Removing degraded window tinting

Bulandgoose · 09-10-2011, 08:54 PM

MyAU Fairmont has the usual problem with the rear window tinting going opaque/purple.

I've read that you can remove the film by softening it with ammonia and using a steam cleaner.

The steam worked with all the door windows, allowing me to peel the film off, but the adhesive remains behind. Ammonia starts to take it off, but it's an extremely slow process needing a lot of elbow grease. Is there a faster way?

The tinting on the rear window seems to be completely different, more like some sort of jelly applied to the glass. Ammonia has taken some of it off, and at least I can see out of it now, but getting the rest of it off is another uphill battle.

Any ideas?

TheSly1 · 09-10-2011, 09:58 PM

from memory heat gun on outside of window, to heat up the adhesive, and pull back almost across itself

Beer Baron · 09-10-2011, 10:04 PM

Liquid buff tyre shops use to clean the inside of rims for stick on weights will get it off but will melt some plastics, rubber and goes up in flames very easily.

Bulandgoose · 10-10-2011, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beer Baron

Liquid buff tyre shops use to clean the inside of rims for stick on weights will get it off but will melt some plastics, rubber and goes up in flames very easily.

Is this what you mean? http://www.autochem.com/620.html

bartsau · 10-10-2011, 03:44 PM

Had this problem when I took all the window tint off my au wagon. took forever, I found that citrus clean broke it down and you could then scrap it off really easy with a very shard blade. Just being careful not to scratch the glass. Then the last few bits I shifted with more citrus clean and newspaper.

Not a job recommended for the kind hearted. I ended up actually pulling a lot of the interior trim off and pulled all the door glass out as the edge of the tint I couldn't get to otherwise.

Try the citrus clean saved me a fair chunk of time.

Beer Baron · 10-10-2011, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keith Walters

Is this what you mean? http://www.autochem.com/620.html
image

Nah its like brake clean but stronger. Grab a rag and head to a tire shop and ask for to wet the rag and give it a go. I don't know if you can buy it from normal shops as i have only seen it in tire shops and some dealerships.

therat58 · 10-10-2011, 08:18 PM

hi mate,had same problem with my forte,the film comes off easy,the glue was pain in rectum, tried lots of stuff,got on to eucalyptus(not sure spelt right) oil,takes it off no worries,if ya don't mind the smell,put some on a rag,wipe window,give it a minute or so then hit it again,should come off like beads of glue,anyway hope it help.

TheSly1 · 11-10-2011, 08:15 AM

I did some tinting on my car a few years back and bought a DVD collection on how to tint windows, this is by certified training place that trains people in the US.

When i got a sec ill look up the videos and ill try chop out the section on how to do it, i remember watching it, he puts baby powder on the glass to show that none of the glue was left there, fairly sure it was just heating it up on the outside of the window..

anyways ill try.

Bulandgoose · 11-10-2011, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheSly1

I did some tinting on my car a few years back and bought a DVD collection on how to tint windows, this is by certified training place that trains people in the US.

When i got a sec ill look up the videos and ill try chop out the section on how to do it, i remember watching it, he puts baby powder on the glass to show that none of the glue was left there, fairly sure it was just heating it up on the outside of the window..

anyways ill try.

Various US websites recommended spraying the glass with ammonia, then putting a black garbage bag on the outside and leaving it in the sun to heat up. When I did that, the rear tinting turned into a a grey gelatinous mess that wiped off quite easily, but there was another layer of plastic under it which isn't so keen to move. It was was nothing like glad-wrap peeling off, like you get with the side windows.

bartsau · 11-10-2011, 06:27 PM

When I was getting quotes to have my car re tinted most places were going to charge $50 to remove the tint. Obviously more if not getting new tint put on. I decided to avoid this cost. In hindsight not worth the effort. According to the car tint places they told me they always steam it off.

But seriously try the citrus cleaner. Works a breeze.

Bulandgoose · 14-10-2011, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bartsau

When I was getting quotes to have my car re tinted most places were going to charge $50 to remove the tint. Obviously more if not getting new tint put on. I decided to avoid this cost. In hindsight not worth the effort. According to the car tint places they told me they always steam it off.

But seriously try the citrus cleaner. Works a breeze.

Success at last!
Turns out there are actually two layers of film, plus a layer of some jelly-like gunk.
When I put the ammonia on before, it apparently dissolved the first layer of film and turned the jelly stuff into a white mush. (There was still some untouched original film in a corner that I hadn't reached before, which is how I know this).

After a lot of hard work I'd cleaned off the jelly-like stuff and the window was a lot better, but still sort of permanently misted up.
Turns out there was actually another layer of extremely tough film still attatched to the glass, and when I steamed that off, I had clear glass at last!
This has to be some sort of glass factory pre-fit, because the film runs right under the rubber seal.
I haven't got it all off yet because it was getting late last night, but it seems pretty straightforward now.
I couldn't find any actual "Citrus Clean", but I bought something that sounds very similar, and it does clean off the remaining glue. It also works really well cleaning up the grimy plastic surfaces that have suffered years of ankle-biter abuse!

bartsau · 15-10-2011, 02:28 PM

Good to hear you're getting it sorted. When I took my tint off I had to pull trim off and door glass out because the tint went all the way to places I could not get to otherwise.

my67xr · 11-10-2011, 09:02 AM

i used a steamer, start at a corner and work the steamer across the tint, slowly peel it back, then steam it again.
work your way slowly across the window, some of the tint will come off in one sheet.
the other way i've done it is with a heatgun set on low.
same method used.
rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol, bunnings and jaycar sell it,250mls for $7.50) is good to soften and glue residue, prepsol, and eucalylptus oil all work too.
another good glue remover i have used is oomph, bunnings sell it 750mls for $9, it is like desolveit another glue remover but this cost $14 for 750mls.

mates have used some dishwashing liquid mixed with water and soaked into newspaper.
then sat against the window tint for a while, it soaks through the tint and it can be peeled off.
i havent tried the last method.
also if using a razor blade, make sure it is new and a decent quality one, so i doesnt scratch the glass.
dont use a blade on the rear tint though, it is very easy to cut the demister bars on the glass.
if you do it will stop working on that row and possibly more.

Bulandgoose · 11-10-2011, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by my67xr

i used a steamer, start at a corner and work the steamer across the tint, slowly peel it back, then steam it again.
work your way slowly across the window, some of the tint will come off in one sheet.
the other way i've done it is with a heatgun set on low.
same method used.
rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol, bunnings and jaycar sell it,250mls for $7.50) is good to soften and glue residue, prepsol, and eucalylptus oil all work too.
another good glue remover i have used is oomph, bunnings sell it 750mls for $9, it is like desolveit another glue remover but this cost $14 for 750mls.

I've got a hand-held steamer that was an Aldi $29.95 "Surprise Buy" and it works really well for lifting the film off the side windows, but the adhesive is still left on the glass.
I tried some Eucalyptus oil this morning, but it didn't seem to do much. Maybe it needs to left to soak for a while.
So far the only thing that really works is ammonia, but that's really awful to use and there's still a lot of work involved.

JaguarDave · 11-10-2011, 12:54 PM

I had this problem with the tint on the back screen of my Fairlane too. I've done it the old fashioned way on other cars and hated th etime it took so I decided to steam this time.

I bought a "Tobi" brand clothes steamer off ebay for less than fifty bucks including postage. I filled up the steamer, let it heat up till it was making lots of steam and started the head on the corner of the film. The film crinkled up a bit and basically disengaged itself from the window so no effort at all was needed to peel it, it just sort of fell off when my hand grabbed it. MOve the head to the next adjacent area and repeat.

All up it took me about eight minutes to get the whole screen done and there was nothing left behind, no cleanup needed except for a towel to mop some water drippages off the seats and screen.

The trick to making sure there was no residue left behind was to do it patiently making sure the film area you are about to peel was fully steamed upbefore peeling a bit, then steam some more, then peel some more then steam some more and so on. Not too big an area at a time. If it's not fully steamed you'll know cos it will be harder to peel and you'll be peeling the film off the glue leaving the glue behind.

So easy that I was almost shocked.

Bulandgoose · 11-10-2011, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JaguarDave

I had this problem with the tint on the back screen of my Fairlane too. I've done it the old fashioned way on other cars and hated th etime it took so I decided to steam this time.

I bought a "Tobi" brand clothes steamer off ebay for less than fifty bucks including postage. I filled up the steamer, let it heat up till it was making lots of steam and started the head on the corner of the film. The film crinkled up a bit and basically disengaged itself from the window so no effort at all was needed to peel it, it just sort of fell off when my hand grabbed it. MOve the head to the next adjacent area and repeat.

All up it took me about eight minutes to get the whole screen done and there was nothing left behind, no cleanup needed except for a towel to mop some water drippages off the seats and screen.

The trick to making sure there was no residue left behind was to do it patiently making sure the film area you are about to peel was fully steamed upbefore peeling a bit, then steam some more, then peel some more then steam some more and so on. Not too big an area at a time. If it's not fully steamed you'll know cos it will be harder to peel and you'll be peeling the film off the glue leaving the glue behind.

So easy that I was almost shocked.

The stuff on my back window was nothing like that. There was no way of peeling anything off; it was more like a layer of jelly had been applied to the glass. I suspect it was actually applied in the glass factory.

The tinting on the side windows peeled off as you said, but nothing peeled off the back window, it just turned into a mess of goo. This was originally a senior executive's car in metallic green, pretty up-market, and I think the rear window might have been colour-matched or something. I've seen other cars where you get bubbles in the film; this was the same purple colour, but there were no bubbles in it.

The citrus cleaner sounds good.

macman · 11-10-2011, 01:47 PM

Another vote here for the citrus cleaner. Get some of that "goo remover" or "sticker remover" and do a patch of 15cm X 15cm at a time.

Soak/wipe area in goo remover, leave it for a few seconds (do another patch) then go back to the soaked area with a warm soapy cloth (warm water and detergent) and it comes off relatively easy with a few wipes/rub.

I did my AU the same. Gives you a decent arm ache after a while but it was the best way I could find.

brad` · 11-10-2011, 04:53 PM

or just pay some cash and get a window tint joint to do it for you... hell saves u alot of time and effort... or just go in and ask how they remove old tint,c oulnt imagine them caring to much

Bulandgoose · 11-10-2011, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brad`

or just pay some cash and get a window tint joint to do it for you... hell saves u alot of time and effort... or just go in and ask how they remove old tint,c oulnt imagine them caring to much

I asked. They charge almost as much to take off the old tinting as they do to fit new film