After doing some more reading online, I finally got brave and tried my hand at removing the rear window tint on the '87 P72. I wanted to be good and careful with the rear tint so as not to damage the defroster grid any worse (apparently it'd had damage already when the tint was first installed 10 years ago, so even if I were comfortable driving at night with the tint it'd still have to come off to fix the defroster).
Since the front and rear side windows don't have any particular concerns, I had gone ahead and tried peeling the tint off those as soon as I got the car (fronts were necessary because front tint is pretty much illegal in Michigan). The fronts came off in one piece, just leaving behind an annoying amount of residual adhesive, but the rears came off more in shreds, leaving the bottom layer behind in several places and requiring considerable attention with a small razor scraper until they were clean.
For the rear window, I read about two methods. One sounded kind of messy, involving spreading straight ammonia on the window and covering it with plastic that's been cut to shape to help the ammonia soak in, then coming back after an hour and peeling the stuff off. But reading on, I read that steam can be your friend in this project - and it just so happens I have a steamer!
The steam method is kind of time-consuming and tedious, but it's pretty straightforward - steam a corner till you can peel the edge up with a fingernail, and continue across the window, steaming constantly and working very slowly, so that the whole thing comes off in one piece.
I didn't get quite that lucky and the tint did manage to separate on me a few times (probably from me getting overconfident and pulling a little too aggressively), but here the steam again came to my rescue and helped me peel the bottom layer of tint off by hand, with no scraping required. It's great how this stuff softens the adhesive and even in 30-40 degree weather leaves the window warm enough to keep peeling for a little bit after steaming.
I'm including a few pictures, starting with my first messup and continuing until the entire window is back to stock in appearance.
Since the front and rear side windows don't have any particular concerns, I had gone ahead and tried peeling the tint off those as soon as I got the car (fronts were necessary because front tint is pretty much illegal in Michigan). The fronts came off in one piece, just leaving behind an annoying amount of residual adhesive, but the rears came off more in shreds, leaving the bottom layer behind in several places and requiring considerable attention with a small razor scraper until they were clean.
For the rear window, I read about two methods. One sounded kind of messy, involving spreading straight ammonia on the window and covering it with plastic that's been cut to shape to help the ammonia soak in, then coming back after an hour and peeling the stuff off. But reading on, I read that steam can be your friend in this project - and it just so happens I have a steamer!
The steam method is kind of time-consuming and tedious, but it's pretty straightforward - steam a corner till you can peel the edge up with a fingernail, and continue across the window, steaming constantly and working very slowly, so that the whole thing comes off in one piece.
I didn't get quite that lucky and the tint did manage to separate on me a few times (probably from me getting overconfident and pulling a little too aggressively), but here the steam again came to my rescue and helped me peel the bottom layer of tint off by hand, with no scraping required. It's great how this stuff softens the adhesive and even in 30-40 degree weather leaves the window warm enough to keep peeling for a little bit after steaming.
I'm including a few pictures, starting with my first messup and continuing until the entire window is back to stock in appearance.
Attached Files
Good point about leather seats in the sun, but I'd imagine it would take a pretty dark front-side tint to make a big difference ... which I don't think I'd be seriously considering even if it weren't illegal here.
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