Because of this thread I tore down my Pflueger president. Originally I had dreams of installing ceramics. However, after researching it online and seeing the condition of the bearings I think most of my roughness was coming from the roller bearing on the handle.
This thing was nasty. Had line wrapped up between the handle and roller bearing. I took it all apart and even took the seals off the bearings and cleaned them with carb cleaner. Currently it sits on my workbench in the garage still apart till I get the reel grease and lube tom..
Just from what I have seen inside that this will improve it greatly. I am not going to put ceramics in. I will see how the roller bearing feels after I put it back together tom., as far as replacing it or not.
I did do some polishing of the spool shaft, and drum for the brake. I will try to do the drive gear in the morning. BTW, I just used my drill for the polishing instead of a dremel.
I found this site helpful, and I would not suggest this for any novice handiman.
http://alantani.com/
Essentially, you just voided your warranty with Shimano. Hopefully you'll never need any major work done on it, because if they find that the actual metal parts were altered, they will not honor any warranty claims.
And if you used Hot Sauce, do a little Googling and you can find out why Shimano does not recommend using that on their reels.
Quantum Hot Sauce... I'll never use it because of the debate around it/the polishing agent.
Ardent reel products, Shimano Grease and Oil, Daiwa grease, Extreme Bearing+ for spool bearings (gives improved free spool), and CorrosionX are all decent alternatives that I've found.
If the Quantum Hot Sauce works for you then go for it, but you might want to do a little research on the potential negatives,
I believe that some of the better lubes in the world contain metal. Moly and zinc. Without adding metal to lubricants they would simply not work. They increase pressure resistance. This is why there is a lot of problems with the new synthetic oils for cars. The epa demanded that the oil companies remove the moly and zinc to increase the life of the cats. Now cars with flat tappet cams can no longer run these oils because they will wear. So for me I think its just a way for other reel companies to sell their oils. But like I said Im using it in a ten year old reel so im not too concerned. The reel has already out lasted its life. Oh how i love my calcutta!