Being a tightwad, I quite often but 2nd hand CDs. However, my parsimony is often misplaced, as inevitably they jump or freeze during the best song.

Has anybody any home remedies for this problem? I know that there are commercial operations that fix CDs for you but I am thinking of something cheaper.

Something I have noticed- if I clean a CD with a soft cloth and some washing up liquid, it quite often helps for a bit, but after a while it starts skipping in the same place. Any idea why?

I don't if there's any truth in this because I've never tried it myself but if you decide to try it out, perhaps you should first try it on a DVD/CD that doesn't matter to you. Anyway I've read on a couple of different forums that rubbing in tooth paste on minor scratches can help. Apparently you really have to rub it in for a long time. If you have any luck with this method would you let us know?

Another less likely thing I read was to put a CD/DVD "face-up" in a freezer for 15 minutes. I have no idea which way is supposed to be face-up or if this is even a real solution.

I think there might be a similar thread somewhere else in "the lounge" on these boards!

There is. :)

Can`t get the link to w**k, for some reason.

It`s in the Lounge, page 2, of the Topics.

http://s7.invisionfree.com/Cult_TV_Boards/...?showtopic=2924




Nope it was on page6 or 7 :)

Click Here

There`s also this thread which has advice on repairing DVDs. :)

This is the page 2 one. :)

I bought this thing from Asda a month or two ago called Skip Dr for about £25 quid. It grinds off the top layer of plastic of the CD/DVD, leaving it nice and smooth. It sorted out my GTA San andreas disc, which was totally screwed before I used that. It seems quite expensive, but it was worth it cos otherwise I woud have had to buy a new copy of the game. :thumbsup:

Grinding out the scratch is probably the only permanent solution, though there are temporary 'home remedies' which can be employed too. Basically, as long as the scratch isn't deep enough to damage the polymer carrying the data, it can be fixed. Most temporary fixes involve filling the scratch with a substance which is transparent to laser light. That stops the scratch from refracting the laser light, thus causing the drive to read the wrong bit of data (or not read it at all if the refraction is bad enough to cause the reflected laser light to miss the detector).

To answer the original question, the detergent will fill in the scratch for a while and 'fix' the disc, but after a while the detergent will dissipate and the effects of the scratch will return.

I wouldn't think putting a disc in the freezer would do anything except make the problem worse. If any water managed to condense and then freeze in the scratch, it would expand as it froze and make the scratch bigger.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions- these are exactly the type of miserly solutions I was hoping for.

Star fury,thanks for the toothpaste thing, I will probably try that and report back, just out of interest. I was just about to head off to the freezer with a stack of Cd's before I read Cardelia's warning, so thanks for that, I wouldn't have tried it with anything irrplaceable though. I'd get the Skip Dr for that.

I'm off to read the other thread. I did vaguely remember reading something along these lines before- it must have been here.

Incidently I asked the same question at the same time on the Radio 2 boards- the answers I got here were a lot better- a pat on the back to the cult tv boards. :thumbsup:

Is someone cheating on us with another board ? :o :lmao:

Well, I thought R2 being a music board it might be the place... turned out not to be.


I tried the toothpaste thing. It improved the Cd from a total stop dur dur dur dur type sticking to a scratch the Cd player could w**k its way out of with a bit of skipping. I may return and do a bit more scrubbing.

It goes against my instincts though, rubbing an abrasive in to a CD. I think because I just about remember vinyl- it fells like taking some sand paper to a LP.