Product Review: 303 Touchless Sealant
by Ivan RajicI received this 303 Touchless Sealant recently and wanted to immediately test it out on my car. I normally use CarPro HydrO2 and after testing numerous other sealants I have always gone back to “hydro”. Reason being, it performs really well and is easy to use. The 303 sealant definitely has to prove itself in our shop, but I was very happy and eager to give it a shot.
I started by spraying it on the summer wheels of my BMW. After cleaning them up a bit, I sprayed some 303 Touchless Sealant on the wheels and rinsed off soon after.
As you can see in the photos, the sealant definitely bonded and was beading quite nicely. I did each wheel individually in order to test how much time it takes for the sealant to sit on the surface for too long and be harder to remove or leave streaks (what happens with Hydro and other similar sealants). The 303 instructions say to work one area at a time and rinse off immediately, so initially, I sprayed the wheel and rinsed off basically after only about 5-6 seconds. This was definitely too short of a time as the wheel wasn’t beading too well, I assume due to sealant not bonding well enough. After that, I started going 10, 20 and 30 seconds. The longer I waited, the better the beads looked and the more I realized “immediately” and “area” would be defined by the user and environment where the sealant is used. The photo above is of the wheel where I rinsed off the sealant after about 30 seconds.
With this knowledge, I went on to do my newly acquired Lexus LS400. After a thorough wash and clay bar decon, I started working in sections to apply the 303 Touchless Sealant. I only took photos on the hood and the process is shown below…
The hood didn’t have much if any beading to it as shown above. I sprayed the sealant liberally across the hood…
After about 30-40 seconds I rinsed everything off…
The hood started to bead up really nicely during rinsing and looked like this after I rinsed off all the sealant…
As we all know the beading greatly helps with drying the car, especially if using a blower such as the Metro Master Blaster…
All of my testing was done on two different days but with roughly the same temperature/environment. I haven’t been able to test the durability of this sealant just yet as it’s only been about 1.5 weeks, but it’s something I will check over the next few weeks and next time I wash the car. Durability aside, I do have some random thoughts and comparisons to Hydro…
First off, I think the main thing to remember when using this is to really try and figure out when is the best time to rinse off the sealant. As I mentioned earlier, the instructions saying “immediately” could vary quite a bit because when applying to my car I did almost half the car at a time and had absolutely no issues. This means I rinsed it off probably after a good 45 seconds. Carpro Hydro, on the other hand, will start to spot at around the 20-25 second mark in this same environment. I am not saying one is better than the other in this sense, just pointing out what I got out of testing the 303.
Second, I am definitely not sold on 303 being better than Hydro, but I will need to 1. figure out the best time to rinse off for best bonding but no streaking and 2. see durability and compare to Hydro. Definitely need more experience with it overall. If I was to go off by simply looking at the tightness of the water beads, Hydro definitely takes the cake but 303 is close behind.
Lastly, I’m pretty happy with how 303 worked. We’ve used a few different products in the past and some have been horrible, others didn’t last at all (maybe one wash) and 303 definitely shows a lot of promise. It’s VERY easy to use and if my assumptions are right and the “rinse time” is a lot longer than something like Hydro, 303 Touchless Sealant will be one of the easiest to use sealants while performing well.
I’ll try and update this article within a few weeks or so with some durability info as well as any other characteristics from future testing.
Like many of these spray on type sealants 303 may perform better if sprayed on then spread out with a microfiber mitt before rinsing. I too am a fan of Hydro2 and have yet to see a product beat it. McKees HydroBlue comes close.
Mckees hydro blue is awesome
I can tell u that when I worked for a marine manufacturer we had our people use 303 products for the final results were excellent the corporation bought 303 products wholesale out of California we used the products on all 8 brands of boats we manufactured & outboard motors I personally use still use 303 can’t wait to try 303 touchless sealant
I appreciate your objective review and can’t wait to see the long term results.
I to am a big fan of Hydro02..but I will keep checking back here for your review on durability
I tested this product out last year, in January, but in a controlled temp inside my buddy’s shop. After washing the car I sprayed the product on a section at a time and let it sit for atleast 30 seconds and then rinsed away. The beads were VERY tight! I noticed great beads for the first 2 monthes and it tailed off afterwards but still beaded.
The size of the bottle and its price make this is a winner IMO, American developed, made, bottled and shipped!
Thank you for the review, what’s the update on durability?
Looking forward to hearing how long it lasts.
I’ve used this product twice and really like it!
Holds up well and will continue with it.
In late winter here in New England during a short break in the weather I washed my Wife’s Traverse. I needed to renew the protection to get her through the rest of the winter and early spring when the weather is still awful here. So, without any prep but washing, I used 303 and have been thrilled with the results. The shine and slickness was great. Over the next day or so it appeared to get even better. I noticed in the days that followed it was staying much cleaner than ever before. It’s a daily driver commuter and the rear end of the Traverse, due to its design, gets filthy just driving around the block and it was staying clean, even the rear glass. One day she got bird bombed and the dropping actually mostly ran off. What remained wiped right off. It did not bond at all. Just rinsing the vehicle a few days later made it look like it had just been washed. After about 4-5 weeks it still looked like the day I did it. After about 7 or 8 weeks I reapplied not because I thought it needed it but because I wanted to see if it would get even better. It didn’t.
I also used it on a red Caddy CTS after proper prep and it worked as well as on the Traverse. The owner loved it and was thrilled that, in her words, “the water flies off my windshield”
From my experience now, I’d recommend 1 panel at a time and avoid direct sun. If you have to work outside shrink the iapplication size. Spray with one hand and use a pressure washer to rinse it off top-to-bottom with the other hand. A pressure washer works best to spread and rinse it down.
I am very happy with it so far. I purchased 2 more bottles on sale when I had the chance.
Glad you’ve had a great experience with 303 Touchless sealant, its really an outstanding product! Besides the performance let’s talk about the size of the bottle (32 oz) and what you pay for it, why buy anything else?!
I settled on the 303 touchless sealant after looking at alternatives. I would not recommend allowing the product to bond or wash onto the front windscreen as in our case it caused bad wiper shudder on our new Subaru Forester. After having a new set of blades fitted (under warranty) some shudder remained so had the windscreen clay bar cleaned (under warranty). No more problems. Having applied the product twice I have found the quality of the container spray wanting. It does not apply an even spray coat. I am considering applying my next coat with the spray then using a damp microfiber cloth go over the newly sprayed area before rinsing off. I feel that this would apply a more consistent coating rather than rely on a hit and miss spray from the container. Has any other car enthusiast used this method?
I agree that the sprayer on the bottle is an issue. Not only because of what you mentioned, Ken, but also because it leaks and wastes product as your spray. Found this to be true on 3 bottles. I love the product, though, and now I dump it into my own spray bottle. Maybe 303, will address these two issues.
Have you contacted Gold Eagle directly?
Is the re-apply application the same as the first time? I can not find any info on the 2ed application
I would just wash the car, inspect the paint for contaminants, clay of some type if needed and re-apply.
I have hard water at my house can i apply 303 sealant with a wet microfiber towel and then wipe it off
Well, I’ve never applied it like that. Once washed you just spray some on, let it sit for 20-30 seconds and rinse off, it’s much more efficient this way!
Get one of those cordless/hoseless pressure washers and fill the bucket with a couple of gallons of distilled water.
Can I used 303 Marine Touchless on auto as well?
I’d say no because the marine formula is made for gel coat w/o clearcoat.
Thank you
I have the 303 and like it because it’s pretty cheap. My favorite product of this type is McKees because it’s sun friendly.