e-man

I'm thinking of removing the window tinting from my GS. See attached picture. Am I nuts? Has anyone else done this? I think it detracts from the exterior color.

UptownGS

make sure you be careful when removing the tint on the rear glass.... excessive heating could damage the antenna's .... rear view heating etc etc..... I was at a tint shop when another customer was having a fit because the tint shop ruined her car's rear glass's antennna or something like that.... makes sense though.

can anyone confirm this?

bscottj

What are you talking about? Your car is beautiful with the tint!!! Keep it. Looks especially good on your sliver car.

jet864

I can confirm. I used to work at a tint shop and I know the defroster lines can be trouble. If you make a small break in one end, it ruins the whole line of the defroster and the only way to fix it is to buy a whole new rear window. To take off the tint use a blade on all the other windows followed by a scrub down with some 3M synthetic steel wool. On the rear window, cut the top off with a blade ONLY and peel and use the synthetic steel wool on the rest. Make sure its havily lubricated with a wet soapy mixture because it really helps the excess adhesive come off.

James

e-man

Thanks for the compliment. It's just not my style. Here's the way I look at it. If I had bought the car without the tint, would I have gone out and added it? The answer is no, so I figure I may as well remove it, especially if it is the reason my radio sounds so poor.

jet864

I can confirm. I used to work at a tint shop and I know the defroster lines can be trouble. If you make a small break in one end, it ruins the whole line of the defroster and the only way to fix it is to buy a whole new rear window. To take off the tint use a blade on all the other windows followed by a scrub down with some 3M synthetic steel wool. On the rear window, cut the top off with a blade ONLY and peel and use the synthetic steel wool on the rest. Make sure its havily lubricated with a wet soapy mixture because it really helps the excess adhesive come off.

James

D-MAN63

E-man, I don't know man, I like the tints ! Makes it look sleeker !

XYZLexus1

Keep the tint it looks GREAT and protects the interior. I have the exact same car. You are going to create alot of opportunities for damaging your interior when you splash water all over your windows. How long have you had the car? If it has been under 3 months give it a chance to grow on you, if you have had if for years well you will never like it. I know lexus charged $405 adder for the tint when the car was purchased.

e-man

Thanks, guys. I've only had the car for a month or so, and we're just coming into summer. I think you're right. I'll give it a few more months and maybe it will grow on me. Hopefully the crummy radio sound has nothing to do with the rear window tinting.

D-MAN63

How dark is your rear window? My tints are pretty dark, I believe darker than yours from the pics u provided, but my radio still works ok. Maybe the kind of tint material has something to do with it?

NesTea420

Hey man,

The tint looks sweek, keep it. I just tinted my car and the radio still sounds good, I blew up amp but thats another story.

e-man

I don't know how dark the tint is, but I don't think it's all that dark. Someone asked me if it was metallic, and I looked closely at it, but I couldn't see any metallic reflections. If it is affecting the antenna, I wonder if I can add a second antenna to the radio. I'll make another post about this.

Billbosh

I think the tint looks great, helps to keep the car cool in summer and warm in winter (extra layer of insulation).
I agree with Jet864- some steel wool and 409 SHOULD get the tint off the rear window without any problems, as per my tint shop in Miami.
However, I had 9-year-old 3M tint on my Ford SHO which delaminated so bad that the only way to get it off was with a scraper, which destroyed my defroster lines (had to get new rear window). The newer stuff shouldn't be as bad.
Good luck
Bill Boshnick

UptownGS

alot of times what tint shops wont tell you is that if you use titanium tint..... it will degrade your antenna on your rear window.... also there is a particular brand that has been selling like hot cakes but from my perspective after 2 years the tint looks hazy when looking through it.

The only brand that I really feel comfortable when using tint is Johnson. Just FYI..... tinting can be a real headache for such a simple mod.

btw is that 5% or 20?

e-man

I am the second owner, so I really don't know what percent the tint is. My guess is that it's pretty light. Definitely not 5 or 20%. Maybe 35% or even 50%.