EF 18-55mm Rubber Focus Ring is very sticky to the touch.

[JosephLand]

I have a EOS Rebel T5i I bought a Costco about 12 years ago. I have not used it for about 2 years and during that time it was stored in the Canon camera bag. I got it out yesterday and found that the knurled focus ring has become very sticky to the touch and is leaving a black sticky residue on my fingers.The lens is the EF 18-55mm Imaged Stabilized lens that came with the camera when purchased. I could not find anything on the Canon website on this problem. The storage was temperature controlled the entire time and none of my other Canon lens are showing this problem. Is this fixable? Was there a factory recall I missed? These are not expensive lenses and go for about $50-60 use on Ebay.

Any help would be appreciated.

[JosephLand]

I think that was HAL before his makeup was applied in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey

[Crystalcooksnap]

Hi there, a long time ago when I owned a Rebel t3i I bought a cheap lens from a local seller that had the same issue. I never found out wjy it did what it did with the sticky black residue coming off on to my fingers but I did find a solution. The solution I found was using alcohol wipes. It cleaned it right up and I never had the issue again. Maybe this will help? With mine I had a hunch it was some type of rot to the rubber. 

[JosephLand]

Crystalcooksnap: I did find the same solution with a 91% alcohol solution and an old washrag. It took all the sticky stuff off and underneath that rubber coating was hard knurled plastic. Fixed the problem. Look at all the other replies and you will see a picture of what came off.

[ebiggs1]

"It cleaned it right up and I never had the issue again"

It will unless you completely removed the rubber grip which is possible. The rubber grip is not necessary.