I recently bought an 06 330Ci coupe with tinted windows. The passenger window has a scratch and a small tear, but the rear window really looks cheesy at the edges. I've read threads on this site about how easy it is to strip old tint using an inexpensive portable steam cleaner, but I'm concerned about the amount of moisture/water that will run off and about damaging the defroster lines. The thread says this was done with no damage to defroster lines, but if anyone could damage them it would be me. Should one person steam while another catches the runoff with a rag? Does anyone with any recent experience in this area have any tips, pointers, suggestions or warnings? Thanks
http://www.tintdude.com/remove.html http://www.tintcenter.com/articles/bt_removal.html http://www.geocities.com/northerntint/tintremoval.html
Good luck. It's supposed to be easy. Everything I tried didn't work. http://bmwcca.org/forum/showthread.php?t=4355
I used a mixture of water and Ammonia 50/50 mix. It stunk to high heaven but it worked really well. You just have to be patient and let the mixture break down the glue, then it comes right off.
Piece of cake! UPDATE: I bought a $20 hand-held steamer (on sale for $12.93!) and went to work on my scratched passenger window. It peeled right off. Then I prepped to remove the dreaded back window tint - tight space, funny angle, anticipating it would be hot and stuffy back there with the steamer, even with the doors and trunk open and the back seats folded down. I found a corner, loosened it with a thumbnail and began to gently pull. And to my great surprise and pleasure, the tint began to peel off without steaming. I pulled and prodded slowly and within 5 minutes the deed was done - the back window tint was off in one big piece, I had no watery runoff and the defroster lines were perfectly intact. I repeated the process on the driver's window without steam! The moral of the story is if your original tint was good quality and properly applied, it might just peel off for you too. Good luck!