I used to look in wonder and amazement at some of the CDs and DVDs in my best friend's collection. How could he let them get in such a state? "Dude, treat them with more respect" I'd say. Then I had children, and found my CDs and DVDs were perfect replacements for frisbee toys, coasters and anything else they could think of.
Recently, I found several of my favorite music CDs and movies were unplayable due to some innocent playtime fun. Kids will be kids, there's little you can do to avoid that (especially if your CDs and DVDs are at kid-height). But before I reluctantly bought replacements, I figured I had nothing to lose by going to the web and finding remedies. If they worked, great. If not, I had lost nothing anyway.
I had heard of toothpaste, which was the first remedy I tried. But I found other methods, too. Below are the results of my exploration, complete with my own experience with the remedy. Remember, I can't guarantee results. If your scratches are very deep you're probably out of luck. But if a few scratches are giving you some skipping or the CD/DVD is unreadable, this may save you a trip to your local Best Buy.
Note: NEVER clean any CD or DVD in a circular motion. Always clean in straight lines from the center of the disc outwards. Otherwise, you'll just make things even worse.
Toothpaste.
I had heard about this one, but I never really knew what to do. Here are a few of the videos I found on the subject.
Warning: The next video contains a scary ending at the 1:09 mark.
My results: 3/5
The toothpaste did indeed help with some scratches but only very small ones. The deeper scratches were unaffected. On another note, my CDs now smell minty!
Banana.
Yes, banana. I had to watch it twice to make sure I wasn't missing something.
Results: 2/5
Not quite as good as the toothpaste, but it did help with a few tracks that had skipped. It's a lot more messy though, and a waste of a good banana.
Chewing Gum.
This could have been a great way to find an extra use for a bit of gum. Here's the video.
Results: 0/5
This worked. NOT! I tried it on a DVD that was unreadable and it remained that way unitl I tried the next method.
Brasso (metal polish).
I have always called this Brasso regardless of brand name, but any liquid metal polish will work.
Results: 4/5
This was excellent. I remember my dad using Brasso to remove scratches from his plastic eyeglass lenses so I figured it had a good chance of working. But this worked great for me. On the two discs I tried it on, it returned them to their former glory. Very happy.
As I've said, don't try this on CDs that are 95% ok becuase I can't guarantee results. But if you have a highly-scratched, almost unplayable disc, you've got nothing to lose.
1. WOW that's fantastic!
I can't wait to go try the Brasso. I have three kids... My CDs, and theirs, have paid a dear price. I'm glad I kept all the CDs that I couldn't fix with regular old CD scratch fixer. (I don't think that stsuff has ever worked for me)
Thanks for the tips.
2. Thanks April.
I hope it works out for you!
3. One more suggestion...
I always use Pledge (or another brand of furniture polish)! Works every time!
4. Sweet.
That's another one I can try. We always have a can of Pledge in the cupboard. Thanks Teresa.
5. Thanks!
On behalf of my Baby-Einstein-Old-MacDonald-obssessed 2-year-old son, I thank you! Assuming at least one of these methods works to get the scratches out. I'm so tempted to try the banana one just for the sheer mess of it...
6. Display polish
I wonder if some of the (expensive though) display polish that is used to remove scratches from e.g. mobile phone displays would work too. Anyone tried that yet?
Greetings from Germany and thanks for the summary here.
7. try a microfiber cloth
I've saved many CDs by polishing firmly with a micorfiber cloth. Basically this (& all the methods above) work by gently abrading the disc to smooth out scratches, just like sanding scratches out of wood. I haven't tried it yet, but I suspect jeweler's rouge would work wonders on a DVD/CD. Be sure to completely clean the disc when you are done though as you don't want fine plastic particles or abrasives inside your player!
8. Quite Cool
I got many old CDs that are scratched and I think I need to apply Brasso on it.
Thanks for the tips.
9. Boiling water works great!
Boiling also works great. Boil the water, pull the boiling water off the stove. Drop the CD/DVD in for 10 seconds. Pull it out on the sides as carefully as possible. Touch it over with a cloth to let it dry.
I let mine sit for a day because I went out of town, but I can now watch SLC Punk again.
Yes, this does work. I'm not kidding. There are explanations on the web about how this works.
10. Boiling does not remove scratches
Boiling CDs does NOT remove the scratches or fix problems with that, but it fixes a different cause mainly for new discs:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/How-To-Recover-Unreadable-CDs-DVDs-Just-B...
11. Hair Gel
Hair Gel works, but in a different way. It fills the scratch and restores the refractive qualities to the track, enabling you to copy the disk. If you have a very deep scratch on your disk, this is the way to go as an abrasive may damage the disk even further.
12. Excellent tip
I'll have to try that one. Thanks!
13. Great! Now what about the CD player in the car?
Great ideas - I'll try them out. I've got another problem though - and apparently I'm not the only one; this is happening to a friend of mine as well:
The CD player in my car has started to get really weird about ejecting CDs. Sometimes it doesn't want to accept them, but it's gotten to the point where it nearly always takes several tries to get it to fully eject because the CD gets "stuck" on its way out. My friend says this only happens with the CDs that he's burned himself.
Any clues? Does it need to be cleaned?
14. Plastic cleaner and polish
About 25 years ago I had a problem with tiny scratches on the face shield of my motorcycle helmet. Riding at night became dangerous because of the "headlight flare" of oncoming cars. New shields were more expensive than I wanted to deal with on a regular basis.
A friend told me about Meguiar's plastic cleaner and plastic polish. They were sort of expensive, at the time, but if they worked, they'd be well worth the money. I was astounded at the results: my face shield was 100% like new with no scratches at all. I've been using the cleaner and polish since.
A couple of years ago, I needed to use a CD to reinstall Windows XP. It was so scratched that I couldn't use it. The installation had already skipped 36 files before I quit trying. I didn't want to purchase another copy of XP and I happened to remember the Meguiar's plastic products. I had nothing to lose so I tried them on the XP CD.
They worked so well, I was able to reinstall Windows XP without a single file skipped. Since then, every time we rent a DVD movie that is so badly damaged it skips and/or stops, I pull out the Meguiar's plastic cleaner and plastic polish.
I see that Meguiar's has a newer product named PlastX. I haven't tried it yet, but I will as soon as I run out of my current supply of the old stuff. And no, I have no connection with Meguiar's; I have just thoroughly enjoyed the results of every one of their products I've used.
15. Creepy Ending
I was watching the videos and was unpleasantly surprised when at the end of the second video the one from YouTube there was static then a series of very disturbing images, which freaked me out a little. I just thought you should know.
(I hope it wasn't just my computer.)
16. Creepy indeed
Dont watch the second video 'till the end!
disturbing!!
x_x
not nice
17. Clean my shorts!
Here I'm watching a nice educational video on how to help fix CD/DVD's and all of a sudden, WTF! I just soiled myself.
18. ash
you forgot to mention using ash what is used for years for polishing glass (watches) or displays (cover) of mobiles, it's working too, but for me is bet choice toothpaste (you forgot to mention it should have microgranules)
19. Yikes!
Thanks for the heads up fellow readers! Those images on the toothpaste video (second video) are totally freaky. If I hadn't known they were there, I too would be needing a change of drawers especially as I am alone in a very large and creepy building at the moment (Sunday).
20. Using By-Product from 2nd video to fix CD/DVD
indeed the ending of the second video scared the living ©r@p outta me. so i got a clean cloth, smeared the unplayable disc with it, polish that smelly stuff in circular motion.
well guess what.... it still does not work & now it stinks too
21. Peanut Butter
Try creamy peanut butter.
22. Video ending!
re: Toothpaste video ending
That's freakin' AWESOME. People have been playing some pretty great practical jokes on YouTube over the past couple of years but that's one that I hadn't seen:
1) Set the viewer up with something nice and calm... heck, water is gently running in a sink like the sound of a running brook or a stream... how much more low profile can you get?
2) Then BOOM!
This is worthy of a YouTube award. Stephen King would be proud.
23. Sorry folks
I didn't see the last few seconds of the video, I figured I had got the jist. I will happily take it down if it offends anyone.
24. Toothpaste video ending
Yep, it offended. Scared the scheisse out of me. Glad my kids were not hanging over my shoulder like they often do. They would have been in the the middle of a crying fit right about now.
25. Never tried it myself, but
Never tried it myself, but I've heard car waxes can work, since they are made to hide light scratches on car paint finishes.
26. Nice techniques
Hey Paul, I really enjoyed these videos thanks for making my day, and about the video with the creepy ending for God's sake dude put a warning or a note under it so people will be alerted.
27. Video Ending!
That video rules, I dont get scared by screamers anymore, Its excellect to see people get the lives scared out of them!
Here's 2 of the best examples of screamers working on people....
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Rx7aEj7T69w
http://youtube.com/watch?v=t3av2VZl97c
The Second Being The Best!
28. removing scratches from cd's
well I believe it was the first poster that said NEVER use a circular motion. funny thing is, that is exactly how I do it, and at high speeds too. I first clean the disc by hand with Meguiar's #17 plastic cleaner to remove any debris or dirt etc. I then use Meguiar's #10 plastic polish, and I polish it using my dremel tool with a white polishing pad, just like the one's used on a bench grinder for polishing hard metals like chrome etc. The trick is to not let it get to dry or you will put burn marks on it. but if you are carefull and get the hang of it as I have, you can repair even deep scratches. If it is not actually cracked, you have a great chance of repairing it, and I have been doing so for several years with 100 percent success rate. You probably won't be suprised to know that I am a Certified Journeyman Mechanic by trade, and gearhead by heart. Very easy to get the hang of. I would say mine is a much different approach then any of the other's, and most likely the only one that can give you a disc that is completely scratch free not matter how many scratches it had, and a shine that is better than when new. What do you think about that on Mr. Paul Michael?
29. Displex from
Displex from http://www.displex.com/ works better :)
30. if toothpaste doesn't work
if toothpaste doesn't work 1st time then clean it again and again and again. Took me five tries to get one heavily damaged dvd working
31. Hilarious! That's awesome.
Hilarious! That's awesome. That second video is a classic. Knowing that it was going to be creepier at the end made it even creepier for the first minute.
32. great
great tools - chewing gum didn't help at all (so I agree with Paul Michael).
The first and the second video are creepy to listen to. As a foreign language, I couldn't understand all of this video. Both dudes (or was it the same person?) have a hard accident (where are they from? Texas? Australia?)
33. Turtle Wax has never let me down.
It's never been introduced to the body of my car, but I keep a bottle of Turtle Wax tucked away in my media cabinet just for CD's and DVD's. I have a couple CD's that are very old and look like they've been dragged along the street for a while. Turtle Wax will generally allow me to play the damaged discs for about 4 - 6 months before another application is required (plenty of time to rip and re-burn them).
34. CD's and kids
Great tips. On the kid thing though, ever heard of teaching them NO followed with the reason - then disipline if necessary? Our grandkids come over. I have high end stereo components on the floor. My wife has ceramics on lower shelves. They never touch them, because they are taught not to. When we had ours, my mother said "I'll have to move everything up out of reach" No you won't. They will be taught the rules. Try it. They will respect you MUCH more. BTW, they were also taught that food stays in the kitchen.
35. http://www.wisebread.com/quickly-removing-scratches-from-cds-and
I thought someone would mention Armor All. Not abrasive though. I use that on my motorcycle windshield and face shield. It gets rid of the haze. Maybe use it as a follow up to these methods. I suspect that anything just slightly abrasive would work. Is it possible that boiling would slightly reflow the plastic near the scratches?
36. 2nd video
where can i find it now?
37. Re: CD's and kids
Yea! Someone else has sense! This is the proven, tried-and-true ultimate method. My parents used it with my brothers and I, I used it with my children, and it works! Having - and teaching - respect for your possessions definitely helps take care of them. Of course, accidents will happen, but they should be few and very far between. In that case - thanks for the tips!
38. Scratch removal
Many Video Stores have electric CD scratch remover machines, and for the most part, If you walk in and ask them politely they may throw your disc through it for anywhere between free and a couple of dollars.
Also, when I (stupidly - but hey, at least I'm not suing for $5m because of this) moved my 360 with Oblivion in the drive and heard the grinding wrrrr that could only mean bad things. The DVD was left with a nice circular groove about 1mm wide and deep enough to feel, I spent about 2 hours rubbing it up and down with a clean dry piece of t-shirt cotton until the scratch was only visible at an angle and had no groove, I was very much happy that I didn't have to go out and purchase another disc - there were some other barely visible scratches left on the disc from the operation, but it worked and that's all I cared about.
39. Novus Acrylic Polish Video
Here is the professional way to remove 100% of the scratches 100% of the time. If you can't remove it this way, then the Disc is a total loss.
Acrylic Polish Video
40. Thanks!
Hi Paul. Thanks for showing us these excellent methods. Sadly,
the toothpaste, banana and gum methods didn't work, but I will
be going to the shops, and looking for a metal liquid polish (specifically brasso, but as you mentioned, any brand will do)
Thanks again, and keep up the good work!
41. Thanks! continued..
Sorry, I forgot to mention this on the top post.
If you used "Brasso" or another liquid metal polish, the kid says, it levels the disk or fills the cracks in. In any case, wouldn't you lose the memory or data that was before the scratch? I don't know how it could continue to work the same..
42. As I understand it
the data is contained beneath the scratch on the metallic layer. The brasso fills in the scratch on the plastic, thus allowing the laser to read the information beneath.
43. Problems..
Thanks for the explanation. I've tried brasso, i've been rubbing it gently in a circuler motion, for around 5 minutes, and nothing has happened.
How long do I have to continue rubbing?
44. Have you
allowed the brasso to dry? You then need to buff it off with a soft cloth. Also, I am not in favor of circular rubbing, despite what some people say. I prefer rubbing from center to edge. But, you defintely need to buff off the residue.
45. Have you
allowed the brasso to dry? You then need to buff it off with a soft cloth. Also, I am not in favor of circular rubbing, despite what some people say. I prefer rubbing from center to edge. But, you defintely need to buff off the residue.
46. Plexus Plastic Cleaner
No idea whether this would work, but as the motorbike shield stuff works, maybe it would?? Thanks for the great article and advice!!!
47. Tiny Scratches after cleaning
I haven't tried any of the methods yet. For the people that used the method and said it worked did it remove all scratches even the tiny ones and made it look like it was brand new from the store again.
48. I know I'm here on the
I know I'm here on the bottom at 3am and nobody will probably even get this far but I LMAO reading all the ridiculous remedies for scratch repair.
Peanut butter only works because of the oil.
I used a powdered cleaner Bon Ami and finished off with an application of olive oil. It worked on only a few of my pile of eight CD's. It left too many fine scratches that would need a decent polish to work right. It did however level the deep scratches. So I would say it's a good step 1 for heavy or deep scratches.
This was a dumb idea, but I was too lazy to go into the garage for the Plastic polish I bought for my clouded headlights (didn't work and the foam applicator I paid $10 bucks for ripped to shreds).
I'll try that tomorrow and see if the polish makes them work.
One guy does them with fine WET sandpaper, I think 400 then up to 2000 grit and then polishes them with a BARE buffing pad on a grinder holding the disc half on and off and turning it now and then until the disc has rotated in his hand 360 degrees and it's supposed to be better than new.
Hmmm, no grinder, I do have an orbital buffer...but the pad probably has so much dirt it will make new scratches,...and that's $10 for a new pad.
One remedy was to take oil from your nose (referred to as "grease")and rub it on the disc!
ROTFL
Or rub the disc on your forehead!
Any vegetable oil will work but only a couple drops or it will spatter itself inside your computer or player.
Will try and find that Brasso I bought that doesn't do anything to fake brass door knobs...Didn't think it was good for anything since who has anything made from solid brass anymore...and if it was you'd get owned on Antiques Roadshow for ruining the "Patina" of that vintage duck doorstop. Thought about polishing the statue of liberty once.
I think I'm going to buy the automated machine they sell for $5K that uses wet sand paper and do 2 discs for a dollar on eBay!$$$$$$$$
49. Plastic polishes
Novus #2 (a well-known plastic polish) is a little harsh and leaves tiny scratches. It uses silica as an abrasive, which I think is too harsh for this purpose. The milder kind of Bon Ami (the kind that used to come in a square box and is called "Cleaning Powder") will also leave tiny scratches, though I've heard it's good for restoring car windshields. I've had good luck with two different kits made specifically for CD's and DVD's that give you a cloth and some polishing paste. They cost roughly between $5 and $10. One came with tiny amounts of two different strengths of polish, and the other came with a smallish amount of one strength.
Some automotive and metal polishes may work, but I'm not sure of the effects of the solvents many of them contain. You don't want to get funky chemicals onto the upper surface, because that's actually where the information sits. (If you gouge the top surface, you stand a good chance of killing the disc for good.) And beware: the glue in some of those round CD/DVD stick-on labels has been shown to damage that surface over time.
I haven't tried jewelers rouge, which is made from fine particles of iron oxide. What may be also worth trying is the method jewelers use to polish watch crystals.
50. One more thing
I just thought of this. It seems like a good idea, but I haven't tried it yet. Using a Q-Tip as an applicator should be a good way to pinpoint a specific scratch.
51. PPlllleeeaseee
All you babies that said that the end of this toothpaste slash cd video were "graphic" "scary" and "made me wet my pants" are sooo very much in need of for the lack of better words-- needing therapy. I have THE oldest computer on the face of the earth that has windows 98. I waited umm 45 minutes for this to download thinking I was ready to "wet my pants" and all I saw was quick images that wouldnt scare a second grader. So pleeeeease shut up. That was not "scary" "graphic" or in need of depends. Freakin babies!!!!!!!
52. OMFG
I HATE U LOL that scary vid scared the chit out of me i didnt even read the warning i jsut watched the vid lol.
anyway u said not to clean in a circular motion and u were cleaning in a circular motion get ur facts straight buddy
53. Yeah, whoever uploaded that vid is sick...
Well, the images wouldn't have scared me at all (although they are disturbing) if it wasn't for the fact that my speakers volume was kinda high and my ears were ringing. But me being used to looking at creepy images like that (I am against abortion and have seen perfectly formed full sized fetuses in pieces) I have also studied aliens and looked at findings of extraterrestrial life on earth... on top of that my husband is an artist who sketches and paints monsters. Oh gosh, I had no idea I was exposed to creepy stuff that intensely until now, LOL! Anyway, the warning should be in red letters and it should warn about the sound, the warning only states scary images. It doesn't talk about sounds so loud that can leave you deaf. It is also very disturbing since its basically static.
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