So it looks like the thumbsticks could have more than 50 hours in them if the Index Controllers were a bit tighter inside. If Valve added another step in the manufacture, or changed the form a little to include some sort of wedge so there's absolutely no wiggle space around the thumbstick, it seems it would solve the issue.
Then again drift is often the final step of a very staircase of issues, and Valve hasn't made an official statement about it, so I think it's safe to assume Index Controllers will forever be trash because key component is half-dollar store quality.