BuffaloSS

iTrader: (3)

[/thread]

Ok, so not really [/thread], but it gets my point across.

Long'ish story ahead, so Cliffs Notes version: Had to remove tint before even pleading guilty/paying fine for tint infraction, and case dismissed for doing so.

One month ago today, my I got popped for 74/55 by a State Trooper in a suburb of Buffalo, since I didn't realize that my wife or daughter turned off my V1. I hit the crest of the hill, see the Trooper on the shoulder, jam on the brakes (had been doing 80+ trying to get my daughter to her softball game), and pull over the second I see him begin to drive.

He does his routine, takes license & reg, makes me wait 10min or so (i think it's just to teach a lesson that speeding doesn't pay, lol), and comes back to the car stating that he wants to save me the points so he's only going to give me a ticket for the tint, although he does "like the overall look of the car." I accept the ticket and continue on my way.

I procrastinated for the last four weeks and failed to mail in the ticket with my Guilty plea.

FF to yesterday, my court date. I realize that my court time is during my daughter's Sectional playoff game, so I call in the AM to see if I can just stop by to pay the fine. I'm told that they will not allow me to plead Guilty or accept the $95 fine without me first removing the tint. WTF?!?!? First time I've ever been told this. The other 2-3 times, I've paid the fine and called it a day.

So, in a panic, I google "easy tint removal" and buy some ammonia and get to work on it. What a f**king pain in the ***!!! It took me about 30min to get the tint off, and another hour or more to remove all of the residual adhesive with about 1/3 of a bottle of undiluted ammonia (cat ****, anyone??) and a flat blade scraper. That was just the front doors! I gave up and figured I'd take my chances with those two.

Drop everyone off at the game and get to my court appt. about 20min early. Boy, have I forgotten how busy it is on traffic court days! I'm about 50th in line. Finally get to the DA, who asks me if the tint was removed. I replied that it was removed from the front doors, and he says to pull the car in front of the precinct and have an officer sign off on the repair. I do so, and I hear the officer ask another if he can OK just the front windows. He OKs it, and I have to now park 4 blocks away, since it's so busy. However, I get to skip the line and go back to the DA. DA says see the judge for dismissal.

An hour later, the Honorable John Flynn (also happens to be my last name, but no relation) dismisses the case with no fine, cracking a joke to the courtroom that it's not dismissed because we're related.

No fine, nothing. So that works out, since it will cost around $90 to put tint back on the front windows

After all of this, I will never complain to the tint shop if they say it's almost 2x the price to R&R tint for me, b/c I know what's involved.

LuSe4

fyi, as long as it isn't the back window with the defroster, a razor blade and ammonia based, foaming window cleaner works very well. Spray on the foam and let it sit on the "glue". Then go to town with the razor blade.

Nick_Nasty's_GXP

iTrader: (4)

GOO Gone or something along those lines proly would've worked too.

BuffaloSS

iTrader: (3)

Problem w/goo gone is that it's so slimy, it would have made a mess of the windows for quite a while.

The straight ammonia still took forever to loosen the adhesive so that the razor blade would actually get it up without scratching the glass.

heavyft

Here's what I do and what the local Zeibart told me.

Take foam interior/carpet cleaner and heavily foam up the window.
Then take a black trash bag and press it onto the foamed window, don't worry it'll hold.
Set it in the sun for a few hours.
Peel off the trash bag and most of the tint will stick to it.
Then use acetone or nail polish remover in a mist bottle to spray the stubborn pieces.
Use a razor blade if necessary.

texasGXP08

Flynn is my last name too. I'm glad you got out of the fine.

monte_with_a_LS4

iTrader: (4)

thats a pretty good story. hopefully ur tint hasnt faded at all that way it will all still be the same color

Tappeter

iTrader: (2)

Why not just use 3M adhesive remover? That's what it is for. There is also an orange oil based remover that they use to remove vinyl graphics form cars.

BuffaloSS

iTrader: (3)

I was in a rush...so I couldn't wait the required 3-4 hours to let the tint just slide off. I did read about the garbage bag trick with any combination of ammonia-based solvents, and I tried that for 15min or so, but the bags I had/used were heavy, 4mil contractor bags, so even one layer wouldn't stick well...and again, I had to get this done in about 90min, so my options were limited. I wanted to at least show a good-faith effort, which worked out in the end.

The orange stuff is too greasy, and I didn't want anything getting down to the window wipe like that. It would have caused a mess that would surface every time I opened the window.

As for the new tint, IDK if I'm going to bother. The 50% I had on there was next to nothing, and looking at the front v. back doors, the difference is negligible. If I decide to reinstall, I'd probably strip the back (the right way...over a few hours or so) and go back to 35% on the rear doors, and maybe put 50% on the fronts to attract less attention. I think the 50 > 35 > 15% transition might not look bad. (i have 15% on the quarter glass and rear window). I used to have 35 on the front and 15 on the rear doors & other 3...and got pulled over all the time.

94ss06gxp

iTrader: (5)

tint laws suck, im glad michigan's tint law isnt stricts at all, just says you can only have a 4" strip of tine from the top on the 2 fronts and windshield and does not specify a %. but i have 5% in back and 20% in front and i drive by cops all the time and have had tons of cops behind me even with tinted tails and my cutout open and have yet to be pulled over.

CenTexSS

iTrader: (2)

If I were to remove my tint, id take the glass out.15 minutes of work per window but would make it really easy.