Taking care of the "rubber" on the Nikon camera bodies?

[shadowlands]

Back when I had my D90, the rubber “thumb rest” was swelling and coming off. I replaced it with the original Nikon part, bought from Nikon, and it came with the double sided tape already installed.
No big deal. Well fast forward to today, and my rubber thumb rest on my D800 is fine, but the entire right/front hand grip was coming off. It was slightly swelling and not sticking.
I had that replaced thanks to Midwest Camera Repair for a reasonable price. Now, the rubber part, front/opposite side that has the “FX” logo? Same thing. It was coming off.
I found a replacement on ebay, and corrected it myself. Any ideas, moving forward, on how to better care for the rubber? Tired of replacing them.
I live in Houston and it’s above 90 and humid for at least 7 months per year. Sweaty hands can come into play. Do I need to move to Utah to better protect my camera?
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[robbins.photo]

Back when I had my D90, the rubber “thumb rest” was swelling and coming off. I replaced it with the original Nikon part, bought from Nikon, and it came with the double sided tape already installed.
No big deal. Well fast forward to today, and my rubber thumb rest on my D800 is fine, but the entire right/front hand grip was coming off. It was slightly swelling and not sticking.
I had that replaced thanks to Midwest Camera Repair for a reasonable price. Now, the rubber part, front/opposite side that has the “FX” logo? Same thing. It was coming off.
I found a replacement on ebay, and corrected it myself. Any ideas, moving forward, on how to better care for the rubber? Tired of replacing them.
I live in Houston and it’s above 90 and humid for at least 7 months per year. Sweaty hands can come into play. Do I need to move to Utah to better protect my camera?
Any help would be appreciated.

They make dehumidifiers you can store cameras/lenses in, but I've never gone to quite that extreme. Summers here get pretty hot and humid, my solution was to add some small desiccant packs to my camera bag. I switch them out usually once year or so, seems to do the trick nicely.

 

[shadowlands]

Back when I had my D90, the rubber “thumb rest” was swelling and coming off. I replaced it with the original Nikon part, bought from Nikon, and it came with the double sided tape already installed.
No big deal. Well fast forward to today, and my rubber thumb rest on my D800 is fine, but the entire right/front hand grip was coming off. It was slightly swelling and not sticking.
I had that replaced thanks to Midwest Camera Repair for a reasonable price. Now, the rubber part, front/opposite side that has the “FX” logo? Same thing. It was coming off.
I found a replacement on ebay, and corrected it myself. Any ideas, moving forward, on how to better care for the rubber? Tired of replacing them.
I live in Houston and it’s above 90 and humid for at least 7 months per year. Sweaty hands can come into play. Do I need to move to Utah to better protect my camera?
Any help would be appreciated.

They make dehumidifiers you can store cameras/lenses in, but I've never gone to quite that extreme. Summers here get pretty hot and humid, my solution was to add some small desiccant packs to my camera bag. I switch them out usually once year or so, seems to do the trick nicely.

Not a bad idea. I appreciate it.

 

[Derrel]

Happened on my D2x after about five years...I used an adhesive called Gorilla Grip: the rubber is still on there, almost seven years later. This is one issue with rubber grips as opposed to the 1989 and earlier body coverings of the manual focuys film era cameras: THAT body covering stayed On!!!

The N90s I have is now soooo sticky....the rubber is tacky to the touch.

 

[KmH]

I have and use 40 gram desiccant packs that can be renewed once they change color indicating they have absorbed about as much moisture as they can.
I use them for more than just my camera gear.
To renew them they go in the oven at low heat for a couple of hours to evaporate the moisture they have absorbed.
Each 40 gram desiccant dehumidifies a 3 foot square enclosed area:
Hydrosorbent OSG-40 Silica Gel Dehumidifier Desiccant 40 Gram

 

[cgw]

It's the adhesive that's failing. As suggested above, after-market glues can often do the trick. Nikon.ca probably still uses a product similar to Gorilla Glue. Those flypaper N90s/F90x backs Derrel recalled were no fun. Nikon.ca sold me a couple NOS replacement backs that were matte finish plastic minus the rubber coating--the last of their warranty stock. Same back down to the stenciled icons for the cameras' goofy program modes.

 

[Drive-By-Shooter]

adhesive called Gorilla Grip: the rubber is still on there, almost seven years later.

that's exactly what i was planning to do tomorrow. thanks

 

[shadowlands]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. Got my fingers crossed that my new, installed, rubber front right grip will last 2-3 years at least, or more. Geez!