1. Check your paperwork for warranty. Some films have a lifetime warranty!

2. Fresh razor blade, patience and some skill will get the film off (bigger pieces are better). The glue is going to stink and you will probably have to buy a releasing agent to get that off.

3. The defrost will get wrecked for sure if you are scraping with a blade.

Often regular Windex will help dissolve the glue. If not, then acetone will work and a razor blade will remove the dissolved glue. I had to redo my Mustang windows since the original tint turned purple (installed back in 87) and that is what I used. Luckily I did not have the defroster on the stock window, but the new hatch now on the car has one. I'll have to be careful when I redo it.

If you want to redo the tint, most places will remove it for you. I would remove it from the side windows and take it to a place to remove the rear unless you want to take the time to do it.

Good luck!

Windex is awesome when taking off Tint. That and a razor blade

tint removal is best left to the pros, i can tell you it can be difficult at best and down right nearly impossible at worst. a friend of mine does this professionally and there are times he has severe issues getting old tint off windows, especially the rear with defroster wires.

for the side windows the job is fairly easy, a good razor blade and some patience does nicely. remember that there are multiple payers to tint, so dont just remove the tinted layer and thing you are done. there is a clear substrate that also needs removing. as indicated the glue does tend to stink, and sometimes quite badly, so be aware of that. after the film comes off the sides, soak the side windows with soap and water, and yes windex does help also. you want to soften the glue and remove it again using the razor blades.

the rear is where you are going to have issues if the tint is more than a few years old. if you cannot get the tint to come off in one or two large pieces, you may have to bag the rear window and let it sit in th esun for an our or so to soften the glue enough to remove the tint. you do this soaking the rear tint with ammonia, and then covering the tint on the inside with plastic garbage bags. after that you want to VERY CAREFULLY use the razor blade to remove the tint. you have to be very careful here so as not to damage the defroster wires. the trick is to lift the film where the defroster wires are not, and pull in the film a little at a time. sometime the film will come off in moderate sized pieces, sometime it will come off in small pieces. once you get the film off, DO NOT scrape the window with the razor blade, use a fine steel wool instead, my friend uses 0000 grade to clean the glue off. again you want to soak the rear window with lots of soap and water.

my best advice is, if you do the doors, then take the car to a pro and have them do the rear. removal of one pane isnt going to cost you that much, probably $30 or so, and they will take the pains to avoid damaging the defroster wires.

While everybody mentions razor blades ....

be aware that you don't have to use steel industrial (as opposed to shaving) razor blades.

You can use the hard plastic razor blades made for protecting surfaces, which are far less likely to scratch surfaces or cut through defroster wires. Of course, not totally foolproof, but better odds of not doing damage than with a steel blade.

I've had some success using ammonia and water to soak the tint film with a sponge and a heat gun to soften the adhesive of the wet film. Worthwhile to spend more time soaking all the film than starting to scrape it off, so get all the windows soaking before doing the next step.

Depending upon the quality of the original bonding, it may not be that daunting of a job. All of the window tint film I've been asked to remove was due to it bubbling away from the surface, and those failed areas were the places to start the removal.

Seems like I used black plastic garbage bags cut into sheets.

>Peel off as much as you can
>Wet with Windex
>Apply plastic
>Park car in sun to get glass hot
>Gently scrape, if not loose enough repeat with the Windex and plastic.

I just bought a car that the previous owner had tinted and I am going to remove it all. I think I am going to take it to a shop and have it done, they tell me it is about $ 100-$150 to have it done professionally and it isn't worth me using a bunch of razor blades and time to get it done. My Sons have done it themselves and suggest I go the professional route because of the pain in the neck it is to do it yourself.

Don

1. They apparently did chitty job and likely used cheap film anyway
2. cheap film dissolves from ammonia. Get a strongest ammonia cleaner you can find and liberally spray it on several times. It dissolves film, not glue.
3. Glue is water activated. As a result, simply water/soap solution dissolves it.
4. problem with old film is - glue solidified. BUT! It's still a pliable material. So, instead of setting you vehicle in the sun, to warm it up (dahh, it's almost winter), take a heat gun to it. Paint stripper, aka.
5. Or, you can combine BOTH water and heat:


Easy Way to Remove Automotive Window Tint - YouTube