Not necessarily. See the little holes in the playfield below each flipper, that's for aligning them. Remove the flipper rubber, put a toothpick in the hole and that bat should rest against the toothpick. In your case the left flipper looks to be high vs the alignment hole.

OK - I completely misunderstood the question. In any case now the flippers will be aligned.

Ideally, yes; the bars (wires) are intended to stop bounce-outs from the trough area (anti-biff bars is one name for them). Since the ends of the wires have a small radius curve it would be hard to get them perfectly flush without damage to the playfield where the ends are inserted. You can gently tap the high end(s) down if the appearance bothers you.

I keep mine slightly above flush... The ball tends to smack the glass if the flipper is up when it hits the "anti-bangback" wire at a good rate of speed when they are flush with the PF.

-Steve

Toothpick should be between the flipper bat and the rubber. Or remove the rubber, align them and reinstall rubber.

You can also use a straight edge and align them with the lane guide.

Im going to completely disagree with aligning with the toothpicks. It will not result in the same alignment as using a straight edge with the lane guides - the recommended method.

I'm surprised there is still a debate about the right method even between two veterans of the hobby. It's so important to shot making and how the designer intended the game to play. I've read a good bit and still am not certain which is right. I go with aligning the bat, not the rubber, with the hole based on my experience that it makes the game harder and all the shots are still accessible. Is there anything published by the manufacturers on the right approach?

I adjust the flipper with the ring installed to a zero degree angle with the feed guide. Like --. I don't trust the holes because I used them at one time and had to go back and readjust flipper position to match the feed guide. Toothpicks will flex too, and cause the adjustment to be off.

I snug the crank to the flipper shaft, check for correct up/down slop, then look down the feed guide from the tip of the flipper and make the face of the flipper ring match the face of the feed guide. Then torque down the crank screw/bolt.

Haven't used the holes in years.

IMO...YMMV

Agree with this. Have worked on (and own) too many games where the holes do not align the flippers properly.

Not really, I just wasn't very precise in my wording. I should have said, "the best way is to use a straight edge and align them with the lane guides" instead of the following.

The only reason I even brought up the toothpick method is because I was determining that the flippers were not aligned properly because of the flipper position vs the alignment holes. About half way through I realized I wasn't even answering the question the OP asked, so the whole post for me is pretty much a bust.