By noticeable effect on stability I assume you mean less stable after scuffing? Can you notice any difference in distance/glide?
Yes of course I mean less "overstable"/more "understable". Yes of course there is more glide (more aerodynamic/doesn't slow down as quickly) and hence more distance. This is why a very "fast" and "understable" discs glide the farthest in the air for any thrower if one can throw it with maximum speed and spin with hyzer on a high enough line so that it turns over for it entire flight and lands flat. This means the disc is as aerodynamic and gyroscopic as possible, has been thrown with hyzer to maximize the amount of time it has to glide, and it isn't slowing down prematurely (fading out) or landing prematurely (rolling).
"Overstable" to me means the disc wants to land/is less aerodynamic. "Understable" means the the disc wants to glide/is more aerodynamic. If you throw a really "overstable" disc with anhyzer it still just wants to find the ground quickly. If you throw a midrange that is more "understable" then a midrange that flies straight (when thrown flat) with some hyzer in a naive attempt to reduce it's potential to glide as far away as possible it will resist falling out of the sky and try to fly instead of slowing down/hyzering out. This is very apparent on ridiculously steep downhill shots.
I do not agree with the theories that A. glide is a factor independent of "speed" combined with "stability" and B. that discs with the same "speed" have varying amount of "high speed and low speed stability" as is widely claimed. I think there is simply a relative "speed" and relative "stability" for every disc. The "faster" a disc the more likely it is to fade out and the more power it takes to control the disc in a way similar to a "slower" disc thrown at a slower speed. I think if you could line up any amount of different molds across companies and plastics which are the same "speed" once all of them had been worn to an equal amount of either high speed stability or low speed stability that they would all have the exact same "speed", "glide", "high speed stability", and "low speed stability". They would all fly identically and the same distance although they had varying shapes, materials, amounts of wear, etc. Although some factors like density, dome, flexibility, and gyroscopic effect would change the results.
For instance lets say i own a champion eagle x which is a little more "overstable" than my star teebird. They are both equally dense, gyrosopic, domey, and have a pretty similar look but the teebird looks a little sleeker. I put my teebird under my bed and forget about it and I throw my eagle x every day. My eagle wears very rapidly and becomes abraded. I remember that I stashed my teebird away and decide to compare the two. I find that when I throw them -identically- (which is quite unrealistic...unless you're Paul McBeth) they turn over the same amount and fade the same amount, and land on top of each other. This is my theory as it ties all of my experiences together beautifully and makes sense of them all. Discs aren't nearly as magical as I once thought. Nowadays I just find a disc that is cheap, feels great, and flys with the speed and stability that I desire for all of the courses I play.
But back on topic: if flashing is uncomfortable and you don't care if your disc may fliy a little less overstable, I say carefully remove it.
Somebody mentioned additional drag slowing the disc down which I'm sure is true. In addition The PLH will be lower with the flashing removed which results in less stability.
