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



## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

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 










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 )










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:










The screen was then seperated from the main unit:










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:










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










Here you can see the scratches in the screen:










And with the 3M Sun Gun:










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:










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










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:










Scratches gone:










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



















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:





































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










Followed by the 2 bolts:










A quick dust with a Swissvax Detailing Brush...










Before pushing the plastic trim back into place:










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










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

Thanks for looking!

Clark


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## Miglior (Feb 12, 2006)

They are ridiculously easy to take out arent they?

I've had to do this before on a mk5 golf. Plus I've had mine out in my own car a few times now. It gives great access for feeding wires when installing factory fit options. 

Just make sure the battery is disconnected!


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## BlackCat (May 2, 2008)

Fantastic.

I did the same when sorting out my car, albeit a crappy 10 year old Ford.
Makes a huge difference as many owners just wipe a duster over the clocks and thus scratch it to hell.

Paul


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

JPC said:


> They are ridiculously easy to take out arent they?
> 
> I've had to do this before on a mk5 golf. Plus I've had mine out in my own car a few times now. It gives great access for feeding wires when installing factory fit options.
> 
> Just make sure the battery is disconnected!


Being an Audi I was expecting to have to remove half the engine, a rear quarter panel and a couple of wheels before it came out so I was pleasantly surprised to see it was only a couple of bolts


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## colarado red (Jun 5, 2008)

Nice turnaround:thumb:


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## Ducky (Mar 19, 2007)

Nice job dude, I can imagine that would be annoying seeing those every time you drove your car! :thumb:


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## RandomlySet (Jul 10, 2007)

Nice work there fella


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## Brabus Doc (May 28, 2008)

Awesome job mate :thumb:


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## gally (May 25, 2008)

Nice write up guys! 

I thought it was the old TT fuel guage problem on an S3!

Doh!


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## Racer (Oct 27, 2005)

Great work Clark , i bet the client was over the moon


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## Maggi200 (Aug 21, 2009)

Meh that's not easy! MIne doesn't even get bolted on, just clips out!!! 

Nice work though, certainly something differnet and interesting to see


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## Littler (Nov 8, 2010)

Good job, I've been surprised that half the car didn't need dismantling to get it out lol


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## pogo6636 (Jan 18, 2009)

great work Clark.

Nice to see some of the more unusual work that the pro's complete.


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## gargreen7 (Apr 12, 2009)

never would have thought of doing that, great work


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## ads2k (Jul 12, 2006)

Love it, something different being shown :thumb:

Great job and nice to see, thanks for sharing Clark.


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## mas (Oct 4, 2010)

Very nice, never figuared out how they manage to get scratched so often!


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## *TAY* (May 17, 2009)

Top job :thumb:


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## B&B Autostyle (Apr 4, 2010)

Different from the norm but as usual,awesome work.:thumb:


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## JamesR (Nov 13, 2006)

good results. We have had a lot of probelms with the clocks in the newer A3's. and when they pack up it refuses for the car to start and they paddy with warning lights and that. Allways really nervous if i hae to remove them. 

Any pics of the car?


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## Mirror Finish Details (Aug 21, 2008)

Great work Clark, nice to see something different.


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## Ultimate Shine (Jun 3, 2008)

quality mate and at your desk too so no need to wash outside. lol.....

Its amazing what you can polish with the machine:thumb:


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## Scrim-1- (Oct 8, 2008)

Fantastic work as ever.


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## J D Peace (Feb 3, 2010)

Nice work Clark nothing better than a clean instrument cluster!


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## andrewst500 (Nov 2, 2008)

great work Clark as always:thumb:


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## Summit Detailing (Oct 9, 2006)

Good stuff chap:thumb:

I take it you set the clock to the right time after taking the final pics?!


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## prokopas (Apr 29, 2010)

well done


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## ALANSHR (Jun 29, 2007)

Looks good, any ideas for removing light scratches from a sat nav screen?


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## ADW (Aug 8, 2010)

Nice to see a change.. Top Job bud :thumb:


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## Jamie-SRi (Oct 18, 2010)

Nice work, thats something I really wouldnt have thought of doing


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## Neil_S (Oct 26, 2005)

Very nice attention to detail :thumb:


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## terrymcg (Mar 19, 2007)

Clark,

Quick question mate, as I took mine out on my S3 as they are scratched badly. But how did you seperate the actual gubbins from the screen, is it just a case of prizing the black clips apart, as mine felt like they would break.

Terry


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

Chris_VRS said:


> Good stuff chap:thumb:
> 
> I take it you set the clock to the right time after taking the final pics?!


Of Course! :thumb:



terrymcg said:


> Clark,
> 
> Quick question mate, as I took mine out on my S3 as they are scratched badly. But how did you seperate the actual gubbins from the screen, is it just a case of prizing the black clips apart, as mine felt like they would break.
> 
> Terry


Yep, just carefully go round prizing them all open a wee bit at a time and the screen will eventually come away from the unit, just be patient and if it feels like it's going to break then it probably will so ease off a bit lol


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## detailersdomain (Sep 13, 2006)

very nice! :thumb:


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## details (May 13, 2009)

Clocks in my mk3 caddy are a prime candidate for this process:argie:


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## ahaydock (Jan 4, 2007)

Nice one - always good to see something different :thumb:


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## Phil H (May 14, 2006)

excellent work guys


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## squeakyclean32 (Mar 13, 2010)

Attention to Detail :thumb:.....Surprising how the smallest of things can be so annoying, I think 99.9% of cars suffer from this problem.....good to see it resolved so quickly.....if only we were all so brave to take our dash apart to fix it :lol:
Another Great Job :thumb:


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## Nanolex (Jun 8, 2008)

Very well done - that's true attention to detail! :thumb:

We have a system to make the plastic surfaces scratch resistant it would be perfect for this!


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## terrymcg (Mar 19, 2007)

Nanolex said:


> Very well done - that's true attention to detail! :thumb:
> 
> We have a system to make the plastic surfaces scratch resistant it would be perfect for this!


How does that work then??


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## Nanolex (Jun 8, 2008)

terrymcg said:


> How does that work then??


You coat it during production, we have a product that can make plastic surfaces of all kinds scratch resistant... the problem is you can't apply it by hand because the surface needs to be 100% free of dust etc. and it takes hours to dry...


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## powelly (Aug 9, 2007)

Don't know if you have come across this before, our painters use a stat gun before painting plastic, really good bit of kit, I have quite often thought it's a product you pro's would benefit from.

Stat gun


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## walker1967 (Sep 12, 2010)

I this this simple in a vw caddy (57 plate) as mine is in a right sorry state, looks like it was cleaned using razor wire. Not by me of course was like that when purchased


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## viperfire (Apr 10, 2007)

Great work Clark

If that was car I'd have it back to the dealer for a new screen especially a car with just over 500 miles on the clock:thumb:


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## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Nice work..


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## AlexTsinos (Oct 10, 2010)

Thank you for Sharing!


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## Ali (Apr 5, 2006)

Good work!


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## Cozzer (Dec 18, 2007)

POLYWATCH WATCH FACE SCRATCH REMOVAL POLISH: Amazon.co.uk: Car & Motorbike

I managed to get a deep scratch (catching my nail deep) out with this stuff. Rounded the scratch off until it wasnt refracting anymore (enough not to annoy me). Took at about 4 hits, but only 10 mins to get the scratch out.


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