okay i have a 1994 integra ls with the purple stock rear window tint with defroster lines.

i have searched the forums and other guides online and their advice seems to contradict each other.

the last thing i want to do is scratch my glass or ruin the defroster lines whichever method i choose to go with has to be most efficient way.

some places recommend the bag/ammonia/rag while others say to use a scraper.

to be honest, i dont have the 3-4 hours required for the first method.

so my questions are, what other effective ways are there? i would like to hear from someone who has actually removed the tint.

also, what is a ballpark figure that a tint place or detail shop would charge to remove it? i need to get it off this weekend because i can hardly see out the rear window. (its tough enough as is with the slanting hatch.

thanks in advance.

edit: here is a image of the disgusting tint. (yes silly, the car is on stilts)



Modified by alexisthemovie at 12:56 AM 11/10/2006

 

Rent a carpet steam cleaner w/ the hose attachment. Steam the tint at the highest temp setting, using gloves of couse, them just peel corner. Pull very slowly at an angle. May not come off in one piece but keep at it. All that's left is to clean the excess glue w/ a razor blade and you're done. Doing it this way will eliminate the risk of damaging the defroster, just remember to pull SLOWLY and if you see the red lines of the defroster start to come up, steam it a little more and proceed.

 

I've done the amonia/bag thing and it takes a long time and a lot of patience. A tint shop will do it for pretty cheap but I don't trust them. I've gone through several reputable tint and alarm places and they don't ever guarantee that they won't mess up the defroster lines. I've paid good money for crappy tint jobs b4. If you have the time I recomend doing it yourself unless you know somebody that you realy trust.

 

All the tint places I have ever talked to said it would be 200+. They do not like to strip window tint (around my area). They rather tell you how to do it. I stripped my EM1 that had bronze tint on it and the back window took like 5 hours. I used windex/razorblade. Someone told me to use a heatgun. I would try that.

 

Dont you run a high risk of cutting the defrost lines using a razor blade on the rear window?

 

yes, you do, that's why you should steam it first. Razor blade works if the tint has not been on there long, say 1-2 years, but in this case, it has already begun to bubble and turn purple. A razor blade will give you about a 50% chance of your defroster working. I'm in ATL or else I'd help. Road trip!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mattsjls &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Rent a carpet steam cleaner w/ the hose attachment. Steam the tint at the highest temp setting, using gloves of couse, them just peel corner. Pull very slowly at an angle. May not come off in one piece but keep at it. All that's left is to clean the excess glue w/ a razor blade and you're done.</TD></TR></TABLE>
I'm a cert window tinter. Go to a Wal-Mart and pick up some Simple Green. it's in a spray bottle. good idea on the steamer. not good idea on the blade.

 

I worked at a tint shop and the easiest way to remove tint is by using a steamer to take off most of the film. After that use windex and a steel wool to clean off the wool...DO NOT USE A RAZOR BLADE!!!

 

Good call, I guess what I was trying to say is, use a blade to get large areas of excess glue on the area between the defroster lines. I tinted windows for 2 years, but we never had very many strip jobs, and let's face it, I'm from GA so most of my tint jobs were 4x4 trucks! lol!

 

thanks guys for the replies,

im going with the windex/steel wool idea first as that sounds the safest.

a friend also recommended that i use a hair dryer (with an extension cord of course) and just blow at it to make it hot first.

 

NO! That will most likley make it worse. You use a heat gun to put the tint on so that it will form to the shape of the glass. The idea of the steamer is not the heat, but also the moisture. Correct me if I'm wrong guys but I don't think a hair dryer will help at all.