Is this likely to cause any future issues?

[viivo]

My M.2 always runs at least 10C hotter than the other SATA SSDs so I applied some copper heatsinks. Thing is, they are fairly heavy and I'm curious if that could cause problems after an extended period of time mounted vertically.

Would cutting a thermal pad to cover the surface of the drive be a better option or is it fine with just the copper heatsinks on the four chips?

 

[kirbyrj]

I don't think youd have a problem. If anything, over time, the glue will wear off and the heatsinks would slide off. I wouldn't anticipate any damage to your drive.