I've been out of the loop for a bit, so apologies if it's already been covered, but is there a solution/workaround for a mushrooming magnet? The previous owner of mine never replaced it and it tore up a little bit of the PF, I replaced it first thing but I can see it happening again with the current magnet core.

Here's one tip I found which I did with mine and it definitely made a difference:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.games.pinball/prw-26QHpPQ
(last comment, follow the flickr link)

I also recall sk8ball posting about replacing the default spring used for varitarget resistance with one from a WMS flipper rebuild kit. I did that and with a bit of tweaking of that spring it hits beautifully. A bang-on shot will always get in and an indirect shot would probably be ~2/3 likely to go in.

Side question for everyone: Is it still recommended to upgrade the flippers to the stronger LOTR ones if you use the 3.01 ROM? Apparently that improves the flipper strength at the cost of an Asia/spinner mode bug:
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rec.games.pinball/IQvKK1Gsih0/zhIZ_6DSg4QJ

For what it's worth, the only variance I've noticed with mine is from when the game is just turned on to after an hour or so of play. After that, it's pretty consistent.

Long time owner, first time poster (in this thread), but I have a question: Do the inlane rollover switches actually do anything? From what I can tell they don't even seem to qualify any shots.

Hell, that LED eyes idea is great. I might steal it for mine!

Glad to see that the Pinstadium lights make a big difference, too. Any chance you could post a photo with the Pinstadiums doing a warm white?