Review-AppleSauce iPod - Scratch Removal Kit

My iPod is a true victim of “when bad things happen to good gadgets.”


“Criss, cross, applesauce”


I am brutal on my devices.


As an early adopter of the more sensibly cool and useful devices (you won’t catch ME buying into iPhonia quite yet), I’m a perpetual victim of peripheral lag, the time between the release of a new device and the availability of all the cozy form-fitting cases and other accessories designed for it.


As soon as reasonable and sturdy cases were available—peruse the many many pages of AppleMatters for my reviews of some of these—I “got protection” for my then-new Video iPod. Until the cases were out, well, my iPod looked like it had been attacked by wildcats.


The bulk of the damage pretty much happened within the first week after I bought it. The very worst scratch happened within hours of my getting it home! No subsequent combination of high-impact plastic, silicone rubber, machined aircraft-grade block aluminum, or Cordoba leather could do more than just mask the scars of those early days. Nothing could roll back the hands of time and the shameful damage still remained underneath.


Until today!


Well, last week, actually.


“Lay your hands in your lap!”


Applesauce Polish sent me a nice care package of their signature microfinishing products, a set of their Power Pad Discs, a pack of 6 extra Polishing Cloths, and one of their flagship iPod - Scratch Removal Kits.


I’m a big scaredy-cat coward when it comes to making something worse to make it better. It just seems counterintuitive.


However, after carefully reading and rereading the well-written and well-illustrated directions that came with all this stuff, I was ready, at least in theory, to cause some serious temporary harm in order to get some spectacular, as they advertised, long-term gains.


You can relax. I’ll give you the punch line now. It worked. Just like they said it would. Quite impressively.


Here’s more or less how it works. You will want to read, NEED to read, the enclosed directions carefully, but I’ve appended a few hints and reality checks herein.


Firstly, if your iPod is seriously messed up, you’ll need to go at it for a while with a Power Pad. Lay the iPod flat on one of the three cloths included with the iPod Scratch Removal Kit before you start, so you don’t ding up the metal up any more than you already have, or drip stuff all over your desk.


Note: these little abrasive pads will scratch up your iPod’s plastic, but they’re supposed to. What Applesauce called a “matte finish” looked to me like I had totally wasted my iPod. It was cosmetic, and temporary, but really really painful to watch.


Okay, rub rub rub with a Power Pad. I took about ten minutes until that Day One scratch on my iPod’s face was pretty much gone. Normal damage, they say, takes three to five minutes of this, but extraordinary damage, such as I was trying to fix, can take longer. Be brave. There’s a lot of plastic there and I can’t imagine you’ll actually wear through all of it, though I know I felt I was going to.


So, once the big scratches are gone, you apply the solutions from the iPod Scratch Removal Kit. You get two bottles of different stuff, Polish and Glaze, and after messing up your iPod with the Power Pad, you go over it with the Polish. This gets the smaller scratches, like the ones the Power Pad made. If your iPod wasn’t horribly gouged to begin with, you can probably start right on with the Polish.


It’s time consuming again. Be prepared for three to five 60-second rubfests. Put a bit of Polish on one of the included cloths, and with tight little circles rub lightly until the liquid is all absorbed. Apply again, rub some more. And so forth. Until all your smaller scratches are gone.


Now you use the Glaze. And this is fun because the really fine scratches, what you have now, go away!


Dab dab dab and rub rub rub. Dab dab dab and rub rub rub. And eventually you’re done. Polish your iPod off with a clean cloth and it looks almost new again!


“Now give them both a little clap!”


Thanks, Applesauce, for helping me fix up my iPod.


I give the AppleSauce Review-AppleSauce iPod - Scratch Removal Kit a 90%! I didn’t think I could fix those scratches, but I did, thanks to the products!


Tip: Buy the Power Pads if you’re thinking of picking up one of these kits. If your iPod is damaged enough that you’re thinking of repairing, the Power Pads will make restoration a lot easier and a lot faster!