Hey all, new pinballer here - just joined pinside.com. Purchased JP Pro 2 weeks ago, got hooked so..... AIQ Premium showed up yesterday. Both NIB. I wrote up a lengthy story - should be posted soon in the Stories section. Great community, btw - without this I probably would not have made the purchases.

I've read through every post here and there still seems to be some confusion with the Dr. Strange spinner. The ONLY issue I'm having is the brass bushing falling out (as another poster referenced) so I'm not sure whether I need to ask Stern for the Disc Leveling Bushing replacement kit (as some posters have referenced) because it looks like the replacement part is not directly related to the brass bushing staying in place. I've posted 2 pics - bushing in place and not in place. The bushing falls out after 1-2 plays. The good news is I've become adept at opening up the playfield. The bad news is I'm done doing that until I know how to permanently fix this. When the bushing is in place, it spins and plays flawlessly. With it not in place, the disc is uneven with the playing field and doesn't spin well (as expected).

I just contacted Stern through their "contact us" on their website but not overly optimistic I'll hear back quickly. I don't have any direct email contacts over there yet.

Wondering if those who have mentioned this issue of the bushing falling out have either:

1) Solved it with some blue Loctite (or other) to hold bushing in place (another poster suggested that)
2) Solved it with the Leveling Bushing Replacement kit (the key part in the kit is 545-1231-00)

Any feedback greatly appreciated. Sorry to re-hash previous topics but my suspicion is there may be multiple issues with the spinner and I want to make sure I do the correct fix. Cheers.

AIQ Spinner Bushing fallen out (resized).jpg

AIQ Spinner Bushing in place (resized).jpg

I just lucked out because I live in the Chicago area and the store where I purchased it had it in inventory (last one) so purchased it on Wednesday, 12/2. They are not a main distributor for pinball machines - they pretty much sell everything and anything. They only deliver pinball machines within 100 miles of their store so that's probably why it didn't show up on your radar screen.

The game is fantastic, when it works (ugh). Hope you get yours soon and hopefully this spinner bearing issue is fixed.

I did hear that Stern is operating at very restricted output based on the situation here. Someone said at 25% so no doubt the reason for the delay. Also, supply chain (in general) for a lot of things in the USA are still a bit of a mess so there could be raw part/material shortages for some of the components in their machines. Just speculating on this. Hang in there. Definitely worth the wait, although I know it's tough.

It's actually a relief to know others have the exact same problem - thanks for the quick response! Can you keep me in the loop on your fix attempts? I've been pouring over the schematics like the geek that I am but the reality is until I take it apart it's hard to know - I do think it's either part #4 or #2 though as you indicated. The bummer part is after a while (maybe 10 games) of playing with the brass bushing loose, the spinning disc gets stuck and it's unplayable. It just seems so easy to try to use something to adhere the brass bushing in there but I'm certainly not messing with it until I hear back from Stern if that's an acceptable fix.

Total bummer....such a cool game. Although I knew if I started going Premiums I would have some headaches. The good news is beer last night dulled the pain.

Thank you so much. I just emailed Pablo.

Wow....what a great community.

After my recent post on the AIQ Premium Dr. Strange spinner disc issue, I thought I should counterbalance that with what is working well. There have been various issues reported (other than the spinner disc) so thought I would share my experience.

Machine: AIQ Premium (manufacture date: 10/27/2020) - NIB
Software: V0.94 (I updated it immediately from V0.92)
Days playing: 2
# of plays: 109
Pitch Angle: 6.5 using PinGuy App. Varies slightly from upper to lower playfield.
Settings: All factory settings – no adjustments

What is working well:

Subway Mech: It has flawlessly moved the balls to the VUK and up kicked over to the right flipper perfectly. Not one issue. Multi-ball staging has also worked flawlessly. I’m guessing I have the redesigned mech based on other posts I’ve read. Also, I can see the top half of the balls in the subway and can also see the lights – others have expressed a concern over this. I’m 6’3” so that helps, but I also have the machine set up relatively high on the feet so I don’t have to hunch over to reach the flippers. A quick lean forward and I can see the full ball. Playnote: I love the subway mech and feels it adds to the experience.

Return Rail (crossing left to right to feed right flipper): I haven’t had a single ball fall off the rail.

Avengers Lock Tower: Working perfectly – if the shot is hit appropriately, it grabs it

Stuck balls: Haven’t had a stuck ball yet

Switches/Sensors/Spinners: I’m a total pinball noob but as far as I can tell everything is registering correctly.

Glass: No issues sliding it off/on – I’ve done this WAY more than I would have originally envisioned and no issues whatsoever. Seems exactly the same as my JP Pro (my only other machine). Easy to remove and replace.

Finally, not sure how or why, but it seems like this machine is super smooth with the ball rolling and the flipper action. My only other comparison is JP Pro, but somehow this feels different in a great way, and it’s unlikely it’s due to my JP Pro needing a wax because I’ve only had that for about 1 ½ weeks.

Overall, I’d buy this again in a heartbeat even with the Dr. Strange spinner disc issue – I’m sure that will get fixed in due time. The crazy thing is I bought this more for my son than me (theme wise, if it was just me, I would have gone Iron Maiden Premium, if I could have found one) but dang is this thing a hoot.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go play some bad pinball – my elementary school-aged son is currently the GC and I’ve probably played 3x more games than him. Ugh. And, yes, I can’t help myself – I keep pushing that brass bushing up so we can keep playing.