Cleaning Residue on My Home Tint

Hi,

I have all my home's windows tinted. They were done in 2000 and were washed regularly with soapy water for the first 5 years or so. After several very busy years of babies, they've been completely ignored. I am ready to wash windows again (please, no judgement!). On several of my windows, the whole window is coated in a sticky substance. It almost feels like dried scotch tape residue...it isn't. Maybe cooking grease and household oils? Not sure. I have an unventilated gas stove, so maybe it is from that??? Several are in my kitchen, but one is in the master bedroom. And, to throw a puzzler in, I have a door with 5 horizonal glass panes. One of the five (the middle one) has this residue. The other are pristine.

I contacted my local dealer who had never heard of anything like this.

It will come off with a tremendous amount of elbow grease and a cleaner. So far, I've tried diluted Dawn, Simple Green, Solar Magic and Fantastic...all with a soft cloth. It doesn't seem to break up the residue, just make it smeary. I was thinking about trying Goo Gone...is that a mistake?

Any ideas about cause (second or third rate housekeeping perhaps?) or how to get it off other than many, many hours of rubbing?

Thanks so much. Love tinting and, now that I'm not a sleep deprived zombie, I actually enjoy looking out my windows and would like them to be sparkly!

Angie

Are you sure there is still film on those windows? Do you know what film was put on your windows? It would be hard for me to believe that the film is "sweating" adhesive through the film.

Sounds like it's probably cooking grease. That stuff is a bear to clean. Not sure what to suggest that wouldn't damage the film other than Dawn and a lot of elbow grease.

You could alway test a cleaner like TSP (tri-sodium phosphate) in a small inconspicuous place and see if it damages the film or not.

I dont' think it is anything from the tint itself. Just blame my lack of washing. I'll try the suggestion, thanks!

good luck and let us know how it goes please.

I've seen (and had to replace) some etched glass look film on an entry/exit to an office. It seems that the the provided push bar across the width of the door was too complicated so people just pushed on the glass. Over 3 or so years the oil/sweat from all the pushing had stained the film a not too pretty brown colour.
From your description in the case before us many years of neglect (sorry Angie) some airborne grease and dirt have accumulated . Please remember that window film is a plastic and does not play well with abrasives or solvents. I'd suggest a good dose of a good dish detergent directly on a microfibre cloth. Wipe it around some and let sit for a few mins to let the soap do some work breaking down the grease. Rinse well with clean water and see what remains. If it seems progress is being made continue. Lather rinse repeat. If this does not work you may need to have someone come out and look. Is it possible to take some pics and post them here?

use full strength simple green

i'd use some aerosol glass cleaner that contains ammonia. BEFORE I GET BASHED LEMME EXPLAIN...

use the glass cleaner and a microfiber cloth to clean it. OR try some rubbing alcohol and micro fiber cloth to break it down..

don't let either of them sit too long on the film, the idea is get is sprayed, try and get the gook off and wipe the cleaner off.

once you get it off (and one of my suggestions WILL get it off) DO NOT use either of these on a regular basis to clean your windows.

i feel its safe because you pretty much don't or haven't cleaned your windows in a long time (sorry) therefore one cleaning with an ammonia or alcohol based product won't ruin your film.

once it's clean, use some silicone spray and apply a light coat and polish it up with a clean dry micro fiber cloth and you'll be good to go.

I ran into some windows that had a wierd film on them when I was cleaning a few windows and it ended up being the Scratch Resistant coating that was coming off I think. It didnt seem to change the appereance much but it was on some of the windows not all of them so it could be that you are experiencing. Do you know what type of film it was?