Gorilla glass scratch repair

[hawc1506]

FYI, I thought this would be a good reference for people who have scratched screens. Original thread here. Has anyone found a better way to mitigate scratches?

So my phone fell out of my pocket, screen directly landed on a rock on the ground. There was a nice scrape right in the dead center of the screen.

I found a product called 3M "Perfect-It III Trizact Machine Glaze", or otherwise known as "3M 06070". It is an aluminum silicate based polishing compound for removing swirlies from extremely high-gloss automotive finishes. The stuff is approximately $65 for a quart size from NAPA auto parts. For those who aren't aware, Gorilla Glass itself is an alkali-aluminosilicate, so this particular polishing compound is chemically compatible with the material the screen is made out of.
**Apparently Rezound is NOT Gorilla Glass (confirmed by Corning & HTC) but must have a very similar composition**

It works absolutely beautifully. I started by applying it with a polishing cloth and rubbing by hand, but I switched over to a polishing cloth Dremel tip in my cordless drill at low speed. Approximately 45 seconds worth of polishing the screen with the drill and scrape is hardly noticeable now. With a little more careful work, I believe it will be completely gone!

Unfortunately its expensive. $65/quart is really not that bad though, when you consider that most polishing compounds that are sold specifically for glass screen repair cost as much as $30 for 8 ounces, and in my experience are less effective than 3M 06070.

I hope this helps anybody with a damaged glass on the screen. Best bet is to just get a screen protector. Not having one is a potentially expensive mistake..

**NOTE**
While this does work on the Rezound, I would NOT attempt this on any other glass screen unless you can verify that it is real Gorilla Glass or some other aluminosilicate glass.


Alternately, if you prefer to simply replace the entire glass/digitizer portion of the phone, I have found one available online (for cheaper than this polishing compound too!) here at this site: http://www.gogotoshop.com/product_info.php?language=en&currency=USD&products_id=4896

 

[voluptuary]

will this damage the oleophobic coating on the display?

 

[hawc1506]

will this damage the oleophobic coating on the display?

I've never tried this. But now I'm wondering the little scratch on my display is on the coating itself and not the glass...

Any way to repair the oleophobic coating?

 

[iphonepimp]

Kills the oleophobic coating. i have a dull spot on my screen now...

 

[hawc1506]

Kills the oleophobic coating. i have a dull spot on my screen now...

If you applied it to the entire screen, would it even out the texture, even though it will "dull" out the entire screen? And how effective is it at removing scratches?

 

[whitealien]

Like voluptuary said Lumia have that 3 layer anti-glare and anti-smudge coating on top of gorilla glass. Lumia's screen scratch resistance is really very poor because of this. In general it is very resistant, but sightless press with sharp edge will leave a noticeable mark.

As far as I know there are no cheap solutions. If scratch is really huge and annoying consider replacing the whole screen.

I managed to scratch my Nokia in 1st day of use by simply putting in pocket with keys. Never happened to my other phones (HTC Hero and Polaris).

I tried jewelers polish powder, aka cerium oxide. It worked pretty well for very light scratches, but deep ones are still visible. I used electrical drill and polish for about 1hr at 1000rpm speed. Just watch to not to overheat screen or it will break.

As a finishing polish I used Displex. All it does is applies protecting coating and removes all left over marks from cerium oxide. It's poor mans choice, don't expect miracles.

Also any kind screen polishing will reduce effectiveness or even damage that anti-smudge effect. So be warned.

 

[Tobias Claren]

Hi ist this actually the best glass polish?
Is this 3M "Perfect-It III Trizact "50077" or "06070" from 3M?
But there is also "3M Glass Polishing Compound" with the type number "60150".