I see some of the biggest performance differences in the mid priced reels, now it is up to the owner if they want to continue service.
Reels from the factory are usually over lubed with a heavy lubricant. They do this on purpose because most people do not have their reels professionally maintained, so with having heavy lube and excess it does protect your internals, but also slows things down drastically robbing casting distance and smoothness.
Just a good flush of the stock bearings, and addition of a quality lubricant does wonders.
Replacing drag washers with Carbontex drag washers and lubricating the drag washers greatly improves the smoothness of the drags, and Carbontex will last a lifetime. A lot of factory drags have a high startup, and then once they get started they even out, and some factory drags are all over the place. This greatly helps with light line, or where you are pushing the maximum on your drag.
I've serviced many mid grade reels, and the owners were very happy with them, and I was a little impressed also.
Cheaper reels also put bushings in the place of bearings, replacing these bushings with bearings can greatly improve the feel of the reel. Like adding handle bearings, and a line guide bearing can improve the retrieve.
Gear replacements are only if you want a different gear ratio.
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