Surface texture no longer good

[Zent]

I've been using the printer for many months. now I have the problem that the prints are no longer good. The surface is no longer uniformly smooth. (Picture attached).
I tried many settings, also increased flow rate. As the flow rate increases, it gets a little better, but still not the results from earlier.
I can only get really good results if I lightly press the filament by hand. (the upper layers in the photo). What could be the problem?

[shanael1]

And what did you replace it with? the arm on my feeder is broken at the the pivot point and i want to replace the plastic with metal.

Thanks, Mike.

[Zent]

the feeder arm is ... no longer able to hold the filament well enough to feed properly.

I hadn't even thought that the feeder might not be pushing the filament hard enough. I first gave the compression spring more tension by changing the position (see photo). That was enough for me to solve the problem at least temporarily. Thank you for your advice, the printer now works as usual again.