Weber lighter cubes with Weber chimney are a winning combo. I think they get coals going faster than using charcoal baskets and the gas assist on my performer.
Ditto.
That's why I use my Weber chimney
with the gas assist.
After about a year or so of doing this I noticed the grate (bought new in '13) had developed a droop with bent tines. So I flipped it over and a year later it's level again.
The real challenge is with my '90s 26-er. Its charcoal grate is pretty bad, almost U-shaped, and
those charcoal grates have a double-reinforced design. It's like the first owner always cooked with 3 chimney's worth of heat. I flipped it over a few times but that puts the charcoal only about 4-5" from the cook grate (or seems to, since the cook grate is positioned fairly low on those models.)