I must have gotten a bunch of bad batches from KG then. I prep EXACTLY as they recommend, use K-Phos, and bake as they recommend. I have never had one single batch that would hold up as well, or was as hard as Cerakote.
I will try and find some pics of a test I did coating a couple bolts with Cerakote and a couple botls with KG, then comparing durability. Cerakote won by a mile.
I also have not noticed that Cerakote has a short shelf life compared to KG. In fact, all of the KG products save the gloss products use a flattenign paste in them that settles to the bottom rather quickly. If you leave it there for any length of time (much over a month), you really need to take the can to a professional paint shop and have them shake it up with one of their vibrators to ensure no clumping and consistent flatness.
I've not tried the newest KG stuff, but given my experience with their other products, I'm not too interested.
Duracoat is pretty darn good too, though it has an entirely different feel and hardness than Cerakote.
