Reader Mail: How to take scratches out of G4s and iMac cases

From: Don Swetz

I figured out how to get rid of scratches on new Mac cases (iMac, G4 tower and G4 Cube) cases…

I bought a product called “NOVUS – 2: Fine Scratch Remover” (1: is the preparatory cleaner that i found unnecessary) at my local tropical fish dealer for about $6. It was designed to take scratches out of lexan fish tanks. I bought it to take scratches out of my hockey face shields (at $80 a pop, you’ll try anything to get more life out of ’em) and it worked great.

This morning, I moved my G4 from the floor next to my desk to a table – and to my horror, the side was scratched mercilessly… the Apple Logo took the brunt of it, but there were not only scratches, but dark marks all along the clear portions which were scratches filled with wood stain (scratches from the table). I thought about the Novus – and tried it. (i thought about doing before/after picts… but i just wanted to fix it)

After 5 minutes of work – the scratches on the logo are completely gone, but the more delicate scratches were harder to get out.. and weren’t as complete as the deeper scratches (go figure) – you can only see them if you move the thing in the light just right…

Since the iMacs and Cubes are all made with the same stuff, i can’t believe it would be any different for them.

My only thought is that the more textured Macs (B&W G3’s, for example) may not work as well, since they are textured and don’t have a perfectly polished finish like the G4s.

Here is a picture of the bottle