Scratched Disc Repair

I made the mistake of tilting my xbox slightly and my VF disc got scratched to the point where it was "unreadable." I don't have a repair machine and it was too late to go buy one. It was too cold to ride the vmax to the bar and meet my buddies, my wife was out with her friends, and there were no good movies on. Basically I had to play some VF. NOW.

Google directed me to various forums with advice that did not help, so I started reading about the various repair machines. Apparently, the proper rubbing compound makes all the difference, and one guy recommended toothpaste. I figured "Eh, WTF..."

So I took some tartar control crest and a paper towel and rubbed in small circles around the disc vigorously (for like 2 whole minutes), and POOF, readable! (after some rinsing and wiping down with a cotton rag) Who needs friends and women when you have video games and the internet?! Somebody shoot me.

When I get my CD repair machine, I'm sticking with toothpaste.

 

This is funny.

The same thing happened to me back in December.

I tried all of the methods I heard and none of them worked.

I ended up getting a new copy of the game and was more careful of where my Xbox is in relation to my dog.

 

The toothpaste-method really works! But you have to get the perfect (thin) layer of the paste and let it dry as much as possible.

 

Actually I used the same principle one would with a car scratch. I used a bunch of compound, lots of rubbing, then made sure to rinse it all off. The only thing I didn't do was use wax afterward. I think the polishing properties of the toothpaste helped me out there. If I let the toothpaste dry, it would have been pretty cloudy, and scratchy to wipe away.

I read your method used for vegetable oil, but that didn't work for me. That xbox scratches deeply, I have to say. What a POS. Cheap CD and DVD players handle tilting much better. So does PS2.

I'm getting stick-on felt for the CD tray. I'll post how that works.

 

Anyway, never encountered big scratches with my PS3 so far. Why is it so a problem with the 360 ?

 

Funny you should ask. I would never ditch the 360 because I love the online VF5. The games are great; XBL is rich. That said, it's a poorly thought-out, rushed-to-market, plastic piece of shit that keeps finding new ways to fail.

 

gamestop can repair discs. Im not sure but I think they grind(not sure if thats yhe right word) all the used games that they have

 

Yeah I hear they get it to near perfect condition for a few bucks.

 

Same shit happened to me.My Xbox drop while i was whuping somebody ass and it still worked. I cut it off then it would never work again cause it had the rings of saturn around the outside. After that my friend brought a cd repair machine i used it and BAM!!! its working again.

 

I have the same promblem(cheap Xbox 360).



To overfiend do you mind telling me what disc repair kit you got?

 

Guess I'm not the only one either. I've already gone through two VF5 discs.

Best,

-Jason

 

The best way to repair scratches in my experience is polishing the disc with brasso using a microfiber cloth. Just be sure you follow the proper technique, polishing only from outside to inside and never left to right, and doing it firmly, but not putting so much pressure on the disc that it cracks (it helps a lot to hold the disc in your hands and put pressure on the point you are polishing by keeping it between your thumb and index finger). It can take as much as an hour depending on the severity of the scratching and how large of an area it covers, but the success rate is nigh on 100%, as long as the label side of the disc is undamaged, which nothing can fix.

I wasn't aware gamestop offered a disc polishing service though. I may have to check that out sometime, although I have some misgivings about their polishing process possibly taking off too much of the surface and putting the disc at risk for cracking.

 

How deep or how large has the scratch to be that the disc is unreadable? I have many scratches on my PS2 discs and there is no problem.

 

I can't remeber the name sorry. All i know is that its purple machine and the CD goes in a slot on the side and it gets sandpapered down to form a light spectrum evening out the layers. You can find it in most game stores for about 50 or 60 bucks IIRC.

 

After reading all this info, after I get my XBOX360 it will always be in horizontal position. Also no problem with scratching the disc while entering it, since is very likely that VF5 will be the only game that I get for XBOX360.


Heta Akira

 

Don't ever move the 360 while there is a game inside. Even a few inches seems to be enough to scratch your game.

And I'd be weary of those cheap scratch fixing devices (Dr. something?). I tried one out and it wound up destroying the entire disc although it worked with another game I had. Maybe it had some dirt inside or something?

 

It's just a matter of whatever causes the laser to bounce in the wrong direction. Scratches going left to right have a better chance of causing it, and when the XBox scratches CDs that's how it does it. (picture holding a knife to the disc while it spins...)

Anything deep enough to go past the coating into the reflective surface permanently ruins the disc. Surface scratches can usually be polished out.