Topic: Which Tornado Upgrades are worth it?

[xiek376]

I just purchased a 30th Anniversary coin op not too long ago.  It doesn't have any of the newest upgrades.  Being that I recently sprang for a new table, I don't have a huge budget to play with, but I'd like to do the upgrades that make the biggest difference.

Should I bite the bullet and do it all, or are there certain ones that don't make as much of a difference? 

[SilentSam]

The upgrades that you should go for are the sidestrips and the balls. Tornado changes balls all the time, so if you want to keep competitive, you need to get the latest ball. The newer sidestrips are a lot lower profile, so these are a must (helps with passing practice as well as banks)

More costly are the newer men... Tornado redesigned the foot on the newer man, changing the angles, grip, as well as the lipped ridges on the very side edge of the foot. This effects brush passing (and anything else off of a backpin), as well as chips, banks, and rocking the ball when in a front pin. Maybe you're lucky and already have the new men on the table?

The playfield surface, handles, rods, & bearings are also different, but not worth the cost of upgrading IMO.

[bbtuna]

sam is almost right...bearings are for sure worth it and not very expensive compared to everything else...the profile on the face of them was thinned so that balls can not be passed along the wall when there is a tight wall stick pass which was a problem...but, besides fixing that issue, they actually improve how smooth the rods play...if you don't have a lot of people over to play, you can just change them on your side, the 2, 5, and 3 not needed to change the goalie...this is true with the men also...the new men make a significant difference and are at  least as important as the strip change...the strips are the most expensive change...you might even want to try removing the current strips first and try playing without them for a while

handles make no play difference but are nice and well done-I changed mine, I like them but not important toward play

if you don't want to put out the $200 to make all the changes, just change one side at at time (outside of the strips of course) and don't make changes on the goalie rods