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

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25K views 46 replies 43 participants last post by  Cozzer  
#1 ·
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 :)

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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)

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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:

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The screen was then seperated from the main unit:

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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:

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

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Here you can see the scratches in the screen:

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And with the 3M Sun Gun:

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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:

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

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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:

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Scratches gone:

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

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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:

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

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Followed by the 2 bolts:

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A quick dust with a Swissvax Detailing Brush...

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Before pushing the plastic trim back into place:

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

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

Thanks for looking!

Clark
 
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#4 ·
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!
Click to expand...
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 :D
 
#32 ·
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
Click to expand...
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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