After endless reviews and videos- I myself went and picked up an SD9VE for Christmas. It's my first gun (not my first time shooting though ) I love it so far. I've put 400 rounds through it so far, no FTE or FTF here either- the trigger seems fine to me, my wife uses it too and has no problem...
I may just do that - after inspection of the plastic rod, I've noticed it has the potential to do the same but because it is plastic you won't expect any damage to the slide
You can see in the picture here. I have pulled the slide back just enough to expose the rod a bit... When slowly release you can watch the back edge of the retaining screw touch the outside of the slide before it is pushed into place by force.
And a slow-mo video...
https://vimeo.com/152855990
I just put the SS guide rod in from galloway- I immediately noticed that when the slide returns, the backside of the retaining screw touches the slide as it moves over it... I imagine this is going to eventually scratch/scar the hole a bit. But whatever [emoji12]