Uh Alan?
I have tried it many times and on a wide variety of reels. (I only do reel service, repair, and upgrades as part of my living.
) I also use the Shimano Ace grease as well as Cal's grease and have been doing so since it became available. I also experimented with others before using either of these.
The dry drags that I have had the most trouble with sticking were the low end SmOooth Drag replacements for this reel as well as others which is why I no longer use them unless nothing else is available for a particular reel. I have not had a problem with the Diawa factory drags being "sticky" at all nor have I had any complaints about that from my customers.
All of my personal reels are wet drag and have been for some time now, (Some for over ten years!), and I agree that they are smoother, particularlyat the start where dry drags often give a "pop" before letting line out at higher drag settings. My question was more about this reel in particular since the stock drags were already quite good to start with IMO.
FISH HARD!
Chris