Removing the RSN-E Anti-Glare film & Removing the TFT Screen
12-22-2010, 04:22 PM
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Removing the RSN-E Anti-Glare film & Removing the TFT Screen
Scratches to the RSN-E screen are more likely to be scratches in the anti-glare film than the TFT glass. My RSN-E screen on my 2010 TTS acquired a scratch (see image 1) so I decided to remove the anti-glare film entirely. Some may actually prefer the look of the screen once the anti-glare film is off. I found the screen brighter and crisper. The glass is matte finish anyway and I do not have a problem with glare since I removed the anti-glare film.
The process is easy and it may save you $300 for a replacement TFT glass if you were considering a replacement. Additionally, some of the replacement TFT screens do not auto dim as the OEM does. Since I wanted to remove the bezel to get all the anti-glare film off, I needed to remove the screen from the dash. I suppose you could do this operation while the screen is in your car but you may get the cleaner and polish under the bezel.
Materials:
Step 1:
Turn the car on and hit the button to bring the screen down. There are 3 screws that need to be removed (see image 2). These screws have blue lock tight applied. The easiest way I found to remove them was to screw them in 1/8 of a turn to break the lock tight and then back them out. Use a good screw driver and put your finger behind the screw so you can apply more force. This procedure is essentially timed since the car will bring the screen back up after a few minutes.
Step 2:
Bring the screen up manually and angle the top right of the screen all the way up and the top left of the screen all the way down. This enables you to get the screen off the track.
Step 3:
Take the key out of the ignition to cut the power to the screen. I am not sure if this is necessary but I did it anyway. Carefully remove the ribbon cable on the back. Do not pull the cable by the ribbon. Apply upward pressure at each side of the plastic connector. Your screen is now free (see image 3).
Step 4:
Remove the 2 small screws at the bottom of the TFT assembly on the back (see image 4 where the screwdrivers mark where the screws can be found) and remove the plastic bezel with some slight force. I added an image at the bottom with the bezel off the TFT.
Step 5: Apply some Meguiar’s PlastX Clear Plastic Cleaner & Polish to a cotton ball and rub it on. I found that when the polish was mostly dry, it worked the best to get rid of the anti-glare film. It will take a while to rub it off. I used quite a few cotton ***** and Q-tips for the edges to get the anti-glare completely off (see image 5). Do not worry about the TFT glass, the polish will not affect the glass. You will begin to see the matte glass beneath the hazy anti-glare film. I did a little over half of the removal process and took a side by side photo for comparison. The matte glass is on the left and the hazy anti-glare film remains on the right (see image 6 on next post).
Step 6: While the bezel is off and the anti-glare is gone, this is a good time to apply a screen protector (see image 7 on next post)
Step 7: Put everything back together. There is a small spring on the right side of the tray. Just push the spring down and out of the way to align the TFT and reattach the 3 screws removed in Step 1. If all went well and your scratches were just on the anti-glare coating, you are finished. If your scratches remain, you may need a new screen. The part number on the back of my TFT was: 3D0 NEL75 – AB3. The last “3” was hidden under the circuit board (see image 8 on next post).
The process is easy and it may save you $300 for a replacement TFT glass if you were considering a replacement. Additionally, some of the replacement TFT screens do not auto dim as the OEM does. Since I wanted to remove the bezel to get all the anti-glare film off, I needed to remove the screen from the dash. I suppose you could do this operation while the screen is in your car but you may get the cleaner and polish under the bezel.
Materials:
- 0000 Screwdriver
- Cotton *****
- Q-tips
- Meguiar’s PlastX Clear Plastic Cleaner & Polish
- Optional screen protector. I cut down one for an iPad from monoprice.com (#MG ASP-100)
- About 1 hour of your time
Step 1:
Turn the car on and hit the button to bring the screen down. There are 3 screws that need to be removed (see image 2). These screws have blue lock tight applied. The easiest way I found to remove them was to screw them in 1/8 of a turn to break the lock tight and then back them out. Use a good screw driver and put your finger behind the screw so you can apply more force. This procedure is essentially timed since the car will bring the screen back up after a few minutes.
Step 2:
Bring the screen up manually and angle the top right of the screen all the way up and the top left of the screen all the way down. This enables you to get the screen off the track.
Step 3:
Take the key out of the ignition to cut the power to the screen. I am not sure if this is necessary but I did it anyway. Carefully remove the ribbon cable on the back. Do not pull the cable by the ribbon. Apply upward pressure at each side of the plastic connector. Your screen is now free (see image 3).
Step 4:
Remove the 2 small screws at the bottom of the TFT assembly on the back (see image 4 where the screwdrivers mark where the screws can be found) and remove the plastic bezel with some slight force. I added an image at the bottom with the bezel off the TFT.
Step 5: Apply some Meguiar’s PlastX Clear Plastic Cleaner & Polish to a cotton ball and rub it on. I found that when the polish was mostly dry, it worked the best to get rid of the anti-glare film. It will take a while to rub it off. I used quite a few cotton ***** and Q-tips for the edges to get the anti-glare completely off (see image 5). Do not worry about the TFT glass, the polish will not affect the glass. You will begin to see the matte glass beneath the hazy anti-glare film. I did a little over half of the removal process and took a side by side photo for comparison. The matte glass is on the left and the hazy anti-glare film remains on the right (see image 6 on next post).
Step 6: While the bezel is off and the anti-glare is gone, this is a good time to apply a screen protector (see image 7 on next post)
Step 7: Put everything back together. There is a small spring on the right side of the tray. Just push the spring down and out of the way to align the TFT and reattach the 3 screws removed in Step 1. If all went well and your scratches were just on the anti-glare coating, you are finished. If your scratches remain, you may need a new screen. The part number on the back of my TFT was: 3D0 NEL75 – AB3. The last “3” was hidden under the circuit board (see image 8 on next post).
Last edited by TTS - AR; 12-22-2010 at 04:38 PM.
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