Can I reverse some of the analog stick drift on my controller?

I’ve had this Model 1697 controller for ~27 months (2 years, 7 months) and it’s now beginning to show the typical analog drift defect I’ve personally seen on multiple 1537’s. Admittedly I was never crazy about it because the 1697 is derived from the Model 1537, but I still kept mine around because it has always worked fine.

Part of the reason I’m hesitant to do any significant repairs is I know how unreliable the 1537/1697 controllers tend to be. My experience with both series is that they tend to break a lot more often then the 1708, whis is when they finally got it right. Mine isn't as bad as some we've seen here before but it's showing early signs of the same problem I keep seeing crop up. On top of that, the faceplate on mine has a screw hole crack, so it's forever one less screw without a new faceplate. The amount of drift varies by how much the stick moves, so it can be a non issue or impact the controller. However, it is always present to a point.

Since I know what it looks like, I had a suspicion it finally happened. I noticed it in one of the game menus on my PC games because I needed to charge my 1708 controller. Both are about the same age, but I do not have a reliable estimate for the 1708 because I did a total board swap on it due to damaged traces from my first stick only repair.

1697:

1708 (Repaired):

Is there a way I can improve the situation to get a little more life out of it (reversible with new sticks)? I have 4 extra sticks (pulled from 1537 boards) I can try the stick only again once it fails if I cannot do anything to reduce the problem as well.