I've had the USFIV TE2 for less than 2 days and the stick is already squeaking. Was hoping I could go a long time without having to open the damn thing. I don't trust myself with things of this nature :/
I sold my TE2 to my friend and we replaced the buttons and stick. Half the stock buttons broke on the way out, rewiring the buttons was an absolute bitch as the easy release tabs are very finicky and the plexi already looks like garbage. Squeaks and creaks constantly. The stick squeaking did go away after a bit though. Seemed to need breaking in. Making the TE2 easy to customize seems to have hurt it overall. Feels cheap, which is ironic as the Kai costs less and feels more premium.
EDIT: I should also point out that my Razer Atrox has NONE of the mentioned issues, despite it also being extremely easy to mod and having roughly the same feature-set as the TE2. It's very disappointing, but it's been nothing but a headache.