 93 BMW 325i to show what 303 AP can achieve in a very short period of time.\u00a0 The trim piece is roughly 6\u201d x 2\u201d in size for reference.<\/p>\n

As you can see in the photo below, the trim piece is showing its 18 years and 237,000 miles by sporting a beat up, gray and defeated look\u2026<\/p>\n

\"303<\/p>\n

As mentioned toward the beginning of this article, all you need is a microfiber towel<\/a> to apply and remove 303 AP.\u00a0 I like to use a 16\u201d x 16\u201d (or similar size) towel, fold it in half 3 times to end up with roughly a 4\u201d x 8\u201d surface area exposed.\u00a0 I then spray this area 2-3 times using the 16oz. spray bottle and apply the product to trim\/etc. using back and forth then up and down motions to ensure it really gets into every pore.\u00a0 For such a small trim piece, I would only spray the towel 1-2 times before applying 303 AP to it so as to not apply too much.\u00a0 One thing worthy mentioning… when applying, I find it best to basically keep wiping a few times with the damp part of the towel, then turn the towel over and keep lightly wiping to a nice matte finish.\u00a0 Some people prefer to wipe on, leave alone for a few minutes, then wipe off residue later on.\u00a0 I obviously prefer the “WOWO” (wipe-on-wipe-off) method, but to each their own.<\/p>\n

Here you can see 303 AP<\/a> applied to only half of the trim piece\u2026<\/p>\n

\"303<\/p>\n

You can see here that 303 AP<\/a> not only makes the trim much darker, but also fills in some of the deeper scuff marks for a cleaner look.\u00a0 All this while remaining perfectly matte with no sign of oily or dirty residue.\u00a0 Keep in mind this is done with a trim piece that was only wiped down with some ONR<\/a> prior to the 303 AP application, so it didn\u2019t receive a thorough wash or cleaning.<\/p>\n

Finally, the after photo:<\/p>\n

\"303<\/p>\n

If you simply look at the before and after photo, due to the lighting conditions you can\u2019t tell much of a difference in how much darker the piece is, but don\u2019t let the photos fool you.\u00a0 The difference in the before vs after photo is in the details.\u00a0 One can easily see how just one application of 303 AP filled in all the scuff marks and stains, leaving a cleaner looking trim piece that when put back on the vehicle doesn\u2019t belong at all with the other pieces.\u00a0 The half\/half photo is a clear indicator in how 303 AP improved the black look of the trim.<\/p>\n

Final thoughts<\/h2>\n

Honestly there’s not much more than can be said about this great product.\u00a0 It passes with flying colors all the tests detailers like myself look for in such products… ease of use, quality\/performance and durability.\u00a0\u00a0 It also comes in multiple sizes so you can purchase however much you need, although I highly recommend purchasing a gallon because you’ll find yourself using it on every car and even around the house.\u00a0 As you can see in the first photo, I like to put a custom sprayer on the 16oz. bottle and work with that.\u00a0 303 Aerospace Protectant<\/a> is a great product in every sense of the word and one that I don’t see myself replacing with anything for many years to come.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll end this article with a photo of my helper for the day looking on wondering \u201care we done yet?!\u201d.\u00a0 I took the photos in my parents\u2019 back yard and their little Pomeranian wouldn\u2019t leave me alone.<\/p>\n

\"303<\/p>\n

As always, hope you enjoyed it and please leave any comments below.<\/p>\n

Thanks,<\/p>\n

Ivan<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

303 Aerospace Protectant is one of the most versatile and widely used detailing products on the market today, and Ivan Rajic of Lustr Auto Detail provides an in-depth look on how and where to use it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":21326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,52,53,18,27,48],"tags":[118,106,799,798,1478,124,231,157],"class_list":{"0":"post-5611","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fabric-vinyl-plastic-and-rubber","8":"category-interior-care","9":"category-leather-care","10":"category-product-reviews","11":"category-professional-work","12":"category-trim-care","13":"tag-118","14":"tag-303-aerospace-protectant","15":"tag-exterior-trim","16":"tag-interior-trim","17":"tag-leather-care","18":"tag-plastic","19":"tag-tire-dressing","20":"tag-trim"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/5967124145_5b25311cfb_b-1.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1kPO7-1sv","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5611"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21327,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5611\/revisions\/21327"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}