I still after 20 prints had bad circle problems and skipping in x-y as well as a x shift constantly caused by the z rod. Same spot every time shifts to the left and comes back in. Makes a hump on the side of all my prints.

So after my last failed y skip print. I pulled the carriage off and replaced with linear bearings, new polished rods in both x-y and printed new x-y carriages as well as but bearings in place of the bushings on the rear Y shaft. I was going to add the additional bearing block but the stock rod is so rough I couldn't jam a bearing that far over even with dremel sanding the rod down and it is 6mm not 5mm. SO weird but all the replacement items are 5mm for the pulleys but I can not source a polished 5mm rod just 6mm

So long story short.. the bearings were huge difference in free motion. i can push the right side, non driving, of the x carriage and the whole x carriage will slide on the y carriage effortlessly and without any yaw front to back from the other side like the SD one does very bad.

I know you might not want to make those changes but the driver was a must have fix if you have y problems because no matter what you do mechanically the driver will be the problem, it is an easy fix/swap and cheap like $12.

Now just along the bearing g upgrade, I did see a much sharp x-y resolution in my print and the noise and clunking went away (almost) still some slop in the bearings sitting in the carriages but x-y look good but I did still y skip after all that.  So I found the belt tighten tension was key. and I missed that after install a few times. i recently tighten down and tighter then before because I can with the bearing. I also increased the speed too

So i backed speed to pre bearings, adjusted again and looks super clean. Now I suspect that even with bearings my surestep current is low since it can over accelerate now and maybe slips or overshoots more the skips per-se so I will play with more current on the Y, and acceleration values (which you can turn down too)

sorry if this is not a full answer but just insite

A couple of other things to check for:

1.  Overheating.  put a fan on the electronics and see if it still does it.
2.  Check for correct Vref voltage .  If your voltage it to low, it my not have enough torque to move the printhead smoothly, and if you have a bit of a bind in the filament spool, it may skip backwards when it tugs on the filament.
3.  Check for mechanical binding (belt tensioning, rough spots on the rods, lack of lubrication, etc)

If everything checks, yet you still get the stepping, it my well be a bad stepper driver.

Could it possibly be just this file as I have since tried printing a small cylinder and get no y slip at all (maybe because the cylinder was such a small surface area?) Also all my previous prints were a much larger surface area than this one so honestly got no clue on what might be my issue. Any help would be fantastic