Armour All fixed scratched CD

gmorris

I took one of my old Led Zeppelin CD's that was scratched, and "cleaned" the data side with Armour All.

This CD had a few spots that would skip. There were also some spots that were so bad, the player would get stuck on them, and would not continue playing. It would not shut off, it just got stuck.

The Armour All treatment worked 100%!! I was rather excited because I had "fixed" a previously unplayable CD. There was a slight change in sound where the skip had been, but it continued to play.

Has anyone else tried this?

Does anyone see or know of any reasons why this is a bad idea, i.e. can it damage the player?

Thoughts please....

HBombToo

when my daughter gets a gold of a cd and thrashes it I have found that soft scrub works very well to remove the abrasions.

HBomb

Jstas

The Armor All protect filled in the scratches. Your rubbing leveled off the surface or the CD and made the Armor All flush with the surface of the data side. That improved the quality of the reflected beam because the Armor All fixed the diffraction problem caused by the irregular surface of the scratch. If the CD's sensor cannot gather enough of the reflected laser beam, it will skip or stop playing because it lost the track of information. The bigger the skip, the less likely the CD player will be able to recover.

jdhdiggs

I can't decide if the thread is a joke or not...

PolkThug

Originally posted by jdhdiggs
I can't decide if the thread is a joke or not...

My elbow was really sore, so I soaked it in some Armor All, and now I'm just like new!

gmorris

No, this is not a joke....

I was simply telling of my experience with using Armour All to fix up a scratched CD. Not much funny about that.

I still would like opinions if this is a good or bad idea. It obviously does work, but are there any harmful side effects?

faster100

possibly getting the armor all on the cd lens/eye what ever is in there, who knows..

gidrah

The "Armor All Teak" has been around for years. Not just to repair, but to improve. I've never tried it, but someday if I can find 2 indetical CDs and do an A/B.

Jstas

That is really the only problem I can think of with CD's. The Armor All, if you use too much, can get all over the inside of the CD player and gums things up and reduce performance. It's not going to hurt the CD plastic, not many chemicals that you would use to clean stuff will hurt the plastic. Just take care not to use to much when using it.

An alternative is to use one of those Disc Doctors. They work well but they work through abrasion. So you don't want to have to use them too many times so take care of your media.

HBombToo

Originally posted by Jstas


An alternative is to use one of those Disc Doctors. They work well but they work through abrasion. So you don't want to have to use them too many times so take care of your media.

I only use my disc doctor on very severe scratches.

Hmmmmmmm, I'm thinking some wax might help here also:D

HBomb

gmorris

Originally posted by HBombToo
Hmmmmmmm, I'm thinking some wax might help here also:D

HBomb

Not a bad idea. I'm thinking Meguirars Gold Class car wax. Maybe I'll give it a try.

Another trick I read about was applying green ink to the inner & outer edges of the CD. The proposed reason this works is that the green ink absorbs any difracted red laser light (since green & red are complimentary colors).

I've tried this now at home, with 10 or so CD's. I'm going to say that it works, and it works very well. So well, in fact, that I recommend anyone try it.

I simply swiped a green Sharpie from the supply room at work, and that's all the supplies you need. All you do is apply the ink to the outer edge, and the inner edge of the hole. That's it.

I am happy to report that this, in my system anyway, tames the harshness in the treble that is evident in many older recordings. It also has added much width & depth to the soundstage. These two areas are the most notable to me.

Now, I'm sure someone out there is going to post saying that this is hogwash, that green ink on the edges will do nothing, and I'm full of poopy or whatever substance you like. All I have to say to them is: TRY IT. I thought it was B.S. when I first read it, so I went home & tried it for myself. Low and behold, it works like a champ.

HBombToo

I read about that in the past and I see the logic in it.

Green or Black should work equally the same, correct?

HBomb

gmorris

Originally posted by HBombToo
I read about that in the past and I see the logic in it.

Green or Black should work equally the same, correct?

HBomb

From the explanation in the article I read, only green will work due to the fact green is the complimentary color to red (the color of the laser) and will absorb the red laser light.

http://www.soundstage.com/weaver04.htm

http://www.soundstage.com/weaver06.htm

HBombToo

Since black absorbs all color(thats why its black) then my point was it should also work?

HBomb

gmorris

HBombToo,

I don't know. One thing I will say, when you apply the green Sharpie to the plastic, you can still see thru the plastic, it is just green now. Follow?

I think if it were solid black, then perhaps there will be differences. I'm not sure. It is worth a try.


The article also says that this trick will work better with lower quality CD players. I, as luck would have it, am a lower quality kind of guy. I'm standing by this trick and proclaiming it one of the best no cost improvements I've ever seen.

Give it a try.

Airplay355

i thought it was a joke too....armour all has been coming up alot lately lol

HBombToo

I'll do it tonight.

HBomb

goingganzo

i will have to say i dont even use that stuff on my car i use mothers leather cleaner and other mothers products

PolkThug

Originally posted by gmorris
Another trick I read about was applying green ink to the inner & outer edges of the CD. The proposed reason this works is that the green ink absorbs any difracted red laser light (since green & red are complimentary colors).

I'm calling BS on this one. See below.

http://www.snopes2.com/music/media/marker.htm

Regards,
PolkThug

gmorris

Originally posted by PolkThug
I'm calling BS on this one. See below.

http://www.snopes2.com/music/media/marker.htm

Regards,
PolkThug

Very good article. Very scientific sounding reasons why this doesn't work.

All I have to say is: TRY IT. Try it for yourself. If, after you try it, and you still don't think it works, then call BS.

I was just like you before I tried it, I didn't believe it either. Then I got a green Sharpie, took 2 minutes and colored the edges of a CD, and played it. I quickly changed my mind, it does improve the sound. In my system, I noticed a less harsh sounding treble, as well as a wider soundstage.

Just try it out for Pete's sake.