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I was reluctant to post this, but guess I shouldn't be.
I don't have as much experience as you guys, but my experience so far has been that:
Electrolytics, 50+ years old, that pass value, leakage and ESR after reforming and maintain those after letting rest a few day, are very reliable. I've not had a failure yet after years of use. I use my Hammarlund HQ-160 at least weekly and I've never recapped it. It's about 52 years old. I wasn't very old, 12 maybe, when it was given to me by a gentleman who was dieing of stomach cancer who knew my interest in electronics.
Paper capacitors on the other hand have nearly all been bad and I've replaced all of those in radios and the Sylvania I've worked on.
Of the micamold (real mica variety) nearly 50% have been bad. Other brands have been o.k.
Polystyrene, I've only experience with one that is from 1950 but it is good.
I had one bad silver mica in an IF transformer.
I had one bad disc ceramic. It was actually o.k. I just didnt' like using a ceramic without the coating and with 10% of the disk broken off.
When I do replace electrolytics, I've decided to use 105 C ones. I've had to replace too many 85 C ones in modern electronics.
I had originally planned on replacing all of the electrolytics in the Sylvania, but when the replacement electrolytics didn't test as well as the old ones I decided to keep them. I had ordered the electrolytics from one of the inexpensive online suppliers and I think they're the 85 C ones. I'm happy with their film caps, just not the electrolytics.
John
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