Removal of windoe tint

[John Larson]

With a little luck, releasing the edges of the non heated side window
tinting will enable you to remove the tinting material in large pieces.
I've recently done 2 cars, both with pretty high quality materials. Use
NEW razor blades, and pick a warm day. I used a heat gun on the rear
window of my Mazda (veeerrrrry carefully!), just to warm it up. A space
heater or a heat lamp could substitute for a warm day, I suppose. I'm
not convinced it helped, and I didn't use it on the GTi. The side glass
tint came off nearly in one piece in all cases. Patience is a virtue
here, and choosing the right angle for the blade. I was able to preserve
the integrity of the rear window heater in both cases. I think the trick
is to peel it back as if you were rolling it off, and to keep the
peeling area as wide as possible. I also found that alcohol was useless
until the tint was off and I was working on the glue that remained in
some spots. BTW, the tint shop guys wanted a bunch of money to do this,
and it wasn't all that difficult or time consuming. Good luck, John