I throw myself on the mercy of this forum. I have just noticed that I have a rather ugly scratch on the speedometer lens cover of my MCS. Since I am not in the habit of touching the thing I have my suspicions that it happened when my dealer was installing the rear-fog light kit last week. Of course I can't prove this.

Anyway, the dealer tells me you cannot replace just the lens. You have to replace the entire speedometer assembly / computer - a $500+ part, not including labor.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to most effectively remove this scratch?

Thanking you in advance, I remain

EPI

 

I'm in a similar situation, except it's the actual rear hatch glass... somehow (someone?) put a 12" long scratch across the top of the rear hatch glass...it's kinda wavey, too, not a perfectly straight line. It's deep scratch, too-- enough to feel it with your fingertip/fingernail. I dunno how it got there...but wish I could remove it somehow. Then last night i was watching TV and a commercial (infomercial) came on about a product that removes scratches from glass eyeglasses and plastic sunglasses....you just wipe it across the scratch, it's like a q-tip with some sorta solution on it that "fills in" the scratches and dries perfectly clear... but I'll be damned if I didn't remember the name of the product! You could do a google search for "scratch removal" or "plastic scratch removal" or similar and see what you get...or even call a jeweler or optician and ask if they can recommend a scratch removal product for plastic lenses (although they'll probably tell you it's better to replace than repair...but in your case, repair may be the economical option!) it can't hurt, and definitely costs less than $500.00!

-MB

 

I saw that commercial too last week!

Also, stop by your local automotive store. I have never tried them, but i hear there are plastic polishes that can be used on headlights and stuff. Maybe that will work?

 

That stinks. I wonder if you went to a glass company or mirror company if it could be polished out ? Good luck and let us know.

 

Some owners of plastic / hesalite faced watches use this to buff out scratches:

Polywatch

 

If the scratch is'nt too deep on the plastic....a dampened cloth with a little white toothpaste will buff out scratchs and Flitz metal polish will polish it it up nicley...this also works great on your music CD's too!...not sure if this will work on glass though.

 

Try Meguiar's new Scratch-X. I had some scratches on the steering wheel logo and this removed all of them. It's intended for clear plastics.

Jason

 

As Jason said, Meguiar works great on the steering wheel logo, but only for light scratches. If it's deeper, there're ways to buff it out. I buff/polish the watch lenses all the time. :smile:

 

Plexus is an excellent product. It is a plastic polish used a lot in the aviation industry.

See ya,
JS

 

That stuff on tv is called Liquid Lense

 

I know that people who build model cars and get stratches on the clear plastic windshields will wet sand the affected area with progressively finer grits of wet/dry sandpaper, then polish the renewed surface with plastic polish to bring back the clarity. Don't know if I'd recommend this for the speedo, though. I'd try just the polish or toothpaste methods.

 

Novus plastic polish, there are 3 types. Someone in the vending industry that know used to use ot to remove scratches out of the plastic on arcade machines.

 

PlasticX is another option. You can buy it at the local AutoZone too.

http://www.meguiars.com/?clear-plast...Cleaner-Polish

I bought it for the head lights of my Hyundai. Only thing this type of stuff is you should probably remove the lens from the car and set it on something that won't scratch it in order prevent the residue from getting into every little crack and crevasse ...unless you used a lot of painter's tape to cover the cracks and what not. This kind of thing could be a nightmare to clean up if used inside the car.

Another option might be to find one off a salvaged MINI. ...not sure how common those are though.

 

If only this thread wasn't three years old ...

 

HAHAHAHA!!! How did I miss that? I hope the guy got his lens taken care though.