I ripped that stupid thing out within 24hrs of the pro landing. I put one of the large super band rings on the post. I think it is slightly bigger than a standard rubber ring and I have no issues with the bell shot over-draining ever.

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I took it out and promptly put it right back. It definitely helps with the SDTM issue and was put there for a reason.

I have two of the bigger post rings on mine and it seems to work very well. This was done on mine before i got it and it has worked awesome. That stupid little wire will just markup your playfield.

Up to you if you want to retain or remove the wire, but I don't have any marks after 2 years of constant play.

Here's another thing you can do..

Before..
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After..
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The ones that don't dig into the playfield are probably at a very slightly different angle to the ones that do..just a manufacturing variability perhaps. Bend it a bit and it should ensure the end doesn't dig in.

Yep, mine has had a big circular gouge in the playfield for as long as I can remember owning the game. Annoying. Also seems to be a lot more SDTM balls of late. Will have to add some super bands or check the level of the game.

I took it off right away. Added Hemi's bell mod, and if properly leveled, SDTM has never been a problem on my machine.

When I first got my pro I saw this and was wondering what the hell that was. I thought there was no way that could be part of regular game play. I ended up folding it back behind the TNT drop target assembly and I have had no issues with SDTM from the bell, occasionally from the pops but not bad. Why would Stern put that ugly s%#t in there like that, makes no sense.

From memory, it wasn't on the first run of Pro machines, but they added it soon after.

I have an ACDC Pro LED and that little wire is there but the end is formed into a small circle. I see little chance of it damaging the play field, but have to admit when I first saw it I thought something came loose on the game (I'm new to pinball so didn't know if this was just a part out of place).

I have had others over that have asked the same thing. However after playing a short time it is easy to figure out that this is to prevent drains from the bell or even just coming down off the bumpers.

If there was a cleaner more effective way to do the same thing besides having a wire sticking out randomly, I would do it. Bigger rings on the posts on both sides make sense to me...can one be added to the post holding the plastic up?

Avatar has the same wire and that isn't digging into the playfield.

I guess the avatars i have played have all had it removed, because i have only seen it on ACDC. And there are two different versions. At first it came with the spring with no loop on the end, if this got bent down by a ball or otherwise it would scratch into the playfield. The second version i have seen has a loop on the end of it so that even if it gets bent down there is a rounded wire hitting the playfield instead of the end of the wire, so much better but still dont like the look of it and two of the bigger rubbers on the same post does the same thing and looks much better IMHO.