Argh! I scratched my MFD

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by skoosh, Apr 4, 2006.

  1. skoosh

    skoosh New Member

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    I stupidly scratched my MFD and I feel ill every time I look at it. My wife tells me it isn't too bad but she's just trying to make me fee better! I see you can get screen protectors but I doubt they will hide this scratch. Does anyone know - can the front of the screen be easily and cheaply replaced without having to replace the whole thing or is it, as I suspect, like computer monitors where you're stuck with any scratch? :(
     
  2. konakahuna

    konakahuna Junior Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(skoosh @ Apr 4 2006, 06:07 PM) [snapback]234956[/snapback]</div>

    as someone who has also accidentally scratched the MFD, let me be the first to say...we're screwed. the only option is to replace the unit and that costs LOTS of money. as far as i know, there isn't any way to polish or fill in a MFD scratch.


    it really sucks.

    : (


    d
     
  3. kaptaink

    kaptaink Junior Member

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    My heart goes out to you . . . . I never thought of this happening. I thank you for warning all of us others of the potential of a scratched MFD . . . what might be worse is if one of my kids or wife had done the damage.

    You might want to try one of the screen protectors. I bought a satelite radio recently on Ebay and it had several scratches on the screen (although they were not deep). I cut a screen saver from my palm pilot to fit the screen and it brought new life to the screen and protects it from further scratching. Let us know the results.

    Here is a site to order.

    http://www.nushield.com/products_car_displays_toyota.htm

    Good luck!
     
  4. darelldd

    darelldd Prius is our Gas Guzzler

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(kaptaink @ Apr 4 2006, 05:23 PM) [snapback]234983[/snapback]</div>
    Looks like $13 plus shipping for one for the Prius. I hesitate to order when they say it will "provide increased contrast and vibrant colors" - how could that possibly be? I'm not a big fan of slick marketing!
     
  5. john1701a

    john1701a Prius Guru

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    How did you scratch it?
     
  6. skoosh

    skoosh New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(john1701a @ Apr 4 2006, 11:54 PM) [snapback]235052[/snapback]</div>
    Thanks for the info, guys. Looks like there isn't much I can do...The guy I bought the car from gave me a duster with the car - a brush really - and I was using it to get a fingerprint mark off the screen not realising that it had a wire in the middle holding all the hairs of the brush together. Unfortunatley, the scratch is not only visible but you can feel it. Now I'll have to live with it....
     
  7. unruhly

    unruhly New Member

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    Sorry to hear about the scratch. But there is good news. You can buff it out if it's not too deep, or at least smoothe it out then cover it with a screen protector. I bought mine from navprotector.com. I highly recommend them and yes Darelldd, they do actually work the way they say.

    If you have a variable speed Dremel tool, buy a new cloth buffing wheel and some jewelers rouge. (Dico WR1 is for plastic and is pure white.) With the tool running as slow as you can get it, touch the rouge to the wheel for one second, then lightly and slowly move the wheel along the scratch running in the same direction for no more than 2 seconds. You don't want any heat to build up. Using a well soaked lint free cloth, wipe the area and repeat the process.


    Clean the entire screen and install the protector. The worst part in placing the screen protector is dust, so make sure you sit still in the car for a few minutes with the windows up before placing it.

    Good Luck.
     
  8. keydiver

    keydiver New Member

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    Someone else said that it won't polish out, but I would still give this a try:
    Janvil
    I bought a car with bad scratches on the instrument cluster, and this product seemed to have the most convincing testimonials. I bought a kit off eBay, and the light-duty stuff, with LOTS of elbow grease, did the job perfectly. You could never tell the screen was ever scratched! :) I'm a believer!
    It would probably work best to actually remove the MFD from the dash, so you can really work on it properly. As I said, it takes alot of time, but its well worth it.
     
  9. darelldd

    darelldd Prius is our Gas Guzzler

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    Ouch! One hint - you can't remove fingerprints with a brush! Get yourself a high-quality glass-specific microfiber towel, and you'll be much happier!
     
  10. aaf709

    aaf709 Ravenpaw of ThunderClan

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darelldd @ Apr 4 2006, 05:59 PM) [snapback]234993[/snapback]</div>
    I had a screen protector for a day and removed it. A couple of reasons...one was that if I wore polarized sunglasses I did get "vibrant colors" in the form of a rainbow whenever I looked at the screen. The other reason was that I simply wasn't able to install it to my satisfaction. There was either an air bubble or a bit of dirt that meant pulling it off yet again and re-installing it. Now, other people are probably better adept at installing it so it's still a good thing to have. I just try to be carefully when touching (I'm the only one who touches the MFD) or cleaning it (I use the cleaning solution and cloth I got for my LCD computer monitor).

    That is a bummer, though. :( The cheapest I've heard a re-conditioned MFD would cost is $400.
     
  11. darelldd

    darelldd Prius is our Gas Guzzler

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(unruhly @ Apr 5 2006, 05:44 AM) [snapback]235203[/snapback]</div>
    That's good to hear - and I'd sure like to believe it. I'd just need somebody to explain how a filter (anything you must see through will filter something) can enhance contrast and colors. Is it polarized? If the claims are true, we should be putting them on our cameras, our monitors, our TVs etc. The one thing I can imagine is that the anti-glare properties reduce the wash-out in both colors and contrast. THAT makes sense. And if that's what's happening, then we're good to go. Well, I'm hoping for the best. I purhcased one as well, from elsewhere.

    Has anybody ever seen (or done their own) picture where only half the screen is covered so you can actually SEE the difference? IF it is making such a great improvement, you'd think that would be an easy way to sell the stuff!
     
  12. jbarnhart

    jbarnhart New Member

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    According to the Janvil website:

    This will prevent you from using this polish system to restore an LCD screen. The LCD screen surface is textured to provide that anti-glare property. You can't polish this surface without leaving a very shiny patch where you applied the polish.
     
  13. FJRCRAZED

    FJRCRAZED New Member

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