It's my understanding though, all this spraying we are discussing....the root cause is water getting between the rubber and the wire. By spraying, is this not more a superficial ailment to the problem itself.

We'll see. In 11 years of ownership, I think I've broken 2-3 handles....it just depends on the luck of the draw between moisture and temps.

What prompted me to do the *spraying* was this morning it was frozen. I genetly tugged, got resistance, gently tugged again, got resistance, and gave it one more gentle tug to open the door. Luckily nothing broke..