CD Scratch Repair / Cleaner

[walpurgis]

Jeweller's rouge... that's a great tip, I hadn't thought of that... thanks..

Brasso sounds a bit harsh for my precious cd's

I sometimes wash CDs in a very weak detergent/warm water and once dry, give them a buff up using clear spray furniture polish that contains wax (put on a cloth first). The wax fills 'micro scratches' making the CD easier for the player to read without errors.

[Ninanina]

Thanks for all the tips, really appreciate it..

[Yomanze]

Brasso or T-Cut and 2x cotton balls, one to polish on and one to polish off. Works a treat and you won't damage your CDs. Focus on the damaged areas.

[struth]

Brasso or T-Cut and 2x cotton balls, one to polish on and one to polish off. Works a treat and you won't damage your CDs. Focus on the damaged areas.

yep thats how we did it...you can also use the wadding..best going from in to outer and back though and not round ways. new cds are not as heavily coated so best testing technique etc on old ones first.
cd jukes can be very rough on cds so it was a method developed over time and it does work

[Tim]

+1

Used to use Brasso but switched to T-Cut a number of years ago, never fails (unless the aluminium layer is damaged). Around half the CDs I buy are second-hand and often scratched and need reviving. Cleaning solutions are only good for surface muck, if they are scratched you need to get rid of the scratch. Always work across the CD in straight lines and concentrate on the area marked, test frequently as you don't want to go too far. I then wash the CDs in mild washing up liquid and warm water to remove the build up of cleaner and polycarbonate. T-Cut will mark and discolour a perfect CD surface, but if it skips then it's no use anyway.

I have also used this method in the past when I still played CDs - rip it using EAC to a lossless file which has fantastic error correction, then burn the file back to a CDR for a skip free CD. I don't need to do that now as I never actually 'play' CDs, just rip them to files, but I always have a bottle of T-Cut handy after a visit to the charity shop.

[Haselsh1]

If you take even a brand new CD and breathe on it so that it mists, you will notice a crazy pattern on the surface of the disc. If you then wash the disc in very hot water and detergent and dry with a piece of kitchen roll, you will notice when you breathe on it again that this crazy pattern has all gone. Nearly all of my CD's are washed this way when I buy them new. Does it change the sound of the music...? I don't know, try it...!

[Audio Advent]

Take it to somewhere like Game (computer game store) who might have a professional polishing machine for CDs/DVDs/Blurays and of course games.. Their website is under maintance so here's the google cache'd site: GAME Disc Repair Service. There are other places I'm sure on the high street, some by post for cheaper.

Then take extra care of it for the future as there will limited amount of times the surface can be skimmed like that (which is what brasso will be doing too, but in a localised manner, not the whole surface). I'd hesitate if it was a very early CD from the 80s that was prone to the information surface coming off (the picture layer) though..

Seriously, I've seen other people's after such a service and they come back as if they were new - try THAT with vinyl! haha.

[dowser]

Duraglit

[Yomanze]

Duraglit

Will try it out! Loads of great treatments for CD surfaces.

[dowser]

I used to carry a wad with me when doing field service way, way back - amazing how many bought the durability of CD pitch and used to use the things as drinks coasters CD reads from inside out, so pretty easy to tell whether it's scratch related - if yes, always clean vertically from inside to outside (or visa-versa) - round and round has more risk if you are digging deep into the plastic. As above, label side scratches are normally terminal - but I had some success with silver foil tape, but mostly with Philips machines, unreliable on other mechs.