Tinted Windows Window Tint
I live in a state that is not a sunshine state so therefore there is no legal reason to have tinted windows. Yet I was stopped the other day for having tinted windows. I am an auto tech by trade and know the laws regarding tinted windows in my state. The amount of tinting that is legal in this area of the state is up to the officer's discretion.
Now knowing this I waited until I was stopped to take the tint off my windows. Why? I am lazy just like anyone else. I thought that the tint might have been too dark but I was not the officer in question so I did not know. I should have just removed it from the car as a safety precaution before I got pulled over for it but yet again I am lazy.
Turned out the cops didn't like the amount of tint on my windows but I did not put it there. I had bought the car that way. The tint was already there when I purchased the car about a month ago. It was not a selling point to me. Like I said, I don't live in a sunshine state where tint protects the car's interior from sun damage. So what the tint turned out to be was a nuisance because now I had to remove it.
Now I have nothing personal against tint except that it got me pulled over which I could have done without but then again that was my fault for not having removed it as a possible problem. Now how do you remove the tint?
Most tint on most cars is a plastic film and how do you removed a plastic film? With a razor bladed scrapper. Now you can buy a decent razor bladed scrapper from an auto parts store that will work. Just tell the parts guy what you want to do. Once you've got your scrapper in hand you start at the edge of the window.
You should be able to see the line where the tint begins and the window ends. Use the tip of the scraper to scrape up the edge of the plastic film. Once you have about a to a an inch of film scraped up simply pull it off with your fingers. Repeat the process with the scrapper and fingers until you have removed all the film from the window.
Now make sure you have a new blade in your scrapper now you must put the flat of the blade up to the window to remove the glue that held the film on. It should scrape off pretty easily. You have to scrape the whole window because the film was all over it and so is the glue. Once you have gotten about 98% of the glue off with the scraper you can get a cloth rag. Not paper towels because they are not abrasive enough. Not something too abrasive like a green scrubby pad that would scratch the glass. An old bath towel will work fine.
Get a can of brake clean also at the auto parts store. Spray the rag and quickly clean the glue from the glass. It should come right off the trick is spraying the rag and not the glass the brake clean will evaporate too quickly if sprayed on the glass. Now the glue will come right off. NOTE: you must scrape most of the glue off the glass first because the brake clean will only clean off spots you could spend all day trying to clean the glue off the glass with a rag and a can of brake clean and get nowhere fast.
Next is obvious, touch up the glass with some windex and you are good to go. I hope I have helped you if you ever run into the same problem I had. I do not know anything about putting the film on the glass that I would trust to an auto body shop or a glass tinting place.
