Does ProGold have a shelf life?

Some analogies come to mind: I throw my food away when the freshness date has expired. I throw my prescription meds away too. My used paint in the garage usually starts to get funky and mucky after a couple years sitting in the can. I also change my oil every 5000 miles since the oil breaks down and doesn't protect my engine as well and I want my car to go for 200,000 miles or so if I can get away with it. But, that is me. Not looking for an argument by any means, but I still say everything has a shelf life. I think the majority of rational people would agree with me here but you can agree to disagree, that's what the forum is for. Cheers!

One thing that got missed here too: the original poster was concerned about the time it took him to do the work. If I spent a bunch of time cleaning my equipment like he did and realized the product I was using might not be as effective, I'd be bummed too because my time would be worth so much more than the value of the chemical here. It's like when you choose a 20 year paint or a paint without a warranty. Why not spend a bit more on the quality item and do the job right and be confident the paint won't be peeling away in 5 years?

04-01-09: Swanny76109
Some analogies come to mind: I throw my food away when the freshness date has expired. I throw my prescription meds away too. My used paint in the garage usually starts to get funky and mucky after a couple years sitting in the can. I also change my oil every 5000 miles since the oil breaks down and doesn't protect my engine as well and I want my car to go for 200,000 miles or so if I can get away with it. But, that is me. Not looking for an argument by any means, but I still say everything has a shelf life. I think the majority of rational people would agree with me here but you can agree to disagree, that's what the forum is for. Cheers!

Your analogies are good in & off themselves (& I have the same mode of operation w.r.t. car oil, paint, etc) BUT I think that the gravity of the situation for car oil, paint is much different from cleaning connectors in audio. So, I think that the analogies are not directly applicable.
Indeed you are correct - if you use bad motor oil the risk of engine breakdown & loss of use is a high penalty. OTOH, if you clean connectors with old Caig ProGold, the penalty is not high in comparison.
If you use old paint in your house, the penalty that your interiors look bad is a high penalty. OTOH, if you clean connectors with old Caig ProGold, the penalty is not high in comparison.

One thing that got missed here too: the original poster was concerned about the time it took him to do the work.

I re-read his post & saw that he was talking about potentially wasting effort - Wasted effort & time for that wasted effort.

Why not spend a bit more on the quality item and do the job right and be confident the paint won't be peeling away in 5 years?

As I wrote in my prev post - it's up to the original poster to determine what he wants to do. If he thinks that his time is worth much more than the chemical(s), sure, go ahead & buy a new product.

(Just a side comment here - if all of us claimed-audiophiles (myself included) REALLY thought that our time was worth a lot more, we should not be in this OCD hobby! The time & things we fret about is, often, ludicrous & head-shaking!)

I just caught up with the additional posts. Yes I bought new stuff. Yes I'm going to redo all of it. Yes the amount of improvement I obtain from taking all the time to redo this will probably be somewhere between negligible and tiny. Yes it's more a about peace of mind. Yes this is a generally rewarding but more than occasionally annoying hobby populated by people who are somewhere between neurotic and full blown nuts. No, I will not tell you where on that spectrum I fall, but you are welcome to form your own conclusions.