Adding something in the foreground totally changes the game. I put a cool looking tree or a fence line in front of my star shots and people get it way more. It gives scale and makes the sky look huge. They stop seeing just dots and see a whole scene. A silhouette against the stars always gets a better reaction from my friends.

Honestly, that "cost me double to fix" part is so real. I tried to save money on my deck paint and it was a total mess. It started flaking off in big sheets after one winter. I had to rent a power sander and buy all new, better paint, which took a whole weekend. Tbh, the cheap stuff just ends up being way more work.

Dielectric grease, like kellyj23 said, reminds me of my old Civic's distributor cap.