remove tint ( figured it out )

[dpmeeks]

any of you guys know whats good to use to remove very old and stuck on window tint. i bought some tint adhesive remover stuff at a-zone and it didnt even faze it. i tried oven cleaner, didnt touch it, any ideas ???

[BOOSTED88tsi]

pretty much a heat gun, and something to scrape it with.What windows are you trying to take the tint off of? If its the side 1/4 windows. Put some moist towels over where the carpeted speaker area is. That stuff burns realllllllly quick :x

[dpmeeks]

im trying to take off the 1/4 windows and the rear hatch glass..

[chasm2530]

Steel Wool!

[Truth]

take it somewhere and get it done. i tried it myself and i got the sides off no problem, but i had the tint shop take the rest of it off before they put new tint on. i also got a lifetime warranty.

[jolyrgr]

TINT REMOVAL LINK

[madhatch]

i read and tried sucsess fully on a honda ( ricer type ) forum yo use lighter fluid like charcoal,once i started peeling it I shot some lighter fluid into the valley then resealed as best i could.. tint came off in 3 or 4 pieces, i was done with both windows in less than an hour.... Good luck I also used brake fkuid to clean off adhesive then dawn and later windex to remove the brake fluid residuals

[dpmeeks]

finally figured it out... i decided to take a chance and use "autostrip " i got at a-zone $ 1.99 ( paint stripper ) and i let it sit for about 15 min. and off came the tint and adhesive with no problem...

i used garbage bags to cover the interior and such, didnt hurt my defogger lines either...

[Laodicea]

finally figured it out... i decided to take a chance and use "autostrip " i got at a-zone $ 1.99 ( paint stripper ) and i let it sit for about 15 min. and off came the tint and adhesive with no problem...

i used garbage bags to cover the interior and such, didnt hurt my defogger lines either...

 

Did you just spray it on or brush it on? How long did you leave it on? Then it just...... peeled off? Gimme more of the proceedure I need to do it to mine BAD!!!

[jonesh242]

finally figured it out... i decided to take a chance and use "autostrip " i got at a-zone $ 1.99 ( paint stripper ) and i let it sit for about 15 min. and off came the tint and adhesive with no problem...

i used garbage bags to cover the interior and such, didnt hurt my defogger lines either...

 

Yes...please, do tell...I've still got the original tint on my rear hatch and quarters...I've been putting off its removal for sometime now...would love to hear what you did.

 

Thx,

 

John

[Laodicea]

C'mon man I am still wanting to know exactly what you did...four years later..............I still need to take it off my car.

 

I got Kleanstrip Stripper...will this be the same?

Edited February 10, 2012 by Laodicea

[Burton]

damn, how am I just now seeing this.

 

 

Be careful using strippers, as some of them may destroy the defroster lines. also bve careful when using steel wool and such to get the last remnants off. If you scrub on a defroster line too long with even a very fine steel wool, you can "sand" thru the materials in the line that make the connections.

 

 

Here's good instructions from tintdude.com....

 

Author: Ric Wellman © 1999

 

Materials:

• Warm sunny day
  
• Tarp
  
• Large plastic garbage bag
  
• Undiluted Ammonia
  
• Windex (a glass cleaner)
  
• Paper towels
  
• Fine steel wool
  
• Razor blades
  

Tips:

The difficult thing about removing tint is that most film is constructed of two layers of tinted polyester. When you try to peel the film off the glass, the top layer will usually pull right off leaving the second layer behind. This second layer will not peel off, it will just flake and tear like a price tag.

 

Step 1:

To over come separation between layers you must soften the adhesive so that both layers peel at the same time. This is very important, if you peel the just the top layer, you may as well just use razor blades as there is no way to peel the second layer off without picking at it for a few hours. You MUST try to peel both layers at once.

• NOTE: You are more than likely to damage one or more of your defroster lines, when this happens, the cut line will not work anymore. Some cars have radio antennas mounted alongside the defrosters made of the same material. If you damage these, your radio antenna will not work! Be careful! Taking it to a tint shop to be done greatly increases the odds of saving the lines, but even a tint shop can not promise to save your lines, sometimes the film is just to far gone.
  

Step 2:

First, clear the window of any obstructions, like the brake light, speaker covers etc.

 

Step 3: Next cut open the garbage bag so that it will be big enough to cover the entire window. Spray some water on the outside of the back window and the lay plastic bag over the glass. Cut away excess plastic so that it is now roughly the same shape as the glass.

 

Step 4:

Next, lay a tarp over rear deck and seat, spray ammonia liberally on the inside of the back window. (Ammonia is very strong, I suggest you hold your breath during this step) and cover ammonia soaked tint with the plastic bag so that it won't evaporate.

 

Step 5:

Park the car with rear window facing the sun for about an hour. The film should now be ready to peel.

 

Step 6:

When you are ready to start peeling, leave the plastic in place so the ammonia wont dry. Get the peeling started with a razor blade in a corner where there are no defroster lines. Try to peel film off in one piece. If the ammonia dries as you peel, the glue will get hard again, so spray a bit of ammonia on the area as you peel.

 

Step 7:

Once the film is peeled you will need to scrub the adhesive off with ammonia and fine 0000 steel wool. Mop up scrubbed areas with paper towels before they dry. Finish up with window cleaner and paper towels.

 

Removing tint from side windows

 

Soaking is not nessesary here. You may want to use a simple razorblade holder. Cut a notch onto the upper area of the film so that you have a piece to pull. Try to peel the film, it will probably come off in two or three pieces. Spray the remaining adhesive with soapy water, and scrape the adhesive off with a razor blade, avoiding the edges of the glass until last to keep the blade sharp. You may need to use a few blades as they dull quickly. Finish up with window cleaner and paper towels. Inspect for missed glue (its clear and hard to see)

 

 

 

Removing tint using a Steamer

If you have access to a Jiffy steamer or similar steam machine, you can make quick work of tint removal. Apply the steam to a small spot for a few moments and use a blade or the spout of the steamer to peel the area just steamed, when you have enough to hold, just peel slowly as you steam just ahead of the area you are peeling.

 

This will bring both layers of tint off and sometimes the adhesive too, without presoaking for an hour.

 

Customers

If you dont know how to correctly strip off old tint, its probably best if you dont try.....It will only cost you more.

 

From am member of the forum:

I had a guy come in about a week ago. He asked for an estimate to strip and retint his 2dr civic. I gave him the price for both. This much for the car and this much/hr to strip. He makes an appt. for me to tint the car, but said he wanted to save some money so he was going to strip it himself. I told him how to do it, but I also told him that if he tries and messes up I.e., doesnt get it all off, just pulls the film and leaves glue, kills his defrosters, scratches the glass, it was only going to cost him more. He said "well it doesn't look that hard" and left. A couple days later he brings it in for me to tint. This guy ruined every piece of glass in his car. On the B/W he killed the defosters, and left glue and tint throughout the matrix. On the 1/4's he scratched the frit all to hell (black boarder around glass for the noobs), and on the doors scratched the heck out of them as well. After all that I STILL had to charge him to finish the job.

 

In the end this guy didnt save a dime. Instead he ruined all his glass, and probably a whole Saturday doing so. When he picked it up I asked how he did all the damage (I knew he didnt do what I had told him). The guy told me this....."Na man, the way you told me didnt work. I just took a 4" scraper blade from Home Depot and put that in some Vise Grips. That worked sooo much better" I couldnt believe my ears!!!

 

So you see what I mean everyone? Even if it costs just a little more to have the job done right, wouldn't you rather do that than what this guy did? Not to mention, you are going to make the whole job much easier for the tinter! Which in turn will more than likely get you a better job in the end.

 

A good question about removing tint

From SUZIE:

Hi, so glad I found your website. I'm one of the fools trying to remove really old, really bubbled, baked on tint from my hatchback window with defroster lines. I've unfortunately already picked and pulled at most of it before I decided to search for help. I have all the stuff need to follow your instructions but I'm a little confused about the plastic bag part. Do I need two bags, one for the outside and one to cover the tinted inside once I've sprayed the ammonia? Please help so I can finally see out my back window.

thanks.

 

The reply

No, you just need one bag, the bag is to cover the ammonia that is sprayed onto the film (on the inside) so that the ammonia wont evaporate. The bag is first laid onto the outside just to cut it to shape. Unfortunately once the film has been partially stripped this method wont work well. You should still soak it, but dont expect to be able to peel it off (because there is no longer a continuous piece of film).

 

I suggest soaking it as normal, then expose only a small area at a time to pick at the film, then peel back the garbage back a little more and work that area. At this point you are looking at about 3 hours of sweaty hard frustrating work. If you can afford it, have a shop strip the rear window for you, it will save you a lot of aggrivation.

 

Removing residential film

Your best bet for removing film from residential glass is to soak them in soapy water instead of ammonia, using the garbage bag method described above. Let them soak for an hour or so, then you will need to use a wide razor scraping tool (about 4" wide razor blade scrapers are available at the hardware store) to remove the film and adhesive.

 

Concentrate on removing all of the film, then spray the window with more soapy water and use a new blade to remove the left over adhesive. Windex will also work well instead of dish soapy water. Straight ammonia should not be used as there would be so much, it would be hard to breath in the area

 

 

 

Wallpaper and clothes steamers work sometimes too.

[Laodicea]

Well since my tint is way over 10 years old it is flakey on every window...I did the kleenstrip on the back window and scraped it with a plastic light switch cover. I got most of it off but I will have to lay on my back in there get the rest off. Razors...plural... on the side windows and side back windows...it is hard to get off and flakes like glitter....no way any of it can be peeled in one piece at this point in its deteriorated state. Also carb cleaner from walmart to get the rest of the glue off. Edited February 11, 2012 by Laodicea

[vbrad511]

Tempered glass DOES scratch. If you're going to use a blade to scrape your windows wet them first with window cleaner, and try it in an out of the way spot.

[MotoCam360]

The rear hatch comes off easy... why not remove the whole hatch so you can spend some time carefully removing it without breaking your back or eating tint remnants?

[Burton]

...and watch the razors on the defrost lines. Scrape them with a razor and they will no longer work. Even if the tint is coming off in flakes, the amonia and the bag will at least get stuff lossened and make the job easier.

[Laodicea]

Well I next time I will use the ammonia...I had most of it off from the Kleanstrip...then yesterday I took the razor to the two sides that were left and then the plastic switch cover on the defrost lines...only one spot is cut about an inch but that was from years ago with a razor on the bottom line. I am not concerned with the defrost anyways...I cannot make it work or the side mirrors no matter how much I trouble shot it. I even jumped the leads where the relay goes but still nothing. I will check another thread for that.