So I know at 86k miles it's safe to say that I'm due for a fluid change and I will be doing it soon, but with the temperature change I have noticed an odd trend. I'm getting flare in most shifts until the car warms up. Once it's warmed up, I have absolutely no flare, shifts are extremely smooth and seamless and the 2-1 downshift bark has been gone ever since I ditched the K&N filter for a paper element and cleaned the mass airflow.

My question is at this point, is the flare normal during warm up or should I be worried about other coming problems?

My transmission has always been a little bit jerky for the first few minutes, especially on colder mornings. No big deal.

What's a "flare"? Is that a rev up during the shift, slow to shift, or harsh?

It revs up a couple hundred RPMs on part throttle shifts until the next gear engages.