That was a damn fine video! I took my car to a tint place for an estimate. I have a factory installed sunroof that gets hot as hell in the summertime of southern Louisiana. When asked, he told me that they can't tint a sunroof glass because of a danger the glass would shatter. Any merit to that?
So you use what I assume is a commercial grade steamer made for window tinting. Would it work the same with a smaller one aimed more at cleaning (ie is a steamer a steamer)?
To remove any tint, all you need is a blade (To remove remaining glue on glass with soapy water after film removed) and a good steamer, that's it. Can't understand why some tech keeps taking unnecessary extra steps by removing the entire door panels. Not only is a waste of time, but another potential liability to the business and tinter in case something breaks, or accidentally unplugs a electrical cable. This is very common, specially with EV's. Just my honest thoughts.
I’m not in this business. Just a DIY’er. But I don’t want to introduce water (dripping past the loosened wipes) into the interior of my door panel to then be trapped in there. Nor do I want water dripping down behind my brake light or onto the carpet in the rear window. You can even heat the adhesive with a heat gun from outside the window to avoid melting the film. I say spend a few more minutes now with a heat gun to save more time and money later. Honestly, I’d be sorta mad at my installer if they are pouring water into my door panels and closing it up in there to save them a few minutes. There’s a reason doors have wipes to begin with. Also, left versus right windows can matter since our cars spend a lot of time parked the same way at home and at work. The sun isn’t always hammering both sides of a car equally. Better to test these techniques on the front and back windows on the SAME side to truly compare?
It always amazes me how the pros do nothing to protect the door panel from all the solutions applied to the windows! Some vehicles have leather on the top of a door panel.
This scenario was the outlier where they both got the film off the windows within 10 seconds of each other with not much glue leftover. We prefer the steamer in most cases too so I’d have to agree!
But.... Seems like the process of removing 5% glue residual and 2% glue residual takes the same time. Hence the steamer wins overall since the soapy mixture process is the same for both. Unless you propose spot removal of glue, which you did not demonstrate. Excellent video otherwise.
Awesome video! Lots helpful tips and tricks..thanks!
Thanks for watching!
Thx for sharing this video. I did exactly what you did here, and my tint came off easily. Used the steamer method at 80 deg f outside temp. God bless.
Great vid,a lot of help (Manchester UK)
Really great video, very helpful.
That was a damn fine video!
I took my car to a tint place for an estimate.
I have a factory installed sunroof that gets hot as hell in the summertime of southern Louisiana. When asked, he told me that they can't tint a sunroof glass because of a danger the glass would shatter. Any merit to that?
So you use what I assume is a commercial grade steamer made for window tinting. Would it work the same with a smaller one aimed more at cleaning (ie is a steamer a steamer)?
Simply put, a steamer is a steamer - they all tend to work better than no steamer at all but some are more effective than others. Good question!
I have a Walmart brand and a harbord freight model, and both of them do
Thanks for this, I have both and need to get my front and rear redone.
Do you have a preference for the rear window as to not damage the defroster?
I prefer the steamer personally, just make sure you have some good adhesive remover and some scrub pads to get all the glue off!
Is the heat gun ok to use for the rear window with defroster?
It’s ok to use but I’d never like to bring a heat into a car, a steamer is less risky and does perform better in most scenarios!
To remove any tint, all you need is a blade (To remove remaining glue on glass with soapy water after film removed) and a good steamer, that's it. Can't understand why some tech keeps taking unnecessary extra steps by removing the entire door panels. Not only is a waste of time, but another potential liability to the business and tinter in case something breaks, or accidentally unplugs a electrical cable. This is very common, specially with EV's. Just my honest thoughts.
I’m not in this business. Just a DIY’er. But I don’t want to introduce water (dripping past the loosened wipes) into the interior of my door panel to then be trapped in there. Nor do I want water dripping down behind my brake light or onto the carpet in the rear window. You can even heat the adhesive with a heat gun from outside the window to avoid melting the film. I say spend a few more minutes now with a heat gun to save more time and money later. Honestly, I’d be sorta mad at my installer if they are pouring water into my door panels and closing it up in there to save them a few minutes. There’s a reason doors have wipes to begin with. Also, left versus right windows can matter since our cars spend a lot of time parked the same way at home and at work. The sun isn’t always hammering both sides of a car equally. Better to test these techniques on the front and back windows on the SAME side to truly compare?
It always amazes me how the pros do nothing to protect the door panel from all the solutions applied to the windows! Some vehicles have leather on the top of a door panel.
This is a personal vehicle, but I do understand your concerns! We generally wrap them in clear carpet tape which should give you some peace of mind. 🙏
What do you do with 20 year old film that is seperating ?
Have not seen the video, but I can say this steamer all day. Period
This scenario was the outlier where they both got the film off the windows within 10 seconds of each other with not much glue leftover.
We prefer the steamer in most cases too so I’d have to agree!
Thing is not the side windows yall should've don't test on rear window with defroster lines that would've been the best challenge
This is too easy, my film has tears in it where the film is seperating trying to get as many tips as I can.
But.... Seems like the process of removing 5% glue residual and 2% glue residual takes the same time. Hence the steamer wins overall since the soapy mixture process is the same for both. Unless you propose spot removal of glue, which you did not demonstrate. Excellent video otherwise.