I've seen you can run them dry, does this cause premature wear, or just not as smooth of a drag?

Dartaniums are terrible when run dry - very sticky.

And hot sauce can't be used at all on dartanium?

You should only use drag grease, no reel grease on drag washers.

And hot sauce can't be used at all on dartanium?

 

NO!

Thanks guys.

One more question. This being the first shimano i've worked on (spring under the drag was a new one for me), when i tighten the level wind guide down, will it snug down and stop turning, or do i just turn it until i feel comfortable with the tightness? Other ones i've done have tightened down, but i don't want to strip out anything.

Finger tight is fine.

I just ordered some drag grease from Shimano and asked that question about the warranty being voided with the sauce and they told me no. It is supposed to come with two Dartainium Drag Washers, so how you got both is a mystery to me. My concern is you have two different styles of washers so you are not getting the max performance. Just order a set of CarbonTex and call it a day .......

Several years ago I had oiled my Spheros 4000 with an oil other than Shimano's.  Some months latter I sent the reel in to Shimano for warranty service and was denied, reason was I didn't use Shimano oil.  At one time we had a Shimano rep on this forum, no need to mention the name, and claimed it wasn't true, he was totally wrong.  Recently I replaced the knob on one of my stradic 4000 fi, the rubber was wearing off.  Before ordering the part I did an internet search, I was not the only one with this problem, one guy in fact had 5 stradics with this problem.  The very same Shimano rep chimed in on another forum claiming the problem was due to a chemical present in some sunscreens, no one on that forum used sunscreen or insect repellent including my self, just another misrepresentation and not fessing up.  As I was ordering my knob I noticed how many stradic parts were either not available or on back order for quite a few months, I don't care how good their products may be out of the box, their service makes me want to shop elsewhere and I have been.........

Interesting.  I've NEVER had any issue with their service, or Daiwa's, Pure Fishing's, or even Quantum's.  I deal with these guys on a monthly basis. I even recall a time where there was a drag upgrade, from a two washer arrangement to a six washer arrangement.  The person in question, Dan Thornburn, did a free swap for the upgraded spool.  Knobs wear out.  People complain about durable plastic knobs being cheap, and then complain when the softer rubber ones wear out, LOL.  You can't win them all.