Stanley Schaefer wrote:
On Apr 10, 2:16?pm, Cydrome Leader wrote:
Stanley Schaefer wrote:
On Apr 9, 3:12?pm, Cydrome Leader wrote:
Does anybody know what the smell in 303 aerospace protectant is?

it reminds me of the distinct smell of a wooden pencil.

The other question would be what is the strong smell in some pencils?

Pencils used to be made of solid cedar. ?Some cheapies are made of
wood(or paper) dust and glue, your smell could come from either one.
If it's a chemical smell, it's probably from the glue.

Never heard of 303 aerospace protectant, who makes it? ?You could look

303products.com (trashy website, but some swear by the stuff)

It's supposed to be a rubber and plastic UV protectant and moisturizer of
sorts without silicones. I hate how silicone stuff creeps and makes
everything shiny.

I've used it on rubber stuff that tends to dryrot, but never noticed the
smell before, until I got it all over myself.

up the safety sheet online and see what's in it. ?Probably has some
form of wax and a solvent plus some secret sauce for anti-rust. ?Your

MSDS is just "proprietary". The smell is faint, and the stuff look appears
as a slightly milky fluid.

smell could come from any of those. ?I know that LPS 2 smells like the
Alox that's in bullet lube, Deep Creep has the same smell. ?Alox was
first an anti-corrosion goop that was used in the oil fields. ?So
probably a relative.

I did finally get some LPS-2, had to mail order it from a hardware store
in NY to get some in Chicago. I don't like its smell, it reminds me of
WD-40, and seeing that or smelling it usually means somebody did or is
about to do something stupid.

LPS 2 is meant to leave a lubricating and rust-resistant coating
behind, unlike WD40 which leaves something akin to rosin when the
carrier evaporates. But the odor IS sharp off of it.

Is the 303 stuff on the shelf somewhere or is it strictly mail/web
order? Rubber protectants usually have some sort of wax base, most

I've never seen it on the shelf, but it's probably at boating and RV
places.

rubber formulas have more or less wax in them, depending on inside or
outside use. Tires have a LOT of wax, when it starts running out,
that's when the cracks and weather-checks show up. So if you're in
the habit of soaping up the tires every day for appearance, expect
weathering a lot sooner. You'll be washing off the wax meant to keep
the rubber from weathering. I use a dry silicone spray on the
weatherstripping for that reason. Usually is water-base, so no wax
removal with it. That stuff doesn't get shiny and ice doesn't freeze
the doors shut with it applied. Reminds me I need to get some new
wiper blades, last storm took a chunk out of one.

Stan

Once rubber is weathered/dry/white is there anything that can be done
anymore, or is that just too late?

I've noticed turpentine vapors really swell up old dry rubber, but I can't
imagine is heals any cracks, and I'm not sure how long the stuff will say
swelled up, or if the turpentine ends up dissolving the rubber anyways.

My only use is on rubber grips on knobs and the like where once they fall
off, the equipment looks ugly, and you'll never get a replacement.