How to remove window tint film without......

Ok I got the 35th Anny car and some ding bat had put 5 % limo tint on rear window and is starting to peel and bubble. Now my question is this:

How do I get the film off without destroying the rear defogger which still works?

I thought I had seen a post about this before, but cannot find it using search option.

Thanks in advance

yeah Nick i remember the post also from what i remember you spray an ammonia window cleaner on the window and a black trash bag or visquen the stick the bag to the window and put it in the sun for a couple hours and the tint should peel off
did you try a google search

I'd go talk to a company who puts tint on. If anybody would know how to get it off, it would be them.

68COUGAR

here ya go <----Good luck!!!

One word of extreme caution when using ammonia cleaners around your car...

Ammonia just LOVES to ruin chromed plastics and will do it right before your very eyes. That chrome trim on your instrument surround panel or on your radio faceplate? Keep ammonia the heck away from 'em! Keep it away from any and all of your chromed plastic.

Hint...ever go to someone's house and they have these really cool model cars they built when they were a kid and they're all displayed on a shelf in the dining room...and that dining room is next to the kitchen...and the chrome bumpers etc on the cars are a lil dull or there's no chrome left on 'em?
That's because of the ammonia cleaners used in the kitchen, on the walls, the dining room table, the windows etc etc etc...the fumes ate away the chrome on the models.

Get the picture?

Except for doin' the window tint removal, NO ammonium on your car interior!

'bird

I had this same problem with my '91 SC. After blowing the better part of a weekend of wetting the back window with ammonia, letting it soak, contorting myself into a pretzel to pick bits of purple plastic bit by bit (Yes it's _supposed_ to peel right off... yeah, right), then having an ugly mess of patchwork tint still on the glass and the backseat littered with purple bits, I saw this was going to take multiple weekends to accomplish. I then called my local Ford wrecking yard (Bob's Ford Parts, Gresham, OR), bought a rear glass with defroster off a wreck for $75 and paid a glass shop another $75 to swap them out. I consider it money well spent.

pereubu said:

I had this same problem with my '91 SC. After blowing the better part of a weekend of wetting the back window with ammonia, letting it soak, contorting myself into a pretzel to pick bits of purple plastic bit by bit (Yes it's _supposed_ to peel right off... yeah, right), then having an ugly mess of patchwork tint still on the glass and the backseat littered with purple bits, I saw this was going to take multiple weekends to accomplish. I then called my local Ford wrecking yard (Bob's Ford Parts, Gresham, OR), bought a rear glass with defroster off a wreck for $75 and paid a glass shop another $75 to swap them out. I consider it money well spent.

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I think I am going to do this. I was reading the link on how-to-do this and even with the interior out of the car. I don't think it is going to "just peel off" with ease and I do not want to ruin the rear package tray carpet which is perfect on the 35th. Guess I am junkyard hunting for glass. I wanted to take all the glass out of car before painting anyways.

One more step added to 35th resto project.

Is this the same 35th thats in your signature? Or did you pick up another one?

I removed the old mirror tint off my 90 on the sides and it still took a few hours. I started to do the back window but realized it was gonna be a pain in my ***. So I took it to the guy who was going to do the new tint (he had a 35th SC) and he said he could get the tint off the back for me with some high powered adhesive remover he had. I go to pick up the car a few hours later and all the windows are tinted except the rear. He got the tint off, but he said the adhesive remover he used was so strong that it started to eat the window glue so he wanted to wait a few days to let it dry and harden before he applied the tint to the back window. So I had to bring the car back 3 days later and he finished it.

Scott Long said:

Is this the same 35th thats in your signature? Or did you pick up another one?

I removed the old mirror tint off my 90 on the sides and it still took a few hours. I started to do the back window but realized it was gonna be a pain in my ***. So I took it to the guy who was going to do the new tint (he had a 35th SC) and he said he could get the tint off the back for me with some high powered adhesive remover he had. I go to pick up the car a few hours later and all the windows are tinted except the rear. He got the tint off, but he said the adhesive remover he used was so strong that it started to eat the window glue so he wanted to wait a few days to let it dry and harden before he applied the tint to the back window. So I had to bring the car back 3 days later and he finished it.

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NO, the one in the pic is a 89 35th clone, I have a real 90 35th in the garage undergoing restoration!

When I used to work at an install shop we removed it all the time with 409. I watched our tint guy use the trash bag method many times he would leave the car out for the afternoon then it would peel right off. I used 409 not to long ago and got the rest of the adheisive off pretty easily.

Jeff

J57ltr said:

When I used to work at an install shop we removed it all the time with 409. I watched our tint guy use the trash bag method many times he would leave the car out for the afternoon then it would peel right off. I used 409 not to long ago and got the rest of the adheisive off pretty easily.

Jeff

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409, and it wont stain the carpet (black carpet) if some was sprayed on accident?

Probably will. We always masked the area off with clear plastic and towels(like the stuff you use when painting) to keep it off of anything that might be damaged. It's messy so you don't want little pieces getting everywhere.

Hey Nick...

www.sccoa.com/forums/showthread.php?p=434852

68COUGAR said:

I'd go talk to a company who puts tint on. If anybody would know how to get it off, it would be them.

68COUGAR

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I spoke to 4 window tint companys and all of them told me they would have to scrape off the and ruin defogger..... it is time consuming and they don't want to do it....

Hey Hey

unclenick said:

Ok I got the 35th Anny car and some ding bat had put 5 % limo tint on rear window and is starting to peel and bubble. Now my question is this:

How do I get the film off without destroying the rear defogger which still works?

I thought I had seen a post about this before, but cannot find it using search option.

Thanks in advance

Click to expand...

Before you get all lost on how to remove the window tint...

But I have done this on a few cars... and has worked flawlessly for me...

though it takes some elbow grease... you should be able to peel the tint off... however most likely the glue will stay one... I used acetone and a wash cloth...

Ascetone on the Washcloth and circular motion on the window... the glue will dislove and ball up... but like I said it take elbow grease.. and prevents the replacement of the window.. and from destroying your defogger...

I also found this last week that Denatured Alcohol just may do the same thing. with out the smell...

The material the tint is made from (5% limo is likely polyester) is porus. The 409/amonia (I like simple green) when sprayed onto the surface and held in with a black plastic bag is absorbed into the layer between the polyester and the glass. It interacts with the adhesive and causes it to become loose.

You can then pull the polyester film off the rear glass. Depending on the film, some adhesive will stay on the glass, but at least the film is off. Whatever adhesive left on the glass will need to be removed. This can be done with the same amonia, simple green, 409 in a spray bottle and a white plastic pot scrubbie thing. Scrub..scrub...wet..scrub. you'll go through a few scrubbies as the adhesive is pulled into the scrubby.

You can use Ascetone but you really need to ventilate the area well. This stuff will make the adhesive no longer stick to the glass and you can scrap it off the glass with a hard plastic edge. I used to use a cleaning fluid in a spray can from ZEP products to remove the adhesive from vinyl decals on the sides of semi's. Did the same thing.

The pros use steel wool to remove the adhesive that remains as it's very fast. But yes, it does ruin the defroster lines. And they really are not going to want to do anything else as it's too labor intensive.

What about something like Goof Off or Goo Gone? I used it on the door windows with no problem. Worked really well. But would the defogger be safe with those solvents?

I know, I know - "Holy thread resurrection Batman!!"

I found the ONLY way that anyone should be trying to remove window tint - especially on the T-Bird rear windows. I found the tip online somewhere a couple of weeks ago and it sounded like the most intelligent idea I had come across, so decided to give it a try.

If you take a plain old clothes steamer to the window tint, it will loosen it right up and peel off...simple as that. I tried two different models - the first of which was this one ($30):



It worked well, but the water capcity was low and it didn't work as well up-side-down on the rear window...plus to was a little bulky when trying to reach the very bottom of the window...actually it would only reach to the lowest defroster line. So I went and bought a little bit better one ($50):



This thing outputs hotter steam (which made the remainder of the job MUCH quicker and easier), has higher water capacity, and best of all, reaches ALL THE WAY to the tightest corner of the rear glass! After the flaky, old rear window tint, I removed old old tint off the 1/4 glass. Both sides in 5mins...no other tools, no joke. SO easy. The rear glass will need a good deal of glue cleaned off still, but the 1/4 glass tint took 99% of the glue off too. I think if I had used the $50 steamer on the rear window the first time, I would have to do very little glue cleaning.

Anyway, just wanted to share. Much easier, cleaner, safer, economical, faster than any other way...unless you want to spend 2 entire days with a cute little squirt bottle and a razor blade. Oh yeah, and your wife can do your dry cleaning at home now.

Make & model # Where did you buy?

35thauto said:

Make & model # Where did you buy?

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Bought both at Target...didn't really shop around except on Amazon.

The small one is a Rowenta the large one is a Conair...not sure on the model #'s.