Quoted from rollitover:My memory has faded a bit but I am pretty sure I saw this issue remedied on a YouTube video. Sorry I do not know what video by name but I think it was a "review" and not merely a "gameplay" vid.
Hope you figure out you problem.
Hey thanks guys for the thoughts. I didn't realize this had been noticed on any un-modded machines which is why I posted here to check, but since I asked here I thought I'd post what happened. After taking the black top off the assembly box that is immediately underneath the Vengeance and not being able to find any particular trouble, I ended up calling Stern. Their end suggestion since nothing was seemingly rough, binding, or in the way of normal operation, was a touch of white lithium grease on the rails that guide the Vengeance crash motion. Since I had it on hand, I opted for the tiniest touch of super lube ptfe oil in the middle of each rail that the metal guide/sliders slide on, then used the game ship diagnostic crash test a few times to spread that minuscule drop along any contact points. Seems to be back to normal. Never used this before so guess i'll see what happens in the long run.