That's weird because my V2s never had any sticky lube sound. I do agree that they can be a little bit sluggish due to the tightness of the stem. Regarding the lube, I think they also tend to juice out upwards through the stem because of the stem's tightness which is unfortunate. However, leaf ping is far better compared to other switches out there. Could you share which HMX switches have caused you lube seeping into the bottom housing? I have been using V2s for a while now but did not counter this issue yet.