Saitek Combat Rudder Pedals

After my old CH Rudder pedals deteriorated to the point where I would have uncommanded differential braking on one pedal and very unsmooth braking on the other I have finally made the switch to Saitek Combat Rudder Pedals.

In Sweden, where I live, you can return the product within 14 days, if you are not satisfied, for a full refund. I would like to ask some questions to other Combat Rudder pedal users to see if I have received a good item or if I should return it.

The first positive of the controller is that I can finally have functioning RTO braking on the PMDG aircrafts, which was an impossibility before because of the faulty CH pedals.

1. With the tension adjust wheel in the minimum setting the rudder axis stays about 500-600 units (in FSUIPC) to the left when the left rudder has been applied and then moved to center. If I move the rudder to the right the axis centers completely.

2. The rudder axis, with the axis added in FSX controls 60% sensitivity and 5% deadzone as per the install instructions, "stutters" slightly, about 20 units up or down. It goes all the way to max on both sides (16380).

3. Both brake pedals (axis added in FSUIPC as FSUIPC calibration) goes full min (-16384) and full max (16384) but every once in a while the axis might stay at -16200 if I let go of the brakes slowly).

4. With brake pedal axis added in FSX Controls, sensitivity at 80% and deadzone at 0% (as per Madcatz install instructions) the axis goes -135xx at release and 135xx at full application (around +-13550 on both extremes).

My first question is whether the slight misalignment of the rudder pedal and the non-full range of the toe brakes, the minuscule flickering of the rudder axis in FSUIPC should worry me?

Are these properties normal or do they tell of faulty potentiometers that might deteriorate in the future? I might sound paranoid but I want to make sure since I have the option of getting a new item.

My other question is whether it would be better to skip the Saitek/Mad Catz instructions and assign the axis directly through FSUIPC calibration since I seem to get the full range (might not make a difference though) of the toe brake axis?

Thanks in advance