There's always an option to send it to Nikon (or deal with local professional shops), but I'd like to know if I can resolve it myself. Plus, who knows - same issue might come up in the future with other lenses…
Recently got myself a used 18-105mm VR lens, which seemed to be somewhat soft. After shooting a focus chart, it became clear that lens front-focuses. I used D7100 to calibrate focus to -5, and now the lens seems to work properly. The problem is - I bought this lens to use with D3200, which doesn't seem to have AF fine-tune (at least I haven't found that option, after digging through the menus and checking online).
So, lens works fine with one body, but not with the one I need. Question is - is it possible (and how?) to somehow save the calibration I did on D7100 to the lens, so that it's permanently stored and applied to any body I use the lens on?
Really, not looking for suggestions to take to be serviced, unless you know for a fact that it's the only possible resolution. Also not planning to replace this lens with a different lens (either because you think this lens sucks, or because you have something that works better for you).
Read more: How to permanently calibrate Nikon lens?