Review: 303 Multi-Surface Cleaner as a Tire Cleaner + 303 Protectant as a Tire Dressing by Mike Phillips

[Mike Phillips]

Review: 303 Multi-Surface Cleaner as a Tire Cleaner + 303 Protectant as a Tire Dressing by Mike Phillips



303 products and a few tools of the trade






Real-World Detailing =Real-World Reviews and Ho-Tos

I recently had the pleasure to restore the original paint on a 1965 Corvette. This is the real-deal, I don't do mock-up.

One of the first things I do when inspecting a car before detailing is I take my hand and give the tire sidewall a good wipe and then look to see what comes off the tire and onto my hand. In this case, a black, oily, dirty film came off. This is a sign that at some point some brand of tire dressing was applied to the tire sidewall.


Before






Machine Cleaning and Machine Dressing

I've been very impressed with the safe cleaning power of 303 Multi-Surface Cleaner for a number of projects lately and because I already had these product out, and because I could not use a tire coating on these tires I chose to use the 303 cleaner and protectant to clean and dress these iconic muscle car tires. Of course, I machine applied both the cleaner and the protectant using separate dedicated machine tire scrubbing brushes on a FLEX cordless PE14




Here's before machine scrubbing - the rubber is dull and lifeless looking....





Cotton Terrycloth Scrap Rags

Every detailer should have some plain, simple cotton terrycloth scrap rags like you always see me using. These work best for this type of cleaning work and microfiber towels actually suck at this type of work plus it ruins the towels.

After machine scrubbing, I spray a little of the 303 Multi-Surface Cleaner onto the face of the towel and then give the scrubbed sidewall a thorough wipe-down.




And here's what I don't want on my nice microfiber towels.





Then I blast any excess residue out of the lips of the rims and around the lettering.






After that I machine apply the dressing. I machine apply the dressing TWICE and after the second application I again wipe the tire with a clean scrap rag so there's nothing on the surface to sling-off. I also blow-out all the lettering again as well as blow out around the lip of the rim. Sorry no pictures.





Here's the final results...













Ahh.... that looks so much better than where we started.





Review

What can I say? 303 makes great products and while I don't think they position their multi-surface cleaner as a dedicated tire clean - it works great. Both the cleaner and the protectant make a great dynamic duo for so many things and they are so easy to use. Also at this point - now that the tires have been surgically machine cleaned and dressed - moving forward it will be super easy to REFRESH the crisp look with a simple hand application of the protectant. Maybe once or twice a year re-clean by hand with the cleaner and your scrap rag and then re-dress.

Simple processes like this work to maintain your car's tires because they are fast and easy to do.



On Autogeek.com

303 Multi-Surface Cleaner 16 oz.

303 Automotive Protectant



Heavy-Duty DA Carpet Brush – Long Bristles

The Heavy-Duty DA Carpet Brush features deep 1.5-inch nylon bristles that are stiff enough to remove stains, and gentle enough not to damage delicate surfaces. Attach the Heavy-Duty DA Carpet Brush to a 5-inch hook and loop backing plate and you’ll be able to clean carpet faster than you ever thought possible!



FLEX PE-150 Cordless Rotary Polisher

The FLEX PE-150 Cordless Rotary Polisher has a 1400 watt motor with a no-load speed range of 150 - 1,450 rpm. When powered by the 5 amp battery pack, the FLEX PE-150 Cordless Rotary Polisher can use a cutting wool pad at full power for 30-35 minutes – the perfect amount of time to polish a couple panels. The average charge time from dead to fully charged is approximately 40 minutes – and you can have a back-up battery on hand to keep going while the other battery is still charging!

[Mike Phillips]

Continued....


These tires were not in horrible dirty condition to start with, so this isn't like one of my extreme makeovers, but it was important to get the tires on this car cleaned and dressed to complete the look of the final results after doing the paint restoration.



Here's before




Here's after






Here's before




Here's after








My comments...

In various other 303 product reviews and how-tos, I shared what a really great multi-purpose, multi-surface cleaner the 303 Multi-Surface Cleaner is and this is simply another verification of what I've said as well as showing you another use for this product.



And of course it's the culmination of detailing all the various aspects of the exterior of this classic, original paint Corvette that leads to the final results.

[Mike Phillips]

Continued...

You can find the write-up for how I addressed the antique, original paint here,


1976 Corvette Original Single Stage Paint - Paint Correction and Waxing
















And you can see the 303 Multi-Surface Cleaner and the 303 AEROSPACE Protectant in action here,

How to use 303 Aerospace Protectant to Restore Vinyl Seats by Mike Phillips




303 Multi-Surface Cleaner & 303 Aerospace Protectant