Potential buyers are once again at a pinball crossroads of choice.

Know the differences of the definitions between a disclaimer, policy, warranty, and guarantee and what goes within these same mentioned terms regarding purchases. The terms are not created equal and will potentially effect end results.

Stern is not Costco.

Stern CYA Policy.jpg

People still don't understand how caustic and dangerous the old clear coat chemicals were in terms having proper facilities required for application curing playfield in the racks.

Some chemicals used in the past are outright cancerous when inhaled with fumes while applied and still wet. Full ventilation and respiratory protection required at all times. Proper drying sealed rooms required, not a paint booth. I am not talking about single or a couple playfields simultaneously but hundreds. This resulted in direct changes with the EPA, just what changed regarding use of lead in solder.

This then resulted in less than optimal changes to a consumer (tuffcoat,lacquers, clear coats), and one of my discussed factors of change within the pinball industry.

Here is a little tip from an old pinball restorer:
Don't re clear coat over existing NOS clear coat playfields unless the previous clear coat is fully removed, which is difficult, if not impossible without paint removal based on chemical bonding.
Don't clear coat over mylar either.
Re clearing is completely unnecessary anyway from the factory, simply added cost, and provides no benefit other than to make it "shinier" unless there were major factory imperfections from the start, which is a different reason altogether.
This is just asking for issues "down the road", including separation layers between existing coatings around inserts, including ghosting as shown above by the HSII.
If this had been left completely alone, the game would not have had the problems, which I can attest based on the 3X HSII I have owned, and the last one I still own.
This is no different than people that remove mylar from games that are decades old, no matter the method.
The mylar was added for a reason.

There are reasons WHY clear coats were THIN from BLY/WMS/GTB/AGC/DE/Sega in 1990s, and it was not because they wanted "playfields to wear out quicker", but the ability to provide BETTER QA in application and QC in materials. Take care of your games, and don't think "improvements" are always the best option.