I now think part of my issue was that the 303 needed more cure time!
Friday evening: applied 303 to all the cladding.
Sunday morning: had some water from the garden hose splash off the driveway onto the cladding which made it look like the water caused the 303 to "evaporate" where the drops touched.
Sunday afternoon: Finally got to polish & wax the paint! Got some wax on the cladding on a couple of places near the top edge. After cleaning off the wax, I went around the top 1" of the cladding with fresh 303 to even it out - all the way around the VX, even in the places that didn't really need it.
Monday morning: 3 miles of my drive to work was in a very light rain. Later in the morning, it sprinkled for about 10 minutes.
Tonight I see that 1" line where I applied the freshest 303 washed off to a much greater degree than on the rest of the cladding. There are some light stripes on the side cladding that had cured more and some big thin patches on the front that took the brunt of the rain while driving. But that 1" line at the top left a very obvious line where the fresh 303 was affected much, much more.
Hmmm, I also wonder if the super-hard water here could make a difference. (I'm talking about water so hard you can cut yourself just by washing your hands! Nyuck, nyuck!) That's a big issue here - I have to be super careful when I wash my other car. Its paint is pretty soft and if the water dries on it, I have to use vinegar to remove the water spots. That's city water; I don't have the same problem with rain.
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