Help Removing window tint
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 33
Likes: 1
Help Removing window tint
My 81' has some terribly bubbled up window tinting in the rear window. Decided to start removing it and it is a nightmare. Looks to be 3 layers thick. Top layer is bad enough but lower layers are nearly impossible to remove. They are peeling the paint off the defrost lines (leaving the actual conductor but pulling the black coating off).
Thinking that the only way to deal with this is to replace the glass. Hope this isn't the case. Any suggestions?
Thinking that the only way to deal with this is to replace the glass. Hope this isn't the case. Any suggestions?
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 3,028
Likes: 0
From: Madison Ms
Dayum........Uhhh.........uhhh.......kee p peeling........to late to stop now! I used a product called goof off to get the final crap off......car wax works as well.......You don't use that rear window defroster, do you? 
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 2,512
Likes: 49
From: Franklin IN
Originally Posted by VT-tuna
My 81' has some terribly bubbled up window tinting in the rear window. Decided to start removing it and it is a nightmare. Looks to be 3 layers thick. Top layer is bad enough but lower layers are nearly impossible to remove. They are peeling the paint off the defrost lines (leaving the actual conductor but pulling the black coating off).
Thinking that the only way to deal with this is to replace the glass. Hope this isn't the case. Any suggestions?
Thinking that the only way to deal with this is to replace the glass. Hope this isn't the case. Any suggestions?
I sprayed mine with water and amonia solution and covered with a trash bag and let it soak. The solution will allow the bag to stick to the glass. getting the top layer off will allow the solution to permiate the glue. The local glass shop wanted 75.00 to remove the tint I did it on a saturday afternoon while doing other things no cost. Even the trash bag is reusable!
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 33
Likes: 1
The ammonia breaks the glue down just fine but even soaking, the bottom layer of the film will not stay in tact while trying to peel off. Heat helps but the stuff is just so brittle and so thin it won't peel off. I can easily scrape with a razor but that is extremely tedious and just a matter of time before I cut into the rear defroster.
Any more Ideas.
Any more Ideas.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 8,339
Likes: 24
From: I can walk to MA
If you knick the defroster, you can repair it with conductive paint.
Available at radio shack - maybe even car parts store.
I would use silver from work (expensive), but commercial versions
that use Nickel will work well, too.
Not sure about the black paint ... guess you could go over it with
some model paint and a thin brush ... lots of upside-down work.
My back hurts thinking about it.
Available at radio shack - maybe even car parts store.
I would use silver from work (expensive), but commercial versions
that use Nickel will work well, too.
Not sure about the black paint ... guess you could go over it with
some model paint and a thin brush ... lots of upside-down work.
My back hurts thinking about it.
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 33
Likes: 1
Well after trying to baby the job and finally realizing that there was just no freaking way around messing up the black paint on the lines at a minimum, I got a little aggressive. Turns out that the cooper (or whatever it is) traces for the defrost are remarkably durable. Ended up peeling what ever I could and then using a razor blade to scape off the rest (a gazillion pieces and parts of tint). Scraped all the black paint off of all the cooper traces.
Figured, if it really mattered, either it would never work again or I will simply need to paint the lines again. Much easier to paint a line on then to scrape a bunch of crap off to exactly meet a line. The cooper traces were unbelievalbly durable. Got pretty aggressive at the end and never nicked a single one. Trick of course is to scrape with the lines and not let the edge of the blade ever come in sideways on the traces.
NOW:
Any thoughts (or better yet, real knowledge) on the painting the lines situation. Do I need to and wow, what kind of paint?
Figured, if it really mattered, either it would never work again or I will simply need to paint the lines again. Much easier to paint a line on then to scrape a bunch of crap off to exactly meet a line. The cooper traces were unbelievalbly durable. Got pretty aggressive at the end and never nicked a single one. Trick of course is to scrape with the lines and not let the edge of the blade ever come in sideways on the traces.
NOW:
Any thoughts (or better yet, real knowledge) on the painting the lines situation. Do I need to and wow, what kind of paint?
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