Let me give you a STRONG word of advice… do NOT shoot any of the urethane paints without using this hardener! I have seen instances over the past 10 years of people experiencing de-lamination of the clear coat when not using the Starfire hardener in the Urethane gallons. They kind of leave it as an option, so it’s not obvious that you MUST use the hardener. You can’t just use the Starfire reducer alone. I had 3 major custom projects where the clear coat de-laminated over the entire vehicle. It started with a small spot of lifting. But when you put even the weakest tape on a spot that has lifted, you can lift up the clear coat in SHEETS, like cellophane. I can’t tell you how many times I had to re-shoot clear coat before realizing what the problem was. How did I finally figure this out, you ask? It’s because I noticed that after 6 months or even upwards of 1 year later, when I peeled off the clear coat, I could smell the Starfire reducer underneath. It’s a very distinct smell, for the solvents they have in the mix. That let me know the the base coat never fully flashed. On one project, I even let the base coat flash for 24 hours before applying clear, and I still had one of the panels de-laminate. But when I went back and re-applied an additional layer of the urethane base paint with the hardener before shooting the clear, the problem was SOLVED. I tested the clear coat a day after shooting with the stickest tape I had, and I could not de-laminate it. The solvents in the urethane base paint will never dry if you shoot clear over it. You MUST use the hardener to cause the chemical reaction needed to convert those solvents into a solid state. Do this and you will never have a problem with the urethane gallons. You can’t beat the price of this paint. Sometimes the color will be off, but I still use it on complete paint jobs where I’m not needing to do exact color match. So this is a product that I love!
