Sand/Grit in focus ring

I LOVE my 24-70. Unfortunately there seems to be a grain of sand underneath my focus ring which makes an unhealthy sound with Manual Focus. As I turn the ring it sounds like I am rubbing sand paper. What can/should I do?

I had the same thing with my 17-40 after I was at the beach one day - it went away after a while (hopefully the sand fell out and not into the lens). I got some more in it, and after closer inspection, it looked like it was actually sand between the edge of the focus ring and the body of the lens - a toothbrush cleaned most of it out, maybe give that a shot around the edges?

You could send it in to get cleaned, but if you think it'll happen again, I doubt it would be worth it.

On a brighter note, I also had 3 pieces of dust noticeable against the blue sky in my shots. I placed the camera on my kitchen counter and ran "sensor cleaning" 10 times...it took about 1 minute. Zero dust specs are now visible.

I had that happen to my 35mm f/2... I had it serviced, as it prevented the focus mechanism from operating properly.

As long as yours focuses, you're probably okay but you might be doing damage as long as it's in there, depending on exactly where that grit is. It's odd that it got in there in the first place, and it would be even more odd if it went away on its own (hello, weathersealing).

Tough choice. Is it getting better at all, or pretty much that's what it is?

Have you tried holding a vacuum cleaner hose next to the focus ring while you turn it?