How to Remove Scratches from Glossy Plastic - Sony PS3 Case Restoration 

Never underestimate the appeal of watching someone else dick around in the garage to those without a garage in which to dick around. Congrats on the views and keep 'em coming!

best candid response from a creator 😂 love it

Problem lots of people have + guy offering relatively easy and effective solutions == success. Keep up the good work!

I’m glad you haven’t found the comments overwhelmingly frustrating. I think the best way to explain to you why this video is performing the way it is, is that it’s like the equivalent to one of those in-app ads (while playing a mobile game) where the game seems so obvious to solve but the virtual player is making all the wrong moves. Those ads are effective because it causes people to want to play the game, just to show how easily they could have done it right. Your video is providing people that same excited reaction, where the answer seems so obvious, and so they rush to the comments section to explain what you should have done (or to “thumbs up” an agreeable comment). Meanwhile, you’re not an idiot, you never proclaimed to be a pro cosmetic restorer, and I’m sure you learned a better way to polish the plastic within weeks of posting the video (yet a year later you get fresh new eyeballs and enthusiastic comments about what you should’ve done). Again, I’m glad you take it all in stride. I especially appreciate the conflicted complication of having a popular video also appear to show your “incompetence”, and therefore worry that viewers won’t want to see what else you’ve done on your channel, to realize how talented you are. It’s like you want to bury this video, but can’t because it’s a helpful spiderweb for eyeballs, and a gateway for the percentage who give you the benefit of the doubt - who end up subscribing after watching your other videos. Maybe you’ve already done this (I’ve yet to check out your channel), but you ought to make a “comeback” follow up video, with nearly the exact same title, where you implement all the suggestions, and surpass expectations. The algorithm will work in your favor, because although your initial PS3 restoration video will still be the primary video that the algorithm delivers to new people, in short time your follow up video will show up next in their suggested video feed. Back to the enthusiastic audience (who can’t help but blurt out the obvious solutions in the comments section), they love seeing things done the right way even more than they love seeing things done the wrong way (so long as they get to see it being done the wrong way first). It’s cathartic to correct someone, and even more cathartic to see someone learn from their mistakes.

​@@davidswanson5669no grammar or spelling mistakes... different breed.

got to the comments only to write that the dremel pastewas probably a good intermediate step

Exactly like when sharpening a dull knife we use corse stone first and finer stone later

Should have tried it on the middle left and worked his way up, in terms of grit. Either way it's not a bad job. Just far too much product used.

so what would you consider using after the paste?

​@@aubry980the cutting compound is enough. Using less and working it in would give a near perfect finish. Watch car detailing clips where they work on glossy/piano black trim. Edit: I wasn't thinking. After using cutting compound you'd use a polish to protect, remove any reside and make it shine.

Yeah lol I could tell when it started clumping up the polishing wheel. I do think I was a little heavy handed towards the end there.

@@BorderlineOCD When polishing a surface on a car, you always have to find the best combo to work with, as in pad and compound, and that needs a little testing. I think if this wheel and the Scratch Doctor is still not good enough, all you can do is find more stuff to try. Luckily compared to a car if you find a good one, it will basically work on every single ps3 of that type. I'd have used about 2 pea sized drops on each segment maximum, and that's still a bit much. :D It's also a good idea to prime the wool wheel with the product, so it doesn't start working dry. I have to add it was another great video!

Yes I was thinking the same because I already used the car scratches removal procedure to clean some other things, thin sand paper and car wax, works just great almost with everything

you can use this method for cleaning cd disks

What is the best you can remove scratches and smudges from a xbox 360 slim glossy plastic as someone who is a car detailer ?

Not t?

@@Dragon-Slay3r yes. T.

I was looking for someone else to point this out as soon as I watched the video- I felt that the dremel compound area looked better than the rest.

That's what i was thinking. The part that had dremel compound on it first looks much better. I would have used dremel compound, dr. scratch, and then the other one since it seemed to be the finest.

What he said. xD Looked like the compound will work getting rid of the glue or whatever that is.

yea, I was going to say I have seen many very high quality polishes start off like that. It is disappointing that he stopped without following it to conclusion. Sure not all polishes are equal, but some have very different approaches to their repair!

I liked matt finish it produced

@@alexandermatthews145 punctuation

@@CD-vb9fi Kind of a gamble on a rare variant of PS3

As a detailer, I will say using a 1000 grit sandpaper on this soft plastic is the WORSt idea. These are micro scratches. Medium/Fine cut polish with a 2-in DA polisher will make it look almost perfectly new.

Thanks for the advice, some great tips there. I was admittedly nervous seeing the results of the metal polish but it did mostly buff out, albeit with multiple passes and increased hand pressure. If you could choose your own grits, is there a particular sequence you would recommend for the initial stages? Would love to try this again on another unit and get even better results.

@@BorderlineOCD I haven't tried consoles but I had polished my fair share of vehicle headlights. I wet sanded by hand with 800, 1500 and then 2000 grit sandpaper, then machine polished with Griot's Garage Correcting Cream and then Perfecting Cream. Obviously you wouldn't have to use these exactly, but you have the best chance for a glossy finish on plastics by using multiple levels of grit/polish. BTW I watched this because I also repair/refurbish old game consoles. Thanks for posting this. I haven't tried it and now I want to on my PS3!

Yep he is right. You start low and work your way up with sandpaper (wet sanding preferred for plastic) then use a compound. This cuts down on elbow grease significantly. Also very important you want to sand in opposite directions. So sand vertical with 1000 then horizontal with 1200-1500 then back to vertical with 2000. FYI compound also comes in different grit. Now aside all of that you did a great job and for a console this old it looks great.

yep, its plastic so its the same as the headlight restorations I do. He actually could just bought the rustolium headlight restore kit for $14 and had everything he needed. I usually cut down to remove deep scratches, use 2 lesser grits for 2 stages of leveling, following but a rubbing compound then a polishing compound. Then like you said, something like a wax to bring out the shine would just make it really pop.

@@BorderlineOCD Hey!, I wanted to ask, I have an Asus Strix G17, and it has a minor dot scratch, made from a falling compass (the one used to make circles). The problem is, the metal is anodized black, so any idea how to remove the scratch?

buy a new one! You will see

I personally have used the “scratch doctor” on my car. instructions say to let it rest, i dunno an hour. then buff. was the same applied to all the wax’s, or was it applied & immediately buffed? nonetheless, amazing tips for the aesthetics 👍🏼!

As much as I like to dunk on Gamestop, their problem is half-assing refurbs, and not the use of the dremel polish. In fact, that dremel polish is the a good first step to a proper polish. As the goal of a harsh compound like that is to remove the large and deep scratches. Then compounds with finer grits are used to remove finer scratches. With a final stage of wax or similar compound to give it the final mirror finish. What this guy did was essentially skipped the multistep polish route entirely and tried to do the whole job with a single compound. This is not how you properly polish anything, period. At least not efficiently.

@@piranhaplantX He also used a single compound across the entire surface right after sectioning it off to test three others. If this was just a demonstration it'd be one thing, but following through with an attempted finish restoration at that point didn't end well.

Thank you. Good luck with your PS3 treatment.

I'm going to have to try this too, my PS3 is pretty scratched up, I have the Novus kit I am going try, it's designed for plastic...

I was just thinking this!!!!

X3

Hope you enjoyed it!

Actually....non-glossy items are much easier to restore.

@@leom9286 Easy to remove scratches from, maybe, but you'll never get the texture back.

Haha thanks for sharing your enthusiasm. I'm getting more fond of starting my videos that way.

ceramic coatings have a life expectancy and require you to apply it again year after year. not a good choice.