Old nasty purple tints must go...here's how

Here is what you need.

Goo Gone


Window cleaner w/ no silicone


Razor blade


Step 1.
Use the razor to pick up the tint and pull it off

You'll notice the glue is left behind and it wont come off with window cleaner or window compound. (I tried ... for while )




Step 2.
Use Goo Gone to relax the glue (5min) Now use the razor to push the glue off. The edges are a PIA.


Step 3.
Once ALL the glue is off wipe down the rest / left over goo gone. Once the goo is gone use the Window cleaner w/ no silicone to spray over the window.



Wipe down the window with side A of your towel and use the other side (B) of your tower to wipe it down with a dry side.



Get some Coffee because you'll be at it for a while


Be careful with Goo Gone and your interior panels because it may look like goo gone is oily but it will dry out your panels.

 

Safety Tip

I used gloves because once you get to the goo gone step it will get hard to hold the razor since goo gone is very VERY oily.

 

Does anyone have tips on removing the rear window tint without damaging the defrost lines?

 

It's a slow and not so fun process .... Best to do it in the summer time after the rear glass has been in the sun for a while. You pretty much have the right tools for the job though! Also you might try a heat gun. Good luck man.
-J

 

Nice how-to -- I'm gonna need to do this soon. Tints from back in '94 look pretty awful currently...

 

I do this for a living.

Goo Gone is messy, toss it. Glass cleaner, a couple razors w/ a scraper.

If possible, peel all the tint off the glass, leaving behind only the adhesive. Start at the top of the window, and then roll it the rest of the way up. Exposed glue will go into the top edge, but if anything is left behind it is a quick clean up with just a towel wipe.

Spray entire window with glass cleaner with the window in the UP position, and wait a short while to let it soften the adhesive.

Start on the bottom with the window rolled all the way up, don't try rolling it down at this point or any point after the tint has been removed,or it could make a mess of your doors seals as the glue will stick to everything it touches and requires removing the door panel to fix.

Avoid any edges and scrape the glue off. This should be a very quick process, less than a minute to scrape all the glue from the middle up to all the edges. Reason you don't want to touch the edges is so you don't knick the blade, the sharper the blade the faster the removal.

Once you get the middle clean, hit the edges, once those are clean, roll the window down and finish the top edge. MIght need a new blade now and then, but usually 1-2 per window is plenty.

I usually can strip an entire 4 door car not including the rear window in under 20 minutes and have the windows tint ready, which means spotless top to bottom. But I don't spend an hour bitching about having to do it either like you know you will when it comes time.


And for removing it off the back window. You will need

1 large black plastic garbage bag, cheapo ones are the best because they are slightly transparent (reason stated below)

1 bottle 409 (regular formula, comes in, I believe, and white and purple bottle)

1 stainless steal olfa/hobby knife

1 shop light of some sort

Cut the edges of the bag until it will just fold out into one large sheet and lay it over the outside of the back window.

Place shop light in rear hatch and close (be careful as to what light you are using as some can get very hot and melt/start fires Gently close hatch as to not damage extension cord.

Cut around the edges of the bag using the black ceramic boarder on the edges of the glass as a guide, maybe 1/4 over but it's okay if the cut is sloppy. Just so it will cover all the tint on the inside. The shop light will allow you to see through the bag will enough to see this edge easily.

Stainless steel is less likely to scratch glass, but not a guarrantee. Be careful and only push as hard as is neccessary to cut through the plastic bag and you will be fine, I do it all day long.

Now, place bag over the top of the rear gargo area so it's in place to just lift up and stick to the glass. Now wet the glass liberally with the 409 and spray down the bag as well. It's alittle messy, but won't hurt your fabric, just wipe off any runoff and over spray as you go along.

Once glass is wet with 409 and bag as well, place bag on the rear glass, covering all tinted area and smooth out the best you can all the air bubbles. It will hold in place from suction.


Now park your car with the rear window facing the sun on a warm to hot sunny day, and wait 30-45 minutes. Now go see if you can peel the tint off AND have ALL the glue coming off with it....if not, respray the bag and give it another 30-45 minutes. Check small areas as to not mess up large portions because you will have to scruib them off by hand, it sucks and is very time consuming.

After an hour or two, it should all be coming off pretty easily and not leaving much behind to scrub up later.

After all tint has been removed, glass cleaner and a white or blue scrubbie pad (not green or red, they scratch glass!!!) should easily clean up any residue/adhesive still on the window.


Have fun.

 

Any other way to the back that doesn't require the hot sun? its like 30F outside...will the heat gun do it?

 

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-...messy%2c-chea/

 

Looks like its cheaper to get a pro to take off the rear lol

 

lol exactly.

Why kill yourself? especially in the weather we're experiencing now?

Might as well take it to the shop, leave it there for one day, have them professionally take off old tints and apply new tints.

Its only a couple hundred dollars.

 

lol here in miami i get em done for super cheap with 3m tints. they charge me like 80$ with lifetime on tint(no purple ever) and workmanship. Awesome guy and fast. it takes him like 1 hour to do and its perfect. no complaints from me. I do take the tints off myself with dishwashing soup and trashbag. With the help from the trusty sun its no problem at all.

 

Guys, stop calling it "tints" Its driving me nuts. Your windows are tinted with FILM.


Atleast just call it tint.

80 bucks for 3M?!?!?! Im glad you are getting a good deal, but damn that guy is selling himself short especially if he is a quality installer. We have a good market for window tint in my area, and a quality shop wouldnt touch a 2 door with 3M for less than 175.

 

Wait, is he leaving the famous "Florida Gap" across the top edge of the rollups and piecing the backglass together? If he is, 80 bucks is too much.

 

I tried something new yesterday with great results. Same bagging method as mentioned above, only instead of parking it in the warm sun (which doesnt exist at the moment) I parked the customers car in my shop and shut the heat off so it wouldnt be warm enough in there throughout the night to dry out the 409 under the bag. Removed it this morning and 90% of the film and glue came off and I had only about 30 minutes to clean the rest up. Took a while to clean the rest off as I was tinting the window afterwards so it had to be completely spot less, but it beats the hell out of a steamer to say the least.

This was on some pretty far gone tint, probably had adhesive failure bubbles on 85%+ of the back glass and was blurry with little to no color left in the film, which is the worst kind to try and remove because it is so brittle.