What is the best product for dealing with CD scratches?

Answer 1

There are a handful of commercial cleaning options on the market, but we've found some home remedies work just as well, if not better. If you're too cheap to spend the bread on a commercial solution, find an alternative around your house.

Baking soda toothpaste
Actually, any mild abrasive like furniture polish, Pledge, or plastic polish works fine for removing CD scratches. Just take any lint-free cloth, add some of the abrasive to the afflicted area, and then wipe. Make sure to wipe from the center of the disc to the rim in a straight line. Never wipe in a circular pattern.

This only works on minor scratches,but it does help to stop CDs with light to moderate scratches from skipping.

Finally, use baking soda toothpaste with as few additives as possible. Some of the gel-based baking soda toothpastes tend to leave a sticky film on the CD, which requires a bit of effort to remove.

Car Wax
Unlike polishes, waxes fill in the cracks or scratches. Just pour or rub the wax on a scratched area and wipe it off with a lint-free cloth from the center to the rim.

If you don't have access to car wax, you can try furniture wax like Pledge instead.

It might be too late

There's always a chance that you may not be able to salvage your precious CDs.

Really bad scratches circle around the disc. A scratch from the center to the rim isn't as bad. A CD player can miss a beat and you won't notice it, but if the scratch follows the track pattern of a CD you'll notice a lot more skipping.
The worst place to scratch a CD isn't on the bottom but the top. Why? Because the label side contains the reflective material required to bounce the laser back to the CD player's pick-up head. It's also close to where the pits and bumps that make up the data track on a CD are stored. Scratch that and you'll most likely never play the disc again.

Answer 2

There are a handful of commercial cleaning options on the market, but we've found some home remedies work just as well, if not better. If you're too cheap to spend the bread on a commercial solution, find an alternative around your house.
Baking soda toothpaste
Actually, any mild abrasive like furniture polish, Pledge, or plastic polish works fine for removing CD scratches. Just take any lint-free cloth, add some of the abrasive to the afflicted area, and then wipe. Make sure to wipe from the center of the disc to the rim in a straight line. Never wipe in a circular pattern.
This only works on minor scratches,but it does help to stop CDs with light to moderate scratches from skipping.
Finally, use baking soda toothpaste with as few additives as possible. Some of the gel-based baking soda toothpastes tend to leave a sticky film on the CD, which requires a bit of effort to remove.
Car Wax
Unlike polishes, waxes fill in the cracks or scratches. Just pour or rub the wax on a scratched area and wipe it off with a lint-free cloth from the center to the rim.
If you don't have access to car wax, you can try furniture wax like Pledge instead.
It might be too late
There's always a chance that you may not be able to salvage your precious CDs.
Really bad scratches circle around the disc. A scratch from the center to the rim isn't as bad. A CD player can miss a beat and you won't notice it, but if the scratch follows the track pattern of a CD you'll notice a lot more skipping.
The worst place to scratch a CD isn't on the bottom but the top. Why? Because the label side contains the reflective material required to bounce the laser back to the CD player's pick-up head. It's also close to where the pits and bumps that make up the data track on a CD are stored. Scratch that and you'll most likely never play the disc again.

Answer 3

i've tried many products, and to be honest i've gotten the best results with taking unscented bar soap, rubbing it on my CD, and then wiping the soap off in circular motions.(with of course a tissue or cloth that won't cause more scratches.) the soap fills in the scratches, thus creating no more skipping!=)

Answer 4

first of all, NEVER clean a cd in a circulaur motion!! it ruins it even more!! rtrust me!! all of my teachers have said it and i got a dvd claner kit and it said so too!! wipe from the center to the outside.... try a bunch of products!!! but toothpast works well!!

Answer 5

jus get a cd lens cleaner !

Answer 6

Get a Skip docter they work good