Polish my nav screen?

Jackalope · 06-13-09, 06:23 PM

Has anyone ever tried to polish their navigation screen in order to get the smudges off? I don't mean CLEAN the screen, I mean polish..some sort of abrasive. Mine has all sorts of smudges that it doesn't appear any sort of cleaning will remove. I've heard that they have some sort of coating on the screen and if that's true, I believe that whoever had it before me wiped that coating out through repeatedly touching the same places.

Does anyone have any idea how to restore the screen?

TooCoolSC · 06-14-09, 12:01 AM

Go to an electronics store and buy the spray cleaner you're supposed to use on LCD and plasma TV's. It's alcohol-free and specifically designed for the new displays/monitors. Spray a little on the lint free cloth it comes with and then wipe the fingerprints away on your navi screen. I used it on mine and it worked well.

After cleaning, I put one of those plastic screen protectors on and I was surprised by how well it worked. They are cheap so I got two. It really does protect the screen and takes care of the annoying fingerprint problem.

The only thing is....you have to work with it over a couple of days to get all the bubbles out. When you first put it on, it doesn't look so great and you might second guess yourself for buying it. But eventually, you'll rub all the bubbles out and you can hardly see it. Rub all the way from top to bottom (or side to side) to get the air bubbles out. I think mine seemed to come out best when the screen was warm.

After you get it like you want it, leave it alone and don't take it off anymore. You can never see it at night. I only notice mine now when I'm in certain direct sunlight, but it doesn't bother me.

Here's the link for the screen protector....

http://www.sewellpartsonline.com/par...id=90142&all=Y

Jackalope · 06-14-09, 12:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TooCoolSC

Go to an electronics store and buy the spray cleaner you're supposed to use on LCD and plasma TV's. It's alcohol-free and specifically designed for the new displays/monitors. Spray a little on the lint free cloth it comes with and then wipe the fingerprints away on your navi screen. I used it on mine and it worked well.

After cleaning, I put one of those plastic screen protectors on and I was surprised by how well it worked. They are cheap so I got two. It really does protect the screen and takes care of the annoying fingerprint problem.

The only thing is....you have to work with it over a couple of days to get all the bubbles out. When you first put it on, it doesn't look so great and you might second guess yourself for buying it. But eventually, you'll rub all the bubbles out and you can hardly see it. Rub all the way from top to bottom (or side to side) to get the air bubbles out. I think mine seemed to come out best when the screen was warm.

After you get it like you want it, leave it alone and don't take it off anymore. You can never see it at night. I only notice mine now when I'm in certain direct sunlight, but it doesn't bother me.

Here's the link for the screen protector....

http://www.sewellpartsonline.com/par...id=90142&all=Y

I don't think this is a matter of cleaning. No amount of rubbing with anything has made the slightest change in the smudges on the screen. As I said, I think there's some sort of coating that may have been rubbed off the screen.

TooCoolSC · 06-14-09, 12:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jackalope

I don't think this is a matter of cleaning. No amount of rubbing with anything has made the slightest change in the smudges on the screen. As I said, I think there's some sort of coating that may have been rubbed off the screen.

Hmm....the only thing I would know to do then is try one of the plastic film protectors to see if it will help the smudges and give the overall screen a more uniform appearance.

dbcolli · 06-14-09, 06:46 AM

I have the same problem with my screen, tried to clean the smudges with no luck and I tried the film protectors and the results are worse than the smudges. So I just live with it.

tromly · 06-14-09, 08:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbcolli

I have the same problem with my screen, tried to clean the smudges with no luck and I tried the film protectors and the results are worse than the smudges. So I just live with it.

Sounds like a great product could be marketed if some genius could come up with a solution, since so many nav screens share this same problem. I've noticed kids in the front seat of their parents cars with their little hands on all the bells and whistles!

intdiamond · 06-14-09, 10:47 AM

Go to an eyeglass store and buy a bottle of plastic-lens scratch remover. I never used it on my nav-screen but on my sunglasses it does remove small scratches... but not large ones. I'm sure it can't hurt the screen... worth a try.

Jackalope · 06-14-09, 11:28 AM

That's not a bad idea and I might give it a whirl in a corner just to see what it does, but I really think it's a case of the coating being rubbed off.

Is there anyone here really knowledgeable about these nav screens? DOES it have an anti-glare coating?

Roofless · 06-14-09, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jackalope

Is there anyone here really knowledgeable about these nav screens? DOES it have an anti-glare coating?

Supposedly. (I don't think it's mentioned in the manual.) We all kind of assumed it had a coating, due to the purple tint. And there were warnings by members here not to use alcohol, but some of us did anyway, cuz how else are you going to break down the oils transferred by your fingertips?

Personally, I've found Klear Screen (for laptop and stand-alone LCD's) to have the right kind of cleaning power with just a touch of polishing. (I also keep an old Palm stylus in my center console for heavy Nav use - saves on fingerprints.)

Like intdiamond said, for your current problem, a good scratch remover and polish might be a good place to start. Novus has a three-step scratch and polish procedure, which I've used on my eyeglasses. Might be worth a try.

http://www.bestplasticcleaner.com

Harold57 · 06-29-09, 12:13 PM

So has anyone tried the scratch remover and polish on the wear marks on their screen? I suspect that since the screen are coated, the wear marks will just increase in size after using a scratch remover.

Also, has anyone tried placing the screen protector on a screen with the wear marks and if so, do the wear marks disappear after the application?

Also #2, what promotion code do we use to get the forum discount with Sewell Lexus?

Jackalope · 07-03-09, 05:33 AM

Update: Yes, I ordered the film protector and tried it. POS. It's like really shiny plastic. The glare coming off it makes the screen nearly unusable. Save your money.

I did however try the eyeglass cleaner route and while it didn't remove the high usage areas like the damn little "I agree" on the bottom right, after a lot of work it got rid of most of the rest.

Course, two days later they were all back again <sigh>

mhoepfin · 07-03-09, 09:15 AM

This doesn't help much, but I keep the NAV door closed unless I need it. So, 95% of the time I don't even see the screen because it is covered, so the smudges don't even get a chance to bother me

tromly · 07-04-09, 06:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mhoepfin

This doesn't help much, but I keep the NAV door closed unless I need it. So, 95% of the time I don't even see the screen because it is covered, so the smudges don't even get a chance to bother me

I agree, common sense tells me to keep the door closed unless I need the NAV, I hate seeing the screen when I drive and the cockpit looks better with the door closed.

Harold57 · 07-25-09, 10:24 AM

I installed this one and it looks good in the garage. We will see later today how it looks in the sun with glare. Website sells it for $12.50. (I bought mine on ebay.)
http://www.screenpatronus.com/screen...or-indash.html
Most of the wear marks are diminished, at least in the garage...
Update to come later this weekend.

Harold57 · 07-26-09, 11:50 AM

Almost all of the wear marks were no longer noticeable with the new screen protector on. The protector does seem to add a bit of a haze or something to the screen but glare doesn't seem to be bad, though I didn't really have much of a chance to check. Overall, I like the improvement.