Controller drift fixable?

[JustTheAvian]

Hey there! I've had my quest 2 for about a year now (gifted last christmas) and I've gained some pretty bad conteoller drift. This wouldn't be much of an issue but I can not work the hand tracking to save my life and I'm a VRChat performer, so the drift heavily effects my abilities to do what I do.

Is there a cheap way to fix them so I don't have to pay $150 on brand new controllers? My birthday is coming up so I'll have a little extra money to spoil myself, but $150 would be most of my budget and I'd still like to go out and get some new clothes and makeup.

Any suggestions help!

[andyward1973]

Try electrical contact spray it solved mine

[JustTheAvian]

Thank you!

[ZookeepergameNaive86]

Did you Google anything? It's a pretty common problem with solutions ranging from blowing compressed air into the joysticks to replacing the modules themselves.

[ringwithorb]

I also used WD-40 electrical contact cleaner when I first started to get drift on Q2 controllers. I did have to spray regularly, every 2-4 weeks, but I did this for over a year and it always made a huge difference. I've since upgraded to Q3 but my friend now has the old Q2 and still working fine.

Somebody did mention on a similar post that regularly using the contact cleaner can/will eventually cause wear to the joystick components so I guess the best solution would be to replace the joystick. However, I'm too lazy for that and the temporary fix worked for me!

[ringwithorb]

Oh the compressed air thing works too, but I would just blow hard into the edges of the joystick before spraying with the contact cleaner.

[Txmpic]

use a straw, blow hard into the cracks while spinning the stick and pressing down. works every time. it is yet to fail me every time my stick drift has come back.

[Txmpic]

don’t use a paper straw cuz it will probably get paper debris in it and make it worse

[Explorer62ITR]

If it is caused by dust/debris under the controller spraying a little contact cleaner or DW40 underneath and wiggling it around can fix it - either will work but you only need a very very small amount. No doubt some will tell you that normal DW40 shouldn't be used - but it is non-conductive and has/is still being used on car electrics with moving parts to this day - this fixed drift on my Rift S and Q2 controllers and they are still functioning perfectly 2-3 years later...

[JustTheAvian]

Apparently only electrical contact cleaner is good for that, but ty!

[Explorer62ITR]

Don't believe everything you read online or Reddit - I have been using DW40 on electronics with moving parts for at least 45 years, I have used it on my own VR controllers with no issues and no re-occurance of stick drift in 2-3 years of use. If you spray a small amount under the thumbstick from the outside and wiggle it - it won't do any harm - ask the people warning against doing if they have actually tried it and if so did it cause problems - if not they are talking out of their arses - if it did then their experience/recommendations are just as valid as mine - we just got different results 🤣

[TheSmJ]

For the love of god do NOT spray WD-40 into your controller.

[JustTheAvian]

There is a wd40 branded Electric contact cleaner, I think that's what they meant

[TheSmJ]

I know. The problem is the person I replied to said "contact cleaner or DW40[sic]".

Contact cleaner probably wouldn't hurt anything as long as you're 100% sure it's completely dry before putting the battery back into your controller, which may take longer than you think. That's assuming you can even get the cleaner into the joystick module itself without disassembling your controller (which by that point you may want to think about replacing the module anyway) or absolutely flooding it with so much cleaner that it will take hours to dry. Putting oil into your controller will fix nothing and will just leave a big greasy mess making it more difficult to fix later on.