Question about theeves. Do you guys find they wobble in the pivot cup if they're not tightened down? I found the front trucks especially wobbly from the pressure on grinds like crooks. Tightened it down and it's stopped for now. I find as they break in, they get very turny, but less responsive? Like, they don't snap back to center as fast as the ATG tensors. We'll see how they go, hoping I don't run into bushing problems like old versions. For turning, in my experience so far it's probably Ace > Theeve/Tensor (depends on what flavor you like) > Indy/Thunder >>> Venture (I remember having venture highs and being pretty disappointed with the turn)
Any truck might have more issues if the pivot cup or the bushings are not quite up to it, or if they are blown out or bushings overtightened.
Lots of different things will affect how the truck performs, no matter what brand of truck, or what type of pivot cups or bushings, but I see more people have particularly good or bad things to say about some brands over others, eg the love for Riptides is A+++ from a lot of people, but I have never had them, never felt I needed them, and all brands of my trucks turn and work fine, how I would expect them to in the pivot cup and bushings departments.
If the pivot point is blown out, replace the pivot cups and see if there is any difference, or as you did, tighten them down a touch which should keep things a bit more on the non wobbly side, with fewer noises too.
I have seen more kingpins come loose in Theeve trucks than anything else, but that is just what has come through that I have seen, so not necessarily a common thing all round. The stock setups were fairly well medium in the turn when new but when worn in the bushings would soften up a fair bit too, so people would be tightening them down more over time, which changed the geometry of the turn on them - crushing the bottom bushings.