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Author	Topic: CD maintenance

JEC Standard Userer	I handle my CDs like they were made of nitroglycerine. But they still end up with abrasions and minor scratches. Is this the sign of a defective CD player, or is it normal wear? And what is the best way to get rid of these?
posted 08-22-2002 07:13 AM PT (US)

SEBULBA Standard Userer	Believe it or not, a little car wax does wonders on cd's. I've cleaned many. In fact, I got a cd through a trade with a rather large scratch that made the cd skip. After 3 applications of car wax, it still plays perfect to this day. But light abrasions and all, the wax will make it like new.
posted 08-22-2002 02:41 PM PT (US)

justin boggan Standard Userer	I'm not sure how you get those scratches. None of my cds have them and some i have had for 7 years. The only scratches are on the cd-r ones from trade, but they came that way. I treat my cds like glass- very carefully handle them. Go to your local big store like wal-mart or k-mart and look in the electronics for a cd scratch repair kit. Shold only cost you 10$, but that will repair it a hundred times. Or a hundred cds, which ever comes first.
posted 08-22-2002 07:59 PM PT (US)

thw Non-Standard Userer	Don't know if it's a problem for you. But I used to keep a lot of my CDs in a CD wallet. But the fxxxing CD sleeves scratched all my CDs. Darn! I end up throwing away all my CD wallets. Won't ever trust them again. With jewel cases, my CDs are never scratched.
posted 08-22-2002 08:05 PM PT (US)

James Standard Userer	quote: Originally posted by thw: Don't know if it's a problem for you. But I used to keep a lot of my CDs in a CD wallet. But the fxxxing CD sleeves scratched all my CDs. Darn! I end up throwing away all my CD wallets. Won't ever trust them again. With jewel cases, my CDs are never scratched. They DO make CD wallets with teeth on the page instead of sleaves... or at least they used to... but recently I've discovered that they're near impossible to find. I haven't tried Sebulba's car wax method myself, but I've heard from others that it works. They also make solutions especially for cleaning CDs that you might want to check out. And you can get cleaner for the laser lens of your CD players, too. Kirk NP - Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata
posted 08-22-2002 08:41 PM PT (US)

JJH Standard Userer	okay, please flesh out this car wax method. doe one use Turtle Wax? does one simply smear it on? how much to use? do you cover the entire CD, or just the scratch? inquiring minds want to know, consarnit! NP -- None your damn business!
posted 08-23-2002 06:50 AM PT (US)

justin boggan Standard Userer	Please be careful! My scratch reapir kit from the store says not to rub it on in a circular pattern, but rather up and down. You know, 12o'clock to 6o'clock, repeat, left right, left right. So i assume that applys for the wax as well. It might have something to do with the data on the cd. Maybe a circular pattern destroys it or something.
posted 08-23-2002 06:53 AM PT (US)

JEC Standard Userer	Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm not sure what's causing this. Not all of my CDs have been effeced. Only the irreplacable ones, it seems. Like TOWERING INFERNO. I might add that I tried polishing out some scuff marks with Brasso. That removed the scuff mark but left all kinds of minor abrasions, which I think was due to the fact that I polished it in a circular motion. [Message edited by JEC on 08-23-2002]
posted 08-23-2002 06:53 AM PT (US)

Camillu Standard Userer	As JJ said, please flesh out the Car Wax thingy - I just might be able to save my "The Mission". About your 'irreplacable' CDs, you might want to make a backup copy before trying any fancy repair techniques on them.
posted 08-23-2002 07:52 AM PT (US)

Taylor Standard Userer	quote: Originally posted by Camillu: As JJ said, please flesh out the Car Wax thingy - I just might be able to save my "The Mission". About your 'irreplacable' CDs, you might want to make a backup copy before trying any fancy repair techniques on them. What about Laserdiscs, will this theory work as well? DVDs??? What kind of car wax??? What kind of cloth should i use with the car wax???? Inquiring minds REALLY want to know as I have bought some used titles that could use a little fixin'!
posted 08-23-2002 09:16 AM PT (US)

SEBULBA Standard Userer	O.K. CAR WAX!!! I just dab a little on a soft cloth and rub it in on the scratch (or whole disc I've done) and let sit for several minutes. Then I wipe it off. I actually do 6 o'clock to 12 o'clock motion myself. But not in a circular motion. I've also done this to laser discs which I took in for trade and were rejected. After a quick waxing, they accepted them. The disc doctor stuff you buy in the store is basically the same thing. It's like a wax which fills in the minor scratches and all and makes it look nice. But filling in the scratch also makes the laser read it better. Hope this helps. Oh, and I have turtle wax. And not the liquid. I've never tried that.
posted 08-23-2002 10:14 AM PT (US)

jeffy unregistered	I've used the store-bought CD repair kit and it works wonders. I used to have a major scratch on my "Batman Forever" CD and with one application - poof! - it was gone. I use this about every two weeks for my "star Wars" CDs because they are in the booklet one, not the jewl case. Until I can find a double CD jewel case (they're never in stock at Best Buy) I'll just keep them cleaned regularly.
posted 08-23-2002 11:44 AM PT (US)

JEC Standard Userer	[Message edited by JEC on 08-23-2002]
posted 08-23-2002 11:49 AM PT (US)

JEC Standard Userer	What repair kit did you buy?
posted 08-23-2002 11:50 AM PT (US)

Taylor Standard Userer	quote: Originally posted by SEBULBA: O.K. CAR WAX!!! I just dab a little on a soft cloth and rub it in on the scratch (or whole disc I've done) and let sit for several minutes. Then I wipe it off. I actually do 6 o'clock to 12 o'clock motion myself. But not in a circular motion. I've also done this to laser discs which I took in for trade and were rejected. After a quick waxing, they accepted them. The disc doctor stuff you buy in the store is basically the same thing. It's like a wax which fills in the minor scratches and all and makes it look nice. But filling in the scratch also makes the laser read it better. Hope this helps. Oh, and I have turtle wax. And not the liquid. I've never tried that. What about Laserdiscs with anoying smudge type scratches (my old machine ruined side 2 of my primo LD of Vampire Lovers). You know the ones with the whitish smudge/scratch/scuff that kind of look annoying. Will this stuff work on them?
posted 08-23-2002 04:31 PM PT (US)

JEC Standard Userer	A website that deals with this issue: http://www.techtv.com/callforhelp/print/0,23102,3375597,00.html
posted 08-23-2002 05:15 PM PT (US)

miss tonya Standard Userer	You know... a former friend of mine used to use TOOTHPASTE on scratches and swore by it!
posted 08-23-2002 06:52 PM PT (US)

Camillu Standard Userer	Excuse my ignorance, but what exactly is a "lint-free cloth"?
posted 08-24-2002 03:00 AM PT (US)

Spicy Ramen Standard Userer	From my personal experiences: [b]1. Keep cd's in their original cd casings. Avoid those cd wallets I noticed several discs that I placed in cd wallets usually had minor scratches or abrasions maybe because of the surface of the cd wallet. 2. Handling with care. The more you juggle around the cd/cd player (i.e. walking around with it) the more risks you take of scratching. Keep it stationary.
posted 08-24-2002 04:39 AM PT (US)

Beatty Standard Userer	from the web site mentioned above: quote: quote:</font><HR size=1>If your discs play fine with scratches on them, then don't worry about removing the scratches. You really can't remove 100 percent of the scratches from a disc unless you replace it with a new one. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." The page also says "... uses distilled water as a lubricant, which poses little if any health threat." Which elicited a profound "Duh!" from me. From my own reading and experimentation, I've devised this schematic of the layers of a CD. Label - thinnish Top lacquer - thinish Reflective - way thin Pitted - way thin Bottom lacquer - quite thick really And don't forget - the encoding scheme on a CD is designed to compensate for error. Getting every single bit off a CD won't improve the sound one iota once you've recovered all the redundant data. Which can happen in spite of a lot of scratches. And another thing - CDs don't do a great job of reproducing sound, but they are real convenient. PS - this month's issue of Scientific American mentions that 100 years is the expected lifetime of a CD. Casually mentions. A different article also mentioned "turning screws" which should have been "tuning screws". This was obvious from the context, but I also can't think of a useful type of screw that doesn't turn. [Message edited by Beatty on 08-24-2002]
posted 08-24-2002 10:22 AM PT (US)

justin boggan Standard Userer	I think i'll go use my "opening door"
posted 08-24-2002 01:58 PM PT (US)

firefox Standard Userer	Almost every CD I've had for a long time has small scratches on it. None of those scratches has ever affected play. And I have a 12-year-old CD player! If they don't affect play, I wouldn't worry about them.
posted 08-24-2002 05:37 PM PT (US)

jeffy unregistered	Hey JEC, my repair kit was manufactured by Maxell. I think it cost $10 for approx. 50 uses.
posted 08-25-2002 05:15 PM PT (US)

JEC Standard Userer	quote: Originally posted by jeffy: Hey JEC, my repair kit was manufactured by Maxell. I think it cost $10 for approx. 50 uses. Thanks....
posted 08-26-2002 01:03 PM PT (US)

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