Experience with LCD screen scratch repair? (1 Viewer)

[Jesse Skeen]

While re-arranging my equipment rack I stupidly side-swiped my 75-inch LG TV and put a slight scratch on it. It's very slight and could have been worse, only visible on bright material and usually only if you're looking for it. I'm prepared to just live with it, but I'm still quite upset that it happened as this TV is irreplaceable. I wiped the scratch and you can feel it with your fingers.

I did some research on any kind of way to fix this and found wildly conflicting info- most discussion boards I saw this discussed on, there was no final answer as to whether it's worth trying to fix or not. A general Google search says that you can use Vaseline to smooth out scratches on TVs, but some of the sources are a bit dubious. I wouldn't want to try this and end up making it worse.

Does anyone here have first-hand experience with this and can say how it turned out? I don't want any speculation, just real answers. The most "speculation" I read was just not to do it, so I'll leave it alone unless anyone can tell me it can be successfully fixed.

The thing that is pissing me off is that I was going to test any screen repair by intentionally putting a similar scratch on my laptop screen- It turns out my laptop screen is more scratch-proof than this TV! Even trying to scrath this laptop screen similar to how the TV got scratched, it won't scratch the same way!

 

[DaveF]

Vasoline (or mineral oil) is an attempt to fill in the scratch with something with similar index of refraction as the plastic or glass, making the scratch (nearly) invisible. This is easily tried and no risk, so could be worth a try.

Polishing it out with toothpaste or car paint repair kit is risky because you’ll be creating lots of micro-abrasions in the region surrounding the scratch, and you could well make it much worse. This was all low risk back when we did this to repair scratched $15 CDs. I wouldn’t try it on an otherwise good 75” TV.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

Thanks Dave, I’ll at least lean towards the Vaseline not doing any damage but will wait for a few more responses before trying it. It appears as a thin black line in bright scenes.

Am taking a 2-week trip soon so I’m sort of hoping I won’t notice it once I return.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

I have not done anything with the TV yet, but I used scissors to make a few bad looking scratches in an LCD computer monitor as a test, as even if that does permanent damage I can either live with it or replace it easily. I made a small one that made a very bad black mark on the screen displaying white. I had Word open so that I could put a marker > right next to it in case I forgot where it was. I put some Vaseline on the scratch and rubbed it on first with a q-tip and then my finger as shown in this YouTube video that I just stumbled upon:



To my amazement, the scratch on this computer monitor is now greatly reduced! I will leave it overnight until I do my work on it tomorrow and judge the overall effect, then I may try it on the TV if the monitor at least does not show any obvious damage from my putting the Vaseline on it. It’s one thing to try it and have it be no help, but having it end up worse than before is what I’m afraid of. I’m glad I have a monitor that I can abuse like this, my TV is not expendable at all, as it’s one of the last with 3D and I simply refuse to buy another without it. If it were to be destroyed in a fire or something, my only choice for a replacement would be a projector.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

THE SCRATCH IS GONE! At least enough not to be noticeable on a white screen from the sofa. I just applied a bit of Vaseline with a Q-tip and rubbed, and it worked like magic. I can’t believe it- this post should stay as help for anyone else who has this happen to though. You don’t believe how much this puts my mind at ease. I’m telling this TV how sorry I am and that I love it!