So I have a 303 protectant/cleaner kit for the cloth soft top (purchased months before the car arrived ). Car is brand new. Do I go ahead and treat the cloth top now with 303? On their website, the company seemed to imply that factory treatment is sufficient but will wear off over time (1 year?), and at that time using 303 protectant would be beneficial.

So should I wait a year to treat the top, assuming the factory provided a good level of protection to start? Or should I go ahead with the 303 now? Is the second layer of product (303) counterproductive to the still-fresh factory protectant, or at the very least unnecessary?

I'm sure 303 is great stuff, and will gladly use it when needed, but I don't really buy into the hysteria that products from the factory (i.e. upholstery or soft tops) have absolutely no protection whatsoever, and will quickly stain, mold, fade, and decompose into a pile of steaming goo if they're not immediately attacked with X product from Y Corporation. I'm sure these protectant companies want us to believe this, but I find it unlikely a car company (i.e. MINI) would release a car to the world without giving the seat and/or top fabric some sort of treatment.

So treat now? Or enjoy now, wait for factory treatment to fade, then attack with 303?

And how about my Space Gray cloth seats? Same question: treat now? Wait and treat later? I don't eat/drink in my car. A funny thing though: driving back from the dealership, I found myself in the middle of a butterfly migration of biblical proportions. Not only was the front of my car and windsheld covered in yellow bug innards, but one managed to get over the top of the windsheld and back into the passenger compartment, where it exploded on the top of the rear seatback, leaving a nice yellow spot. I'll have to figure out the best way to take that on. That's record time for me for getting a fabric stain in a new vehicle.

Thanks.

 

you might have some more responses if you post in the Car Cleaning and Detailing thread