Yeah Mike, the problem with the "old way" is that it is very hard to "feel" the actual TDC with a wire or screw driver because of the angle of insertion through the plug hole, and anytime you use a rigid tool there is risk of getting it bound up and scratching up the piston surface or worse. I'd be surprised if I could get +5 degrees either side of actual TDC using that approach, but that may just be me. The beauty of the oil/tubing method is that a person can repeat the process, going smaller bites away from the center, until the marks on the damper are like 1/4" apart. Also, though it's not stated in the original process, using a smaller tube is better, like aquarium air tubing that's 1/4" OD with about 3/32" ID. The smaller ID improves the accuracy of the volume displacement.