I prefer Insl-X STIX. Test it and let me know.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I am certain as a professional, you tested these 4 dark base primers; what did your head to head comparisons show? It will save me a test.

Please provide a link to their deep base.

I am VERY happy with the one I am using now.

I don't think it comes in grey ,I could be wrong.

How did Fresh Start go so wrong? I use it all the time.

I think it mystified everyone...

Have you ever had their DEEP BASE Fresh Start tinted with a deep color. I don't mean necessarily their max colorant, just say 2/3 of their max.

No one expected it...The people at Ben Moore main technical support and the people at the store. The corporate people finally told me to return it and they would have the rep pick it up and send it in for analysis.

The people at the store looked at me like I was nuts when I bought it back, but when I showed them what was happening they quickly and politely processed a return.

The two other primers dried rock hard overnight (actually within hours).

The deep base Fresh Start was soft after 7 days and could easily be scraped.

A fluke? I sure hope so.

Incidentally it did finally harden like the other two primers...AFTER 6 WEEKS!

STIX comes in gray. This gray.

Can be Tinted With a Maximum of 2 oz. Universal Colorant

STIX requires a few hours of dry time. Once it's dry, it's easy to sand. STIX completely blocks out any color and the dried film is very similar to paint. STIX is an acrylic urethane and dries to an extremely hard film, which provides for excellent enamel holdout properties.

There are several varieties of Fresh Start.

Which one in specific did you test? Alkyd Enamel Underbody, alkyd regular, water based?

Brushworks,

Good to know. Thanks for the pic.

Sambah,

024 deep base

Interesting. I've had 217 tinted pretty dark and if I recall correctly I had to wait 3 + days before it was ready to sand.

I don't think its the primer itself so much, but rather the carrier agent for the pigments that takes so long to cure enough to move on.

So trapped solvents destabilize the curing process under the top layer of oxidised oil? Could be.

BM can figure it out.

Have a good day, gents. Looks like only the pros reading this post. So I will close it out for now.