Issue with d pad

I have a strange issue with my current dualshock 4. This is actually my second ds4, the first one being a chu-zct1u model. The face buttons started to stick, tried fixing it but somehow replacing the rubber contact just made the issue worse so I got a new ds4.

The new ds4 was fine except out of the box the dpad was funky. When pressing left or right on the dpad, ill get my normal expected input. However, if i press the left or right dpad on the top of each button it activates an up d pad input. I thought it was an issue with the controller at the time and i ended up being to lazy to return it for a replacement which as you can imagine I now regret.

Anyways, after doing some trial and error, I realized that pressing the left or right dpad buttons to far on the top of the button makes the up dpad button press down as well. So it seems it might be an issue with the dpad button itself or the rubber, though its odd since this problem doesnt happen as frequently when pressing the left or right dpad on the bottom part, thus down dpad inputs dont happen as frequently.

Going by this, whats the best way to go about rectifying the problem with the dpad? Does it seem like just replacing the rubber dpad would suffice? Buying both the dpad buttons themselves as well as the rubber contact isnt an issue, but if it ends up not fixing the problem I want to know another angle to consider when fixing the controller so I dont just get complacent and throw the thing out