Okay guys....
I'm sick and tired of getting targeted by the lame police in my area so I had to remove my tints on the driver and passenger windows to save my cash! I really hated doing this but it had to happen! The area I work in located in a small town where the police have nothing better to do than to give ridiculous tickets. So here's the correct process to successfully remove your tints and also avoid paying $70 bucks to a business!

Project: Tint Removal
Supplies: Ammonium Window Cleaner (Degreasing Formula), Label and Sticker Remover Spray, Paper Towels, and a used Credit Card or Similar
Costs: Less than $10
Where To Buy: Advanced Auto Parts or Similar
Estimated Time To Complete: 2 hours


Please get familiar with your supplies:

Picture below you can see the 2 bottles. On the left is the ammonium window cleaner I bought made by "Brawn" and on the right is some sticker label remover spray.



Be sure to obtain a used credit card, gift card, savings card, etc.!



1. First thing you want to do is remove the tint! You'll do this by letting down the window a few inches so that you can see the very top of the glass where the tint stops. What you then want to do is take you finger nail and peel the tint slowly off the glass. DO NOT RUSH OR YOU'LL LEAVE PIECES. While doing this, some of you may experience some rough areas that don;t want to cooperate. This is when you'll use the "Label & Sticker Remover" by pulling up on the tint and allowing the chemical to spray between the tint and glass. Let it marinate for 30 seconds and try to remove the tint slowly. Soon you get it all off.

**DO NOT TRY TO LET YOUR WINDOWS DOWN! THEY WILL GET STUCK FROM THE GLUE-LIKE SUBSTANCE REMAINING ON YOUR WINDOWS**

2. Once the tint is removed, you'll probably notice a foggy looking white film on the windows that'll create a horrible smell in your car. Here's a pic of mine.....


This crap is very hard to remove!! This is the point where you going to use your window cleaner and give your window a good spray all over. Once you've soaked the glass with ammonium, take a credit card or similar and begin scraping the glass until the gummy substance begins to come off into rubber-like peelings. This is what it should look like:




Make sure you keep some paper towels handy to keep wiping off the residue! Once you get to the bottom of the glass, remember to scrape UPWARD so that it doesn't go inside the door!


And here's a look at the finished product of your work.......


Yeah, it was painful but I can live without another $90 ticket! Hope it works out for you all!

 

Thanks for writing this. I had my purple tint removed for around $100 a month or two ago, mainly because of the delicacy of the rear defroster lines, etc. I wish I had seen this then because they did a really crappy job. I thought they scratched my paint a little and also noticed a light cut in my leather, maybe from their razor blade... I should have either done it myself or went to a better place that charged a little more ($150).

On my old Civic, I had mirror tint, 20% sides (illegal)/35% rear (legal), for a short time...because of always getting pulled over (twice) so I had to take it off eventually. I thought it looked really cool and different at the time and really enjoyed it while I had it. I think I just ended up peeling the sides off with no chemicals or anything and just leaving the rear since it was technically legal.

 

Yeah, I tend to stay away from the razors! Razors tend to scratch glass permanently if not done properly! Getting hit for tints was the last straw for me.......that put me at about $400 that month for equipment violations!

 

Nice write-up, man I need to get on removing my garbage tint.

 

Yeah, there's at least one long permanent line in the glass from the razor... I cannot stand people/businesses/etc. who do low quality work... It's motivation for me to start doing this stuff on my own and can insure that my car will be done and treated right.

BTW, for people who will follow this tutorial/DIY, are there any special procedures or recommendations for the rear window's defroster lines so they don't get messed up or come off, etc. while removing the tint?

 

I would really just recommend sticking to the plastic cards.....simply because they won't splice any delicate wiring for the defroster. I can imagine it taking twice as long for the back window.....and the angles you'd have to hit them at would just be ridiculous...

 

this is a good write-up, but sucks to hear that you all had so much trouble with the cops, because for two years I had all the windows done with 5% tint, and the windshield with 35% tint which made it very dark and very illegal, the sides alone made it illegal but then i went for the windshield and it made it a lot darker which I liked, but I never once got pulled over or harassed by cops for it........guess I was just lucky

 

... i used a steamer and heated them up.. and.. peeled them away.. barely left anything behind.. then went back with windex and cleaned it up.. i removed all of them in about an hour...

 

+1 for the steamer. If you have access to one, the tint almost just falls off by itself.

 

That's excellent! Never knew that one! That would work really well for the back window except I'd have to go out and purchase a steamer and bring my costs up more!

 

that for the write up bro- im sure some people will put it to good use- props

 

used a heat gun, had to scrape some left over residue off, used a razor on front 2 windows, rear 3 still have tint

 

blah ive only gotten one ticket for my tint......gotten pulled over numerous times though......one week it was once a day monday through thursday haha.....

the first time i got pulled over it registered at 3%.....lol

 

Ive installed and removed tint on lots and lots of cars and have found only one tried and true method to remove the tint every time. All it takes is some heat, soapy water, and a black trash bag.

Make sure the window is heated up good by leaving the car in the sun for a few hours or use a heat gun to get it nice and warm. Have a good soapy water mix in a spray bottle and cover the window pretty good and then slap the trash bag up against it. It will stay there an don't ask me how but after about 30 minutes it just falls right off. NO adhesive left, nothing. It just comes off.

I figured it out when I went into an install bay at a tint shop that was charging me nearly 100 bucks to remove my tint a few years ago and saw how quickly it happened. SOOOO easy to do.

 

Man this just keeps getting better and better!