Is there a good way to clean records without damaging them?

There are special cloths and tools for this purpose. Of course, they were available everywhere back when records were king.

They used to say that you could immerse vinyl in a weak solution of dish detergent and water, let them sit for just a few seconds and then rise well and dry with a soft, non-abrasive cloth.

If there are scratches on the tracks when you play the record (haven’t used that word in this context in a long while) washing won’t help but it will help with “pops” due to dust embedded in the grooves.

SRM

put them in the dishwasher!

I’d go with what Marina’s link is pointing to. I’ve kept my albums in really good condition that way -some of them for more than 30 years.

yes, I used to use mild soupy water as well. It takes out the static! I run it under my shower head. You can hang dry them with a up-side-down wire hanger. Make sure you wrap some tape at the tip so it won’t damage the record label.

If you have a scratched record that skips when you play it. You can try to find the exact point where the skipping occur. Reposition the needle a little before the skipping point and apply very very light pressure to the needle with a sturdy finger right before the skip. The needle should reopen the damaged groove and fix the skip. The key is make sure you press straight down and not too hard. You don’t want to damage the needle either.

Wet cleaning produces bubbles that will dry and make noise.

Cleaning devices push surface dust into the groove.

The safest cleaning is done by playing the record and regularly cleaning the stylus with cleaning paper.