So I finally looked at why one of the trouser hangers made a nasty gritty noise. Turns out that, no suprise, when you rub steel against steel long enough, it wears away:

Another hanger had a huge roller that worked wonderfully well:

That one was obviously over-engineered, but a simple roller also works well:

They cheapnified this one just a bit too much, because it’s not quite a roller any more:

A bit of rummaging turned up enough hangers with working rollers, so it’s all good now…