De-Tinting rear window/Defroster

[RiggsLW81]

I've decided I can't stand looking at the bubbled purple-ish mess of an old ass tint job any longer. The rear tint has to go.

My concern is about taking it off, and destroying the rear defroster in the process, which I do not want to to.

Any tips/pointers to avoid that? If the defroster was broken, can just that be replaced? or does a whole new rear window w/ defroster need to be sourced at that point?

[Dudbird113]

A good tint installer should be able to take it off

[sweetbmxrider]

Napa makes a kit to repaint the defroster lines. Pulling the tint off shouldn't hurt it but if you have to get in there with a razor, be careful. Rubbing alcohol will take care of the glue residue.

[MyFirstZ]

Let it sit in the sun before you do anything. But the cheaper quality of tint along with age will dictate how it comes off. The older cheaper **** will come off in small pieces and be a nightmare.

Personally I would bring it to someone

[ar0ck]

A heat gun/hair dryer will also help with the glue.

[RiggsLW81]

thanks for ideas... so if the defroster gets jacked up badly, beyond say a napa repair kit being able to fix...is the only alternative to find new glass with one on it? or is there anywhere that has a kit to put on existing glass? havent seen one, if it exists..

[MyFirstZ]

Never heard of anything like that. I believe new glass will be the only option.

[deadtrend1]

When I seen your car at the shop chris I noticed the tint. The condition that its in makes it difficult to remove. The layers seperated and you will only get the one layer off. If it was intact theres a way to use ammonia on a hot sunny day to peel it without hurting the defrost grid.

I would talk to a tint shop and see what they say, but a new untinted hatch may be easier. I ran into the same problem when i had my 86, and my 01 is starting to seperate in places.

Oh and also, if you do say f it and scrape it, the contour of the glass makes for a long day of scraping.