I was lucky to get one of the first Nikon D200 cameras in New Zealand having pre-ordered one prior to their announcement. I also managed to get the 18-200 soon after they became available so this lens has done a lot of hard work for me being my standard walk about lens on my D200 and then D300. I have always been surprised at the quality of this lens despite it being a wide-range zoom. This was recently brought back to me when reprocessed some photos for a book when the individual strands of a flyscreen were clearly visible when zooming into an image of a building taken with this lens on the D200.  Since  I  changed to full frame sensor bodies, Edin has taken over the 18-200 and used it extensively.  During our trip to Australia in April 2013 she first noticed the focus ring rubber grip became loose in the heat and this was exacerbated during her midyear trip to the UK with the very warm northern summer.

I located a replacement ring on eBay and went with a supplier (Rongstar Digital Inc from Chicago) who offered free shipping to New Zealand as shipping fees usually add significantly to the cost. It arrived promptly despite the Christmas/New Year break and was quickly and easily fitted by easing it into place from the lens mount end after slipping off the old stretched ring.