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Problem with old film or coatings?

20/8/2015

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We come across a product called UV-XXXX. It is a coating that blocks UV, nothing else. It is sold to reduce fading. Does it work? Well, anything is better than nothing. But since fading is a combination of UV, heat, light and some other factors to a lesser degree, this kind of product is very limited in effectiveness.
Over time, this coating becomes almost opaque and real ugly to look through.
The owner of this unit has tried to remove it, as seen in the bottom left corner. It was taking forever!
We got called and in less than one hour, 3 large windows were back to normal glass to look through!

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    This is a picture of window film with "banding".
The film is becoming streaky and is visible more at certain time of the year, usually in winter. This particular window film was installed around 16 years ago, so is well past its expected life time.

We removed all the film and adhesive and tinted it again with new film, without damaging the glass.

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Tint Removal - Flat Glass

11/5/2014

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Film on Flat Glass uses a different adhesive to car tints.
The adhesive is usually called
DA, standing for "Dry Adhesive". In effect, it is a chemical bonding with the glass and so much harder to remove than the PS type.
The best way to start, is the use of a packet of sharp razor blades. If your glass is not toughened, you should be ok. If it is toughened, you risk to scratch the glass in the process, so EXTREME CARE is needed.

Step 1: Wet the glass with a solution of soapy water and start scraping the film, preferably all layers at once. Keep re-wetting the film and glass, as you go. Change the blade frequently. Once you have removed all the film, go to
Step 2:
Keep the glass wet, let it soak a while and go over the entire area again with the blade, until all the residue of adhesive has been removed.
Step 3: Again, glass wet, use a cleaning squeegee to remove all the loose adhesive and film residue.  Finished!

Be careful during the whole process to not break the glass or cut yourself. The other thing to watch is to take care not damaging the rubber or paint on the frames.


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Tint Removal- How to take it off cars

4/5/2014

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Like anything in this world, nothing lasts forever!
I often get asked, how to remove window film. There are a couple of different adhesive types and depending what kind it is, the method changes a little.

First, car film, safety film, frosted film and some solar films are made with PS (Pressure Sensitive) adhesive. This means the film will adhere mechanically straight away. This glue is easiest to remove.
On cars, have the car outside in the sun, if possible to warm up the glass. Step 1: With a small razor blade or knife, peel away from one corner. Slowly! If you're lucky, the whole sheet will come off. Unfortunately, this is not the case very often. If it's hard to peel, stop and spray the film with glass cleaner containing ammonia. Use an old black plastic rubbish bag and place it over the film for a few minutes. This slows down the evaporation and softens the glue. Repeat step 1.
On rear windows with demister bars, ensure you don't use a scraper, otherwise you will damage the lines. You can use "Goldilocks" or similar non-scratch scouring pads.
Once all the film is off, you are left with a lot of glue. There are some adhesive removers on the market that work well, but care must be taken not to get any on upholstery or other surfaces. You can use glass cleaner and new razor blades and go over it a few times and it will come off.
If you get the car tinted again, ask them them to give you a price for removing it. If you do a bad job, leaving adhesive residue, they will probably charge you to clean it up anyway.

Have fun!

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    Author

    Have been tinting homes and business premises for 25 years now and still love solving people's problems. Go to my old blog here

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