My list of automatic replacements on a NIB Stern is:
1. Balls (always trashed immediately and replaced with good ones)
2. Coil Stops
3. Coil stop screws (these shear off and sometimes require plate replacement if you can't drill out. Stainless steel ones from bolt depot are like $5 for a bag of 100 and worth their weight in gold).
4. Not replacement, but always make sure all posts are well tightened.
People crap on Stern a lot. I still rate them as the best on location games possible from a reliability standpoint. So what, I spend $40 extra and 15 minutes of my time to improve the out of box quality and posterity. The playfield issues seem to be resolved now (dimpling is normal, I'm talking about chipping) and I still have the most fun playing their games by and large over any other manufacturer in the market today.
Grand Rapids, MI
