Brasso de iPod

[Zauber]

It's only a quarter of the price of a popular iPod cleaner/scratch remover..... Well, $4.47 CDN at the shop on the corner of our street.

I just purchased a shiny new 20 gigabyte 4G iPod. :love: It's fantastically wonderful, and even smaller than the 3G pods by a fair margin. What really sold me (beyond the fact that my music collection has finally passed 10 gigs and I needed room to grow) was the new ClickWheel interface, as previously found on the iPod mini.

I found the ClickWheel to be superior to the horrible 3G iPod button design, and even better than the 1G/2G buttons.

So now that I have 2 iPods, I'm sure I don't need one of them, so I'm trying to find a new home for my old 2G 10gig unit.

Which finally brings me to Brasso. I'd read elsewhere on the interweb that Brasso was a great, cheap alternative to the $30 specialty iPod cleansers. So I picked up some at the local grocery store, and grabbed an old washcloth, and went to town.

Not 10 minutes later I was amazed at the results. I started on the back of the iPod, which was previously a marred collection of scratches and grime, from its trip around the world. I removed the Air India and SuperDuck stickers, and applied a dab of Brasso to my old cloth. I rubbed fairly firmly in a circular motion until my arm got a little sore.

Quite to my amazement, I can now see myself in the mirror finish on the back of the pod. I can still see tiny little scratch marks if I look close enough, but the larger scratches, and the murky finish are gone. It feels NEW again.

There's no way I'd have this luck on the front, would I? Who're we kidding, this is BRASSO - legend of song and websites! After only 5 minutes of light rubbing, the front looks a LOT better. I can compare the top screen area to the bottom corners around the wheel and there is a BIG difference in finish. Smaller scratches are gone, and a sizeable gouge has been reduced to a small nick. I'm hoping that actually following instructions, lettting the Brasso work in and then removing it (like car wax) will work even better. Especially when I put a bit of elbow grease into it.

:roll:

I'll see if I can post photos of the results.

[Edited on 11-20-2004 by Zauber]

[jsaure]

$250 for a 10GB 2G? You'd be lucky to get $80 on ebay for that.

[Adel]

Originally posted by Zauber
Which finally brings me to Brasso. I'd read elsewhere on the interweb that Brasso was a great, cheap alternative to the $30 specialty iPod cleansers. So I picked up some at the local grocery store, and grabbed an old washcloth, and went to town.

Not 10 minutes later I was amazed at the results. I started on the back of the iPod, which was previously a marred collection of scratches and grime, from its trip around the world. I removed the Air India and SuperDuck stickers, and applied a dab of Brasso to my old cloth. I rubbed fairly firmly in a circular motion until my arm got a little sore.

Quite to my amazement, I can now see myself in the mirror finish on the back of the pod. I can still see tiny little scratch marks if I look close enough, but the larger scratches, and the murky finish are gone. It feels NEW again.

There's no way I'd have this luck on the front, would I? Who're we kidding, this is BRASSO - legend of song and websites! After only 5 minutes of light rubbing, the front looks a LOT better. I can compare the top screen area to the bottom corners around the wheel and there is a BIG difference in finish. Smaller scratches are gone, and a sizeable gouge has been reduced to a small nick. I'm hoping that actually following instructions, lettting the Brasso work in and then removing it (like car wax) will work even better. Especially when I put a bit of elbow grease into it.

Brasso is a micro-abrasive polish.

It does its work by actually scratching up your iPod's back even more, but in a microscopic way, and all larger scratches get "erased" or scratched into oblivion, being assimilated into the micro-scratches rubbing will produce. That's why the small scratches disappear, but the bigger ones not quite. It actually shaves off a miniscule layer of the chroming when you use it, but it makes the back look shiny as new.

In time you will rub off the markings, and eventually even the chrome, until you are down to the bare metal back.

This is the principle behind rubbing compounds for cars, which may people use to remove scratches and nicks from the surface of their vehicles. Prolonged use will eventually take off everything until you reveal patches of bare metal.

This is also the principle behind ordinary sandpaper, which shaves off all the rough edges from a piece of wood and makes it appear smooth, when all you've done is equalize the roughness into an undetectable (to the human eye) mass of even, microscopic scratches.

Other polishes specifically made for the iPod are just finer variants of rubbing compounds available at the hardware store, and are a little more fine and delicate than Brasso (which is why it is way more expensive). All them are sandpaper in cream form, and are differentiated in how fine the abrasives are. There are brands like Brasso, for heavy-duty industrial-strength rubbing, and the more expensive ones for delicate work, like for the iPods.

When you rub the micro-abrasives in firmly, you are just essentially applying a super-duper-fine sandpaper rub to your iPod. Brasso guarantees only a slow death for your iPod's looks. I got goosebumps when I read the part about you "rubbed fairly firmly in a circular motion until my arm got a little sore" and "put a bit of elbow grease into it." OMG.

I don't recommend Brasso. If you do use it, use it sparingly, and only when you really have to. And use it lightly.

If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

[Edited on 11-20-2004 by Adel]

[El CaMOTe]

Hey Zauber,

I agree with Chairman Adel !!

Brasso is meant for brass or metals, so the chrome or stainless steel back is OK, but using it also on the plastic front of the iPod !!!, I hope whatever chemical in it, does not react (longterm) with the plastic material of both the screen and body of the iPod.

Post some pictures, and keep us informed on how it goes, ... like did your white iPod turn beige ?? or did you iPod get a de-facto 'tan??'

The only 'abrasive' material I can think of is the stuff used by the optical-eyeglass makers, the abrasive they use for plastic lenses. Nothing can be finer than that !!!

Cheers,

[daxdagr8t]

$250 for a ten gig? gud luck on selling that. Compusa is selling a 3g 10 gig for less than 150.

[hypersomniac]

Are metal polishers like GLO safe for the back of the 3G iPods ?
got ice creme a few days ago, but i think its only for the white side. any recommendations ?

[BillGatesIsTheAntichrist]

Originally posted by Adel

Originally posted by Zauber
Which finally brings me to Brasso. I'd read elsewhere on the interweb that Brasso was a great, cheap alternative to the $30 specialty iPod cleansers. So I picked up some at the local grocery store, and grabbed an old washcloth, and went to town.

Not 10 minutes later I was amazed at the results. I started on the back of the iPod, which was previously a marred collection of scratches and grime, from its trip around the world. I removed the Air India and SuperDuck stickers, and applied a dab of Brasso to my old cloth. I rubbed fairly firmly in a circular motion until my arm got a little sore.

Quite to my amazement, I can now see myself in the mirror finish on the back of the pod. I can still see tiny little scratch marks if I look close enough, but the larger scratches, and the murky finish are gone. It feels NEW again.

There's no way I'd have this luck on the front, would I? Who're we kidding, this is BRASSO - legend of song and websites! After only 5 minutes of light rubbing, the front looks a LOT better. I can compare the top screen area to the bottom corners around the wheel and there is a BIG difference in finish. Smaller scratches are gone, and a sizeable gouge has been reduced to a small nick. I'm hoping that actually following instructions, lettting the Brasso work in and then removing it (like car wax) will work even better. Especially when I put a bit of elbow grease into it.

Brasso is a micro-abrasive polish.

It does its work by actually scratching up your iPod's back even more, but in a microscopic way, and all larger scratches get "erased" or scratched into oblivion, being assimilated into the micro-scratches rubbing will produce. That's why the small scratches disappear, but the bigger ones not quite. It actually shaves off a miniscule layer of the chroming when you use it, but it makes the back look shiny as new.

In time you will rub off the markings, and eventually even the chrome, until you are down to the bare metal back.

This is the principle behind rubbing compounds for cars, which may people use to remove scratches and nicks from the surface of their vehicles. Prolonged use will eventually take off everything until you reveal patches of bare metal.

This is also the principle behind ordinary sandpaper, which shaves off all the rough edges from a piece of wood and makes it appear smooth, when all you've done is equalize the roughness into an undetectable (to the human eye) mass of even, microscopic scratches.

Other polishes specifically made for the iPod are just finer variants of rubbing compounds available at the hardware store, and are a little more fine and delicate than Brasso (which is why it is way more expensive). All them are sandpaper in cream form, and are differentiated in how fine the abrasives are. There are brands like Brasso, for heavy-duty industrial-strength rubbing, and the more expensive ones for delicate work, like for the iPods.

When you rub the micro-abrasives in firmly, you are just essentially applying a super-duper-fine sandpaper rub to your iPod. Brasso guarantees only a slow death for your iPod's looks. I got goosebumps when I read the part about you "rubbed fairly firmly in a circular motion until my arm got a little sore" and "put a bit of elbow grease into it." OMG.

I don't recommend Brasso. If you do use it, use it sparingly, and only when you really have to. And use it lightly.

If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

[Edited on 11-20-2004 by Adel]

I Just Got An Ipod Mini, But Dropped It Before i got a case, it has two mini scraches that annoys the hell out of me, and i would really like to get the scraches out , but im worried that braddo will rub off the paint

[randytamayo]

I love Apple, Steve Jobs and all but I think a name like this uncalled for in a forum like this. Or maybe I am just being 'queer' or something.

Randy

Originally posted by BillGatesIsTheAntichrist
--snip--
I Just Got An Ipod Mini, But Dropped It Before i got a case, it has two mini scraches that annoys the hell out of me, and i would really like to get the scraches out , but im worried that braddo will rub off the paint