DualShock 4 Shoddy Stick Quality

So it happened to me!

Funny enough it's my second controller that got cut, not the OG. All of a sudden bam. There she is. A little cut on the left stick. Anyone in Canada tried sending for a replacement? It's not a problem right now but I'm sure the cut will grow into a terrible monstrosity over time.

My other controller seems completely perfect still, and if I had to guess I would have said that one gets more use, especially since I never touch the cut one anymore. Been about two weeks or so.

I've heard a common solution is to buy little grips for the sticks to protect them, although that is a pretty shoddy workaround for substandard build quality. It's hard to imagine Sony didn't know about it as they must have done extensive testing on the pads for QA.

Maybe they didnt factor in grimy cheeto and doritos loco taco dust covered fingers into their equation, oh ho ho!!

Is it really common though? Or I guess I mean "easy". Looking at @seikenfreak's post in this thread it sounds a little complicated lol. Like, what in the world is a digital caliper...?

The only reason I wouldn't want to put little grips on them is that the analog stick is otherwise so awesome. It feels great. I'm just going to keep hoping it's some kind of plastic mixing issue. Like 1% of this plastic mix just doesn't work out great or some shit like that, which explains my 1 controller being mint and the second, newer one, getting cut.

(I don't know anything about plastic mixing, or if that is even a thing, but I feel it could be)

@geraltitude: It's common enough where I've heard a lot of people have this issue eventually as opposed to just a few here and there. Clearly that rubber is a little too thin in such a crucial area and some people play harder than others. I know on my old 360 pads I would eventually develop these indentations on the concave of the sticks.

Grips aren't great but they are less expensive than buying a whole new controller.

You can put me in the camp that this has happened to as well. Also with the left stick only. Bought the grip-it brand ones and actually like them better because I didn't like the concave nature of the PS4 sticks anyway.

+1 for Xbox One

Oh yeah the issue is certainly common, I was just wondering how common the solution is (putting the grips on seems like it can go wrong easily).

I definitely don't want to shell out for a new controller but I'd be willing to go without a second controller for a few weeks if it means a new one from Sony versus putting on grips myself. Then again who's to say my new controller doesn't cut right away too.

Can I buy grips straight up?

Answer: yes I can. Just googled controller grips and ohhh my oh my I had no idea this world existed.

@geraltitude: A caliper is considered a precision measuring tool I guess. A digital caliper is just a caliper with a little LCD readout and some different measurement modes. Basically a fancy digital ruler kinda. This is the one I got. Fairly simple cheaper one apparently but it has worked great so far. Says accurate to 0.001 of an inch.

iGaging IP54 Electronic Digital Caliper 0-6" Display Inch/Metric/Fractions Stainless Steel Body

@geraltitude: Oh my mistake I thought you might be familiar with it. They are pretty cheap and easily accessible on Amazon. They're just clip-ons, no hard assembly required. I had a pair of those FPS Freak thumbstick extensions for my 360 pad and they were super sturdy, never wiggled, came loose or fell off. In fact it was pretty hard to get them off eventually.

Of course if you have two pads then yah, definitely send the bad one back. I assumed you had one pad in which case sending it back for repairs would be awful. My iPhone has developed a very minor and very common defect but I'm not about to send it in because that means I'd be out of a phone for a month and I don't feel like using a shitty replacement for that long. IF I had another identical phone I'd send it in though.

GRIPS - this seems like a pretty solid deal.

@seikenfreak: oh alright! I totally used one of those (non-digital) before. When I read your post all I could think of at first was Digital Caliphate... which, uh, is not what you were talking about.

Just out of curiosity what's your normal use of that baby for?

I have two DS4's and had this happen to the main one I use. Now I use the other one. Until it happens to that. Then I'll probably just buy another one.

@geraltitude: Hmm. Well when I ordered it, it was for this stick project. I didn't expect to get that much use out of it but surprisingly I've found random uses for it. Though most of them escape my mind at the moment. One was when I was messing around repairing game console stuff and I used it to measure the size of chips and tiny components and such. I also used it when one of the spring perches was loose on one my coil overs on my car and wanted to double check the height measurement.

Random uses like that. Now that I have one I've been finding uses for it.

I have two DS4s and they have different material on the sticks. One seems a lot more durable than the other; so maybe Sony is attempting to fix this issue on newer controllers.

With that being said, I recommend replacing them with XOne sticks. I find them more tactile.

I've heard about the issue but it's no problem for me, and I play every day. Just a run of bad luck for you, and that sucks. Hopefully your next one is better!

Anyone know if the new red controllers have the updated rubber?

Apparently the white controllers definitely have a better rubber on the thumbsticks

Who is saying that about the white ones? I just got my white controller and I'm treating it like its made of glass because I'm scared shitless of destroying it.

Also, given the red controllers have been available outside of America since launch, I would guess they're likely old stock with the original sticks, even if the rumour of new sticks are true. But I'm just guessing.

@bollard: Just other forums I've been on have said it's definitely new rubber, does it not feel any different for you?

I'm afraid I've never used one before this! Just got the white PS4, the last time I used a DS4 was before the PS4 was released at Eurogamer and I don't remember what the sticks felt like :/

I have the white one, albeit I've never had the black controllers. The rubber on my white controller at home compared to display models in Best Buys or something feel harder and slippier. One of the reasons I was waiting to get the white edition was hoping that they did some minor hardware revisions to both system and pad.

So if I just buy a pack of rubber things, like the one in the pic. Should I then begin with removing the originals, or do I put the new ones on top of them.

I am kind of surprised there hasn't been more backlash on the quality issues with the DS4. It seems like half the components are liable to fall off within a year of purchase. The two most important parts on the thing have been posted about just on THIS forum several times each.

It's such a shame, because I love the way the analogue sticks feel, I wouldn't want to have to replace them.

Every stick I had last generation lasted pretty much the entire generation, and that was with me having a tendency to use the left stick in a way that ended up with my nail pressing/rubbing against the top. By the time those fancy shiny 360 gamepads came out I had dug a hole in the rubber of my OG controller. PS4 sticks are already wearing down? Hopefully they figure that out.