anyone know how to clean a navigation screen....its come to the point where it looks like the protective coating or something has come off on certain areas of the screen and now causes a glare....is there something i can put on it to help it?...i was thinking about the pda clear plastic covers...just a bigger one...would that help?......or is there some special liquid that i can use?....thanks for the help guys

 

Take your hanky out, wipe it clean & you're back in business!

 

Clean the navi screen with a very mild glass cleaner (alcohol and water based cleaners work well) and a soft cloth. Don't apply any pressure to the screen, basically, just run the cloth over the screen's surface. Applying pressure may make "wear" marks on your screen worse, and could also scratch the screen if your cloth happens to pick up some hard object/debris. I'm not sure what you can do to fix the worn areas, trying to spread something in a liquid form over a screen and make it optically invisible (ie, doesn't distort the screen's image) is probably more work than it's worth, if not impossible. A screen protector might work, but you may want to get one for a laptop screen versus the ones for PDA's - for some reason, most laptop protectors are more transparent that the PDA ones, and their surface is smooth versus textured (well, some PDA protectors are textured). The only problem you might run into is getting the protector back off the screen if something happens to it (you scratch the protector or something). The adhesive backing may be too strong and could pull more of that anti-glare coat off since it's already coming off your screen. Personally, if I were in your situation, I would touch the screen as little as possible and use the joystick to navigate and select the menu choices. Just my

 

You can take the glare coating off completely using armor all and endust computer screen wipes. You can rub pretty hard, its just glass under the coating.

This solution was found by accident when I noticed where my fingers touched the screen often wore off the coating and I was using computer screen wipes often to clean it. Yes there can be times the glare is more but having a smooth and consistent look is much better than a worn screen.

If anyone knows of a product to reapply a glare coating let me know. Otherwise I'm very happy I removed it.

Paul

 

thanks paul...i'll do the armor all thing the next time i go back home....i have this antiglare thing that is used on eyeglasses....its kind of like a red waxlike stick that you apply and then rub in till its clear....you think that would work on navi screens?

 

I'd be scared to say yes and the screen melts. But the danger is truly probably so low if it works on eyeglasses.

 

i'll just go to the acura dealer and try it on a used TL with navi and see if the car explodes or not....just kidding, if i can find the antiglare thing, i'll try it this weekend and i'll let you know if it works.....there has to be something that would work though

 

rocket....does your screen look like it has permanent finger prints on it??

i think i have the same problem as you do.....it looks like the previous owner somehow took the anti-glare finish off on some parts of the screen....so now it seems as though there are perma-prints on it.....BLEH

paul....so you're saying using armor all on the screen will take off the anti-glare coating entirely....thereby leaving a clean, clear screen, albeit with no anti-glare coating?

keep me updated, let me know if anything works

 

yeah...permanent 'holes' in the protective coating...i'm assuming your biggest 'hole' is on the bottom right of the screen? where the 'OK' button is located?

 

put clear tape over the ok button and you will not have that problem

 

yea....there is a big 'hole' there, but also a few other places on the inner part of the screen

at night, and if the sun is not hitting the screen directly, you can't really tell it's f*cked up
but man, if i open up the sunroof, or the sun is low and hittin the screen, UGH it looks horrible

i wanna find somehow to get it lookin better

 

has anyone else done this armor all thing??

i'd like to try it, but don't wanna mess up my screen anymore than it is...

 

just wanna update.....i've used armor all on my screen, to try and rid it of the "worn" areas, where the anti-glare coating used to be, and man, is it nice

all the anti-glare coating is GONE, and the screen is super bright now
it's 1000 times better than it was worn, and honestly....i think it looks better than a perfect screen WITH the anti-glare coating on it

the screen is SUPER bright, clear and actually does not attract finger prints as easily

and if someone had the navi - video conversion, i'd imagine movies would look really really nice on the non-coated screen

 

Glad to see you've found a solution to your problem.

Hope to never encounter it myself...I push the buttons with my pinky finger. Since the pinky never touches much of anything compared to the index finger, I hypothesize that it will leave less oil/debris on the screen that way.

 

haha....that's being really really careful

it's probably a great preventative measure, but would drive me crazy

anyway, i'm really new at doing any mods/alterations to my cars, so i appreciate your encouragement

 

For anyone who is contemplating doing the Armor All cleanup to their navigation screen, I have just done it and it ROCKS! As stated before all of the antiglare is gone and with it all of the fingerprints, and holes in the antiglare. The screen looks perfect. It is clear and blemish free. I wish I had found this solution before I bought a new screen on ebay. At least I haven't installed the new screen yet.

Anyway, just to restate... I used plain old armor all, and sprayed the screen down good, let it sit a few seconds, and rubbed it off with medium pressure. I did this maybe 3 times and it was perfect. Everything works fine and the screen looks better than ever. It does have a slight bit of reflection in it when the sun hits it at certain angles but I think it just looks clean and the change is not noticable unless you are looking for it.

As far as leaving the screen unprotected for the future it just seems to be a peice of glass underneath and unless my bling (diamond rings and the like) scrapes the surface I don't see how it will get any more messed up without the antiglare than it would with it. Point being that anything that would scratch the glass would slice through the antiglare and still scratch the glass, IMHO.

Enuff said.....

Gingerbreadman

 

Correct if I'm wrong but are you talking about the "Armor All" that you spray on the black surface of your car? I do have the same problem on my screen. If I use the armor all and install a screen protector, would that eliminate potential problems to the screen (scratches/prints/oil)? Is there any screen protector w/ anti-glare???

 

are you talking about armor all cleaner or regular armor all that shines the black parts of your car?

 

i mean the just plain ole armor all like protects leather..... the cleaner may work as well and i had the same reservations before i tried it but have been completely satisfied with the results. As you are talking about, i ordered an antiglare screen protectant (from NuShield if you are interested) to go over the screen in thoughts that i would need to protect it or the glare would be noticable but haven't even put it on because it doesnt have any ill effects IMHO without it.

this is what i believe..... the anti glare is just a spray on application from the factory that creates a rougher less reflective surface on the face of the glass screen. it does not provide protection that i can imagine from scratches etc anymore than if you sprayed PAM cooking spray on the screen. It would provide a protective surface that would keep oils off of the glass from your fingers but... it's glass...... just wipe it off. the oils in my opinion come off the glass 100x easier than they do the protective surface, are less attracted to the glass than the antigkare, and anyway and the look is so much better than the blotchy appearance of the worn antiglare it is no comparison.

i have had friends, without prompting or being told i had done it, ask me if i had gotten a new screen, and that it looked way better.

Try it. you will be glad that you did.

 

just as a note it takes 2 or 3 applications to get all of the antiglare off. if i felt there were any gotchas or things you would be giving up for the new clearer screen i would tell you but i see none whatsoever. tell me what you think after you have done it. please posts here so others will feel safer before they proceed..... or know that i am crazy as the case may be.... heehee.

 

okay wait, lemme jus get this str8 guys, is this for any year TL??? i know sometimes there are year-specific diy's and i'm jus tryin to make sure that i dont mess anythin up. i dont have any fingerprint or "hole" problems in my navi screen, but i have this long annoying scratch from left to right across the top of my screen that's bugged me from day one. i've always searched and searched for an answer but always came up empty. this seems like it may work and it definitely has my hopes up. u mean to tell me that this whole time, i can jus take that crap off?? i hope someone can reply n tell me if this works on an 02, hey gingerbreadman, what year is yours? thanx ahead!

 

WOW...just tried it and it did work. Mine is a 99TL. It requires some elbow grease though but it is all worth it. The screen now looks like the ultra-brite LCD computer monitors. I haven't finish removing all the coating though. There are few more left at the corners. For those who have tried it, how did you remove the ones in the corner? Cotton buds probably???

 

well i'll be damned... this stuff actually works!! i used meguires leather wipes and now my screen is super sharp. at first i thought my finger marks were permanent and needed to buy a new screen, but after 10 minutes of wiping the lcd, it looks practically brand new!

 

...anyone else try this on a 2002??

 

Mine is a 99TL as well. I was told (by a semi-reliable source) that the 99TL anti-glare was of a different composition than the other 2nd generation years (2000+). I was told that the holes in the antigare etc where particularly bad on the 99s due to this inferior antiglare covering and in 2000 they improved the coating. I would not be surprised to hear that the new formula remains even today.

My point is that I can not verify that this works as well on the new composition. I would imagine it would take a little more elbow grease to get the antiglare off but the results would be the same. If anyone has done this on a 2000+ could you comment please...

Sorry I couldn't help El Mafioso... i suppose now i'll have to sleep with the fishes.... *smiles*

 

ey thanx for tha clarification gingerbreadman, good thing i didnt go str8 to my car n scratch up my screen even more, lol. man, i really had my hopes up, too. i figured it might be a little different since i dont have any of these infamous holes in my screen. still, i hope there's something that can b done about the scratch. who knows, maybe you're right, maybe it can still b done the same way but with more elbow grease

 

There's a saying....if aint broke, dont fix it. You can check out ebay for navi screen protector. Last time I checked, they are selling it for $11 + shipping

 

lol, but if its scratched, i wanna fix it. n honestly i dont need a screen protector, the scratch was there when i bought it from the dealer and there havent been any new scratches added to it since i've owned it (even the dealer mentioned how meticulous i am about my car). haha, i dont wanna add a screen protector to protect the scratch that's already on there, i wanna get rid of the scratch. there's gotta b a solution out there thanx anyway progz

 

Another way of protecting your screen from prints / marks /oil is by using a stylus. Anyway on mine, I don't need to worry about those bec as Gingerbreadman says it is all glass and all I need is a cleaning cloth just like the ones you use for eyeglasses. Anyway EL*MAFIOSO, goodluck on your navi screen. Hope you find a solution on how to get rid of the scratch without buying a new one of course

 

I would say if the scratch bothers you enough (and of course you are not lazy like me) you can pick one up off of ebay for around $120-150. Then there is what sounds like about a hours worth of work to swap it out. Thats what I was gonna do. I had even already bought a screen off ebay before I found the armor all trick for my car and ended up just selling the one I bought back on ebay.

If you are as anal as I am I know it drives you crazy and here is a suggestion. Try the armor all trick, of course post your results for all to know in the future, and just plan on buying a new screen. That way if it works, so much the better, if not then you really haven't lost anything as you had to replace the screen anyway to get rid of the scratch. Do not let me talk you into any expenditure that you don't wanna make but $120 bucks is not much to get rid of something that bothers you every day.

My main reason for this post is to say don't buy it from the dealer... good god they want like $1600 or something for that sucker...

Gingerbreadman

 

...so they do sell just the screen? (or r we talkn the whole navi?) ...c'mon now, i wouldn't think of buying from the stealership

 

on ebay you can buy it anyway you want... just keep your eyes open for the deal you want. Hell on ebay you can get it smeared in chocolate with a cherry on top if you look long enough..... i love free trade!