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How do you remove window tinting?

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vping

vping

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The beemer I picked up has really dark tinting.

1 - I dont like it.
2 - It is wrinkling and bubling in some spots.

How in the world do you get it off? I have some ideas but hope some of you have a gentler, kinder way.
 
I used to be a re inspection place in DC. A lot of cars failed for tinting.... The only way I found to do it was with single edged razor blades, and carb cleaner on a rag afterwards to dissolve the glue. Be careful of the defrost "lines", they can be cut if you are not really careful. It is a horrid job.
 
vping, i had a brother in law that owned an auto window tinting shop, he once showed me how easy it was to remove it, you need a razor blade, a rag, and a spray bottle of all purpose cleaner, spay cleaner on tinted side of window, use the razor to lift up a section near a corner if possible, as you lift continue to soak down the area thats lifted and peel back the tinting as you go, dont "rip" while peeling, its not that bad, i found that if you warm the cleaner in it bottle in the microwave it helps. :savewave:
 
jessebogan said:
I used to be a re inspection place in DC. A lot of cars failed for tinting.... The only way I found to do it was with single edged razor blades, and carb cleaner on a rag afterwards to dissolve the glue. Be careful of the defrost "lines", they can be cut if you are not really careful. It is a horrid job.
Click to expand...

<span style="color: #990000">a very new, clean razor
and "poco a poco" will do the trick.</span>
 
Use Ant'ny's method. Check with a local "sign shop" too. There are some vinyl adhesive "removers" you can use in a spray bottle to soften the material and adhesive.
 
Yep, have done it <span style="font-style: italic">"Ant'ny's"</span> way also...much faster than the other way mentioned....so long as you can lift that first corner!
 
Sign shop? I wonder where I'm going to find a sign shop? :smile:

I was hoping to avoid the chemical portion. There is a contact cement remover called Bestine which is basically heptane. It works really well but not sure if it will effect the rear defrost. Getting to the bottom of the rear window is also going to be fun. Is there a snap of the fingers or wiggle of the nose way of doing it?
 
Vping, it's about as much fun as stripping old, low-grade vinyl :rolleyes: !!! No "wiggle-the-nose" way unless you know a Samantha :jester: !! 3M adhesive remover is probably what the Doc. thought you might find in the sign shop (you should have some of that around!) :wink: Another chemical product (Which actually even smells pleasant!) you might try which cuts a variety of adhesives is "Marine Formula" by DeBond Corp. :thumbsup:
 
I was joking about the sign shop part. I work in a sign shop. I'll see what I scrounge up in terms of scrapers and Heptane and take it little by little.
 
vping, i know! i was just joking around as well, "felipe" was zorros sidekick, are you going to replace the tinting? can you tell yet if theres factory tinting under the stuff you going to take off?
 
:smile:

No it looks clear. I'm not a big fan of tinting so I'll probably leave it off once I get it off. The rear window is going to be the rear challenge. I don't want to get it on the back deck area and I need to be carefull of the refroster lines.
 
be careful on the rear window if it has a defogger as I believe they are put on with adheasive as well.
 
vping, id think placing down some plastic on the rear deck will keep it from getting shmootz on it, ya brobably know this, what did you do about the paint? i personally havent had much exposure to b.m.w.'s but since a friend of mine just bought a twin turbo 335 wi, 300hp, and 300lbs of torque and i like em. :savewave:
 
Vping, you might want to try a little heat on the film before scraping and removing...it works on vinyl and should also help with tint film!
 
The paint is looking amazing. I used Turtle wax rubbing compound over and over again. The rags in my shop look like a murder scene but the shine in unreal. I'll post some pic later. I'm doing it all by hand in lieu of a machine for fear of burning through at the corners.
 
vping said:
The beemer I picked up has really dark tinting.

1 - I don't like it.
2 - It is wrinkling and bubbling in some spots.

How in the world do you get it off? I have some ideas but hope some of you have a gentler, kinder way.
Click to expand...
You can do removing by yourself just follow this tips<deleted> I had mycar tinted and I have no problems about it in fact I'm more kinda satisfied it was done with 3M’s Crystalline by <deleted>
so it just looks like new. Feel free to contact them whenever you want your car to be tinted again. Hope this helps.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
ryan_frances said:
You can do removing by yourself just follow this tips https://www.wikihow.com/Remove-Window-Tint
I had mycar tinted and I have no problems about it in fact I'm more kinda satisfied it was done with 3M’s Crystalline by Mastershield Protection
so it just looks like new. Feel free to contact them whenever you want your car to be tinted again. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Excellent advice - Ryan I didn't welcome you at the introductions thread - so welcome! As you meander around the site, check the dates of the posts. Your advice is helpful and relevant but the thread itself and the last post is almost 10 years old.

cheers
JP
 
Wow, I never looked at the original post date, until I saw Tonys comment, 10 years, doesn't seem that long. PJ
 
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