Tint removal

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Spook50

Spook50

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So I got my sliding windows a while ago (thanks again Steve!), and they're in great shape. Okay well, in the shape I expected from the photos, which is easily restorable. Anyway, I want to pull the tint of of the glass without hurting the surface of the glass at all, and after searching I've seen that people have recommended a water/ammonia mix, a steamer, and someone even said steel wool. Not being sure how high quality the glass itself is, I'm leary of the steam and steel wool methods. Have any of you guys who've gotten your windows successfully removed the tint, and how did you do it? I'm really eager to get these cleaned up, repaired and installed.
 
Lots of soaking with wet cardboard and left overnight and it was still a pita.
If they are aussie sliders then sometimes the sun makes the tint go hard and brittle and it dont soak the water up too well:mad:

I got the last of it off using a scraper with a razor inside.
 
Ditto Ige, I used a harbor freight heat gun, works great, then acetone to get the sticky crap.
 
good luck with this. I helped remove some out of my moms old K-car wagon in the 80;s and it stunk! Literally. Smelled horrible and was a pain to remove!
 
Spray ammonia on the tint side, cover with black trash bag material, & leave in the sun. Use single-edge razor blades, being careful not to turn them over (corners peel up & can scratch glass). Scrape vertically to release a piece large enough to grab, then peel it off. Use the razor blades to scrape off the adhesive, spraying water as a lubricant.
 
Tinker said:
Spray ammonia on the tint side, cover with black trash bag material, & leave in the sun. Use single-edge razor blades, being careful not to turn them over (corners peel up & can scratch glass). Scrape vertically to release a piece large enough to grab, then peel it off. Use the razor blades to scrape off the adhesive, spraying water as a lubricant.
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Tinker has it right. Follow these directions exactly and you will be pleased with the results. I have a few years of detail shop experience to back this up.
 
Tinker said:
Spray ammonia on the tint side, cover with black trash bag material, & leave in the sun. Use single-edge razor blades, being careful not to turn them over (corners peel up & can scratch glass). Scrape vertically to release a piece large enough to grab, then peel it off. Use the razor blades to scrape off the adhesive, spraying water as a lubricant.
Click to expand...

What if I lack sunlight? :D
 
On mine I just used a single edge razor blade(the box cutter type that still has a little flex in it) to start the peel, just peeled off the tint and douched the glue really well and same razor to scrape off the glue. Keep the glue wet whilst scraping it's a lot easier...............

Oh yeah, a new blade for each window helps
 
Tinker said:
Spook -
Need sunlight to heat the trash bag material & the ammonia to steam the glue. No sun in WA during the winter?
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Oh there's sun, but the cold air keeps the bag from warming up at all :frown:
 
Should work anyway. Leave it on there for about an hour.

The ammonia softens the glue and lets you take the tint off as one piece. If it starts to seperate into 2 layers, move over to another corner and start over to see if you can get it off in one layer.

GT
Spook50 said:
Oh there's sun, but the cold air keeps the bag from warming up at all :frown:
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I did this recently. I used a razor blade to peel off the tinting and high grade Acetone will take the glue right off. Use ventilation. I'm telling you the acetone takes it off instantly. You don't have to wait around for the sun to pop out. Plus the actone does not harm the glass nor the rear defrost leads.


I would use a hair dryer and razor blade to peel away and let the acetone do the rest of the work.
 
I just ran across the remover I used, it's called "Oops All Purpose Remover" and with a hair dryer made pretty quick removal of the old purple tint. I just sprayed it on, heated the tint and after getting a corner started sprayed inside the tint and pulled back gently. Keep spraying and heating and it came off pretty much in a single piece.
 
the best way to remove the glue afterwords is to just spray soapy water and use a razor blade. very fast and effective and dont have to worry about your interior etc.
 
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