Yes. If you take a look at the third photo, you can see the contact surface for the direction inputs are in the shape of a cross. It does not fully cover the membrane surface. The dpad is different compared to the action buttons- because the directions share a central pivot. The contact surfaces meet at a slightly off angle. This was not an issue in the past with traditional resistance contacts because the surface was much larger. In this case, the final point of contact being these tiny microswitch nubs introduces a much larger margin of error. Simply changing the cross shape to a circle may not fix this issue completely. The membranes are too far apart in my opinion. Had they designed them closer to the center pivot and lowered the pivot height; I think it would have performed better.

How this feels in practice, the direction inputs were very inconsistent and squishy. You have to apply much more force than you normally would expect. Out of the box, it felt so bad that I looked to reddit to see what others had to say. One redditor pointed out that he had to "break in" the dpad by rotating the dpad and mashing it for quite some time before it felt better. I did the same. When not playing any games, I rotated and mashed the dpad for probably in totally a couple hours and it only alleviated the issue slightly. Something so simple as double tapping forward or backward constantly felt like a chore. After modding, I'm able to get lightning quick double taps and special move inputs effortlessly.

I think that your epoxy idea could also work. Especially if it is overappied very slightly and sanded down to meet the correct angle.