Lighter fluid also might be worth a try, although its smell isn't much better.

WD-40 also works and it doesn't smell as bad!
It's also very easy to obtain and most people would have some in their household already.

Thank you,
I usually have some lighter fluid or alcohol to do this, but its nice to know other stuff.

I've heard that WD-40 can be harmful to some materials, LDs might be OK though, never tried it myself.

Lighter fluid is pretty cheap and is used by toy collectors for sticker/glue removal, though.

WD40 is one of those things like duct tape. People who don’t know how to do anything think it can do anything but there is *always* a better product. Literally always.

I use Goo Gone a lot for sticker removal. I use lighter fluid mostly for lighters or re-lubricating Mini4WD bearings. I’ve never bothered to get rid of an LD’s sticky edges so I don’t know what works better. I would for sure rather be cleaning Goo Gone off of something than WD40.

Re-opened the "save the Madonna LD" project and skipped the label remover entirely.

Just alcohol disinfecting wipes, and some gentle scrubbing.



Disc is back to life!

Julien

Another copy popped online and this time the seller was honest about the state of the disc inside the cover.



All this production batch probably has the same glue issue.

Julien

I don’t recommend using any solvents on the outer edge of a laserdisc where the layers meet to remove any glue that is squeezing out as it could be sucked between the layers accelerating the process of delamination, contamination, and oxidation.

I’ve encountered glue on a few of the very poorly stored discs and found that gently rubbing one’s palm across the disc edge rubs the glue off effectively without any solvent. Be firm enough to rub it off, but gentle as not to cut your palm with the disc edge. It’s possible a white eraser may also be effective for those with baby-skin hands.

Thankfully, I’ve not encountered anything as bad as posted above… yet.