blackcube

Any suggestions on stripping off old window tint film? At least the hatch that I installed is untinted but the old tint on all four side windows is nasty. Some had peeled so I pulled it off. There seems to be a lot of adhesive residue left on the glass.

icat

Do NOT use steel wool (and don't ask me how I know this). I'd suggest a razor blade.

TaylorSea4

Easy man. Get a razor-blade (the plastic handled, retractable kind), some soapy water and scrape away. This is how they do it at the tint shops, too, so don't worry. Just spray the soapy water on the glass and scrape away. Keep it wet, sling the gooey, soapy crud off the blade (while doing your best samurai impression), repeat until the scraping feels "clean." You'll know.

In case someone gets the wrong idea, DO NOT do this on rear hatches with defrost elements. Use a scrub sponge instead. Happy untinting.

turboGary

I've done a whole car before. Use gas line antifreeze, it is the only thing I could find to break down the glue. It works wonders.

I just notice you are in TX. You may not have that stuff there as you don't have winter.

Mr. Avionics

I don't know about window tint, but for most other glues that are used on labels that ya can't peal off, WD-40 works great at turning the sticky glue to a nice slimy goo that just comes right off.
Worth a try I guess.
Bill

TaylorSea4

Guys, not trying to start anything, but I worked in a tint shop here in Houston (hot= LOTS of tinted cars & buildings), and all we ever used was a mild soap/ water mix and some scrape-razors. That is really ALL you need. A liberal squirt of Joy into a spray bottle of water goes a long way. Being the young guy, I was the dedicated scrape-monkey. Scraped POUNDS of glue and peeled yards of old tint. You just gotta be careful with the blade near door panels and window seals. Why soap? Easy residue cleanup and no stinky chemical smell. Plastic brillo's work on defrost hatches and windows.

blackcube

Thanks guys, that's what I figured, soapy water in a spray bottle and a lot of single edged blades. I'm lucky that the used hatch I bought hasn't been tinted, so all I have to clean are the door glasses and the rear quarter windows. I am going to have to redo the black strip around the edge of the hatch as he old one has crumbled before I have the whole car retinted.

TurboGary, I've never seen gas line antifreeze, I'm a native Texan. Dallas shuts down with a sprinkling of snow. It's going to be in the 20's tonight and I'm damn near freezing.

jc22

Soapy water + heat and the film will pull off in one big sheet. I just sprayed the tint with soapy water then taped a black plastic trash bag on the inside and let it sit in the sun for a couple of hours and the tint pulled off in sheets. A heat gun or hairdryer will work as a source of heat too. Rubbing alcohol works well to get any residue off.

Porsche-O-Phile

Steam, soap & water and a good old fashioned #11 exacto blade for the stubborn spots

BigRed

Watch it now!! We have winter! It's in the 40's right now...

...you are just jealous because you don't have summer!

gsenn

Tint Removers: I recently had my rear hatch separate, as they all seem to eventually do, so I bought a used one that was in pretty good shape, but had a bad tint job on it. It took me several hours (16 or more) to get the tint off--here's how I did it. I used a steamer and razor blades. The tint between the defroster grid lines came off quite easily, but where it was stuck on the lines, it would not come off very well. I used several types of solvents and glue softeners, but without much success. Since the tint removal, and installation back on the car, the sun has caused the remaining bits of tint that stubbornly stuck to the lines, to fall off. I have never seen a tint job on a 944 that looks good after a few months of sun. Its too bad that a manufactured tinted glass hatch wasn't developed as a replacement for the clear glass. That's my two cents worth.

gsenn
1984 944 guards red beauty

9five1

I have had good luck with dish soap, a heat gun, and a whole lot of time. Be VERY careful of the defroster, you don't want to break those lines.

~Eric

Charlotte944

Kenny, my next door neighbor, knows all of the custom interior/window tint/sun roof people here in Charlotte (Kenny installs sun roofs for a living), and the professionals use Windex or similar ammonia-based cleaners to cut the adheasive.

In fact if you read the installation instructions there should be statements to avoid using ammonia-based cleaners to clean the glass before installing the film.

The recommended procedure is to start at an edge and let the cleaner soak. As the cleaner dissolves the adheasive you can pull the film off of the glass. Go slow, and watch out for the defroster grid.

To get the glass clean use Windex or what ever to remove any remaining adheasive, and then use a 50-50 mix of denatured alcohol and water to remove the Windex.

Mike C.

I had very good luck reming tint on the rear hatch using a heat gun (a paint stripper heat gun to be exact).

nineeagles

I removed the tint on my 84 and the side windows came right off and the glue was easy to scrape off with a razor blade...however...I tried everything on the hatch glass with no luck....ended up scraping it off with a razor blade a little piece at a time.....took me about 6 hours.. and alot of pain in my fingers as the tint was hard and would not soften with anything I tried....I didn't use a heat gun as the window was very hot to begin with (summer day 90 degrees)....yes I did catch one or two of the defroster wires but I don't use the car in the winter anyway.....I do miss her....she comes back out in about a month....