Fix my cellphone's screen scratches?

November 2, 2005 9:59 AM

Apparently the fabric in my pants pockets was enough to scuff and scratch the living hell out of the screen on my cellphone (a Nokia 6682). This implies to me that the plastic is very, very soft. Is it safe to try using Brasso on it to try to rub it clear again? If so, what kind of cloth would you recommend? Does anybody know any alternatives? It's the kind of scuffing that renders at least half of the screen fuzzy, and the phone's less than three months old, so this really needs to be fixed...
posted by logovisual to Technology (8 answers total)

I don't know about cell phones, but TAP Plastic has stuff for polishing plastics. (I use it to polish my CDs when they're too scratched to play.)
posted by small_ruminant at 10:02 AM on November 2, 2005

If you got insurance with your cell phone, try filiing a claim and getting it replaced.
posted by slogger at 10:21 AM on November 2, 2005

Buy a new faceplate on eBay
posted by reverendX at 10:44 AM on November 2, 2005

If brasso is gentle enough for an iPod Nano, which apparently is pretty delicate, (blogged here), I'd imagine it would be ok for your cell phone screen. (I guess maybe I would just test it out on the back of the phone or maybe a small corner of the screen first?) Worst case you could just follow reverendX's advice...
posted by jerryg99 at 11:25 AM on November 2, 2005

Work at an Apple store. People swear by Ice Cream to take scratches out of iPods.
posted by idiotfactory at 11:43 AM on November 2, 2005

Your local auto-parts store sells plastic polish and cleaner. Works fine on iPods too.
posted by phearlez at 2:14 PM on November 2, 2005

I'd give the Novus (from ruminant's TAP link) a try before anything else. They've got three different levels of abrasiveness (3 = lots, 1 = none), so you can work your way down.

I can at least attest to it's quality for polishing pinball playfields.
posted by cosmonaught at 4:03 PM on November 2, 2005

I have had superb luck with Brasso metal polish. It's a light abrasive, rub it onto your plastic with a fluffy cloth for a while (a long while, this is gentile stuff) and it should put the shine back on wonderfully.

I've used this to take even mean ass scratches out of the front of my iPod, over and over again.
posted by shanevsevil at 5:54 PM on November 2, 2005