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Hello and welcome again to the pavemanpro additive forum! Today I am responding to a contractor who asked me why he should pre-dilute his additive prior to putting it in his application rig. Which means cutting the additive with water before pouring it in. “Why, he asked does it say on the pail..he is referring to my TARGEL-PLUS additive that he should pre-dilute it 50/50?” Well with all additives that build viscosity, you run the risk of an action called polymer shock. Polymer shock is caused when a viscosity building rubber polymer is poured into a sealer tank all at once as if dumping a bucket of water in. When rubberized polymer comes into contact with ready-mixed sealer you see a thickening effect taking place. This effect is caused by the rubberized polymer absorbing the water in the mix and swelling the rubberized polymer. TARGEL-PLUS being a tremendous sand suspender and viscosity modifier needs to be poured into the tank slowly and deliberate to avoid this action. We help alleviate the problem by recommending that the additive be pre-diluted to reduce the possibilities of this happening. You will still get the same results and should have a great looking mix design with TARGEL-PLUS additive. You will know if you have shocked your mix if you experience sand clumping and stringing of the rubber, plugged strainer baskets or some streaking in the sealer after application. Most of these problems are eliminated by slowly adding your additive cut or not cut. Agitation units are required with the adding of viscosity building additives. Let the additive work into the mix and it will encapsulate the sand and provide a smooth blacker sealer film, a feature that TARGEL-PLUS provides to the user. Additives like my FSA is designed as a dryer that allows you to open the sealed area fast and makes the sealer dry blacker. The FSA does not thicken the mix, thus does not need to be pre-diluted. Thanks for taking the time to read this forum, as always i thank-you all for your questions and welcome any questions or experience’s you may have had with this forum issue.