Polished Bliss®: Audi S3 instrument cluster correction...

John @ PB

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Copied below is a write up Clark put on Detailing World today: thought it'd be of interest to the Audi guys..... :icon_thumright:



Thought I'd show you what I was up to this morning as it's a bit different to normal.

A regular customer of ours with a new S3 was irritated by some scratches on his instrument cluster so it was up to me to see what I could do with it :)

Dash001.jpg




First of all this piece of plastic needs pulling towards you and then lifted up (I wasn't planning on doing any pics to begin with hence why the cluster is already removed in these pics :D)

Dash002.jpg


This then reveals a couple of bolts. Undo these and pull the cluster towards you, pull out the connecter at the back and it pops out quite easily, obviously you need to take care not to scratch the wheel etc:

Dash003.jpg


The screen was then seperated from the main unit:

Dash004.jpg


This was put in a bag to stop dust settling on it and I then taped up the screen to prevent any polishing dust getting inside:

Dash005.jpg


Outer edge masked too to prevent the polisher from burning it:

Dash006.jpg


Here you can see the scratches in the screen:

Dash007.jpg


And with the 3M Sun Gun:

Dash008.jpg


Knowing the plastic was super soft I started with a nice gentle approach - Menzerna 85RE and a Lake Country LSP Spot Pad with the Makita @900/1000rpm's:

Dash009.jpg


This was slowly worked for a good 3 or 4 minutes and it gave very good results:

Dash010.jpg


Just a couple of tiny marks left which I gave a second hit, again with 3 or 4 minutes work time at least untill the polish was fully broken down:

Dash011.jpg


Scratches gone:

Dash012.jpg



The screen was then carefully wiped clean with some IPA and a brand new Deluxe Mega Towel to remove all the polishing oils:

Dash013.jpg


Dash014.jpg


Static build up was a nightmare with this thing so I used the Black Baron to blow some light dust out the inside of the screen before putting it back together with the main unit again:

Dash015.jpg


Dash016.jpg


Dash017.jpg


Dash018.jpg



It was then time to put it back into the dash, starting with the connector at the back:

Dash019.jpg


Followed by the 2 bolts:

Dash020.jpg


A quick dust with a Swissvax Detailing Brush...

Dash021.jpg


Before pushing the plastic trim back into place:

Dash022.jpg



Quick check to make sure it all works again...

Dash023.jpg




Total work time: Approx 1 Hour 45 minutes start to finish.

Thanks for looking!
 
very interesting, didnt know it could be done but i do now so hmmm
 
Another excellent job chaps, cant ever have a bad word.

Whats the tax on this job & can you do this if we were to send the housing to you & return once done, if so then international also possible?
 
Another excellent job chaps, cant ever have a bad word.

Whats the tax on this job & can you do this if we were to send the housing to you & return once done, if so then international also possible?

Yes if you wanted to send us the housing then we could correct it for you, you'd be looking at around an hours labour (£37.50 + VAT) + insured shipping here and back.
 
The man himself, cheers for info mate.
 
Exceptional work Clark, had a read of this on DW as well. Has always been an issue with all my second hand cars, so might give this a go when the weather warms up a bit.:idea: