Originally Posted by
Bike Jedi
I talked to three people, all professionals, including the manufacturer via telephone or walked into their shop, and all three of them said different things. It's why I asked.
Some tasks are judgment calls and people might have different opinions in general, and those opinions might change when presented with a specific frame in hand to look at.
FWIW, I faced a similar quandry back in the day when I bought my Salsa Fargo frame. Everyone on the various forums was always talking about facing like the world would fall apart if I didn't get it done. It was super inconvenient to get it done. I had to take three half-day's of vacation time from work to go back and forth to the shops. I had to split the work between two different shops because of who had which tools. I ended up with a paint ding in the front of my brand new head tube. It was pretty clear to me afterward that the facing tools weren't pulled out very often, if ever. Today I just bolt on the parts and only worry about facing if and when a problem becomes apparent.