hey guys welcome to another edition car
stickers that is a sore subject it is a
sticky subject not all stickers are
created equal so what I have in front of
me or right below me is a car and it's
got stickers and buy stickers these
particular brand of stickers happen to
do with transponders here in Southern
California we have what's called toll
roads so you put a transponder in your
front windshield so that sends a signal
so that it registers in your account and
automatically charges your account so
that you can use the toll roads without
having to pay or stop but as like
everything else in life things get
updated and they come out new
transponders that are now smaller and
lighter and a better version which means
the old transponder adhesive strips no
longer work or you perhaps just want to
remove them so once again not all car
stickers are created equal there we have
the two velcro strips that the
transponder would stick to on the inside
of the windshield
how do we get these off now the simple
approach is you grab it with your
fingernail you peel it off
well almost instantaneously people most
people are going to realize that there
might be in fact some adhesive left over
how do you get rid of that adhesive so
what I'm going to address is a few
complexities of what would appear a very
simple problem a simple solution would
be just to grab it with your finger rip
it off and you're done but you see how
these are exposed to the sunlight even
though I'm in the shade so what happens
is these bake over time they can become
brittle and then becomes a different
problem as to how to remove them I have
not tested these yet I just know that we
want to remove them how do we get them
off how do we get off the residue of
adhesive so let's work our way through
it and we have a guest with us
halie say hi hi Haley is my daughter
this is her car and these are the strips
that she wants to remove so on the way
home from work she said hey Dad can we
remove those strips of course we can but
what appears is a very simple problem
when in fact could be a little more
complex than the casual observation
would suggest so Haley what would be
your initial strategy in removing those
adhesive strips probably just till it
was mine no okay so go for it and see
what happens
and it looks like the strippers are
still pliable meaning it's not brittle
and not breaking apart has it degraded
from the Sun so much because I've seen
them degrade so much from the Sun okay
so there that's off bingo except what do
you see behind like a layer of a layer
of goo okay that's actually some
residual adhesive I've seen these where
they become so brittle that you touch
them and they disintegrate into dust or
ashes this is not the case so there that
was the simple fix for removing them
many of you would stop right there
because you're on the bare minimum plan
we are not going to stop there now we
have to remove the adhesive because for
example when you go to clean the window
and you drag a cloth whether you're the
one cleaning the window or not let's say
you go to the carwash
that poor guy at the carwash she's going
to drag this cloth across those adhesive
strips it's going to collect lint and
now you're going to have an unsightly a
collection of lint particles on your
windshield probably unacceptable to most
people so how can we get rid of that
adhesive residue here I have my arsenal
potential products
this is a solution is called IPA in the
industry which stands for isopropyl
alcohol I believe it is half rubbing
alcohol which is this half distilled
water it's a very common solution in the
world of detailing because it removes
greases waxes polishes it's how you
clean the surface to reveal what is
going on so it's a good solvent cleaner
rubbing alcohol and I'm offering a few
suggestions because I don't know what
you're going to have around the house
now rubbing alcohol comes in different
strengths let's call it for example this
is 70% I don't even know what that means
it's really irrelevant because I know
it's rubbing alcohol I get this at
Costco
here I have my window cleaner this
particular version I believe is
McGuire's and it's a concentrate comes
in a gallon size I diluted down as per
instructions this is what am I go to
which is acetone now many of you freak
out when you try to introduce acetone
when it comes to cars I use it in a lot
of places you for let me state at least
eight that if you understand it for what
it is which is truly a solvent you'll
notice this is in a metal container
versus a plastic because over time this
acetone will start to degrade and melt
the plastic that's why it has to be in a
metal container so this is a stronger
type of solvent versus some of these
other choices here acetone is very
effective now just like everything else
the rule is that not all things are
created equal here in California we are
so highly regulated and we have this
thing called the AQMD the Environmental
Protection Agency all these agencies all
trying to look out for the greater good
so what they do is they
inject their wisdom into it and think
like oh it can't be that strong because
that's bad for the environment whatever
so the stuff here in California likely
is weaker than perhaps what exists in
your state and the reason I bring that
up is that you need to test it now we're
working on glass which is about as safe
as safe guest meaning you can use most
chemicals and I stress the word most
without possible damage any of these
chemicals will be a non-issue on glass
so I know through experience that
acetone is my go-to on that because it
will dissolve that residue lickety-split
but let's say you don't have acetone at
home you don't want to run home depot or
whatever and buy acetone well maybe you
have rubbing alcohol under the medicine
cabinet or under the sink maybe you've
got some glass cleaner so how do you get
rid of that residue because it is sticky
gooey imagine gum sticking in a water or
stepping in a wad of gum on hot Street
it's just miserable to get off so and
then I also have my magic eraser which
will be more towards the end so let's
try the rubbing alcohol first
Hayley let's see because I think most
people have the rubbing alcohol at their
house actually let's just go the window
cleaner will go here here then there
that's just a little side bar so let's
try the window cleaner and you tell me
and we've got my microfiber cloth now
because I don't want to destroy this
it's still usable I'm going to reach for
one of these blue paper towels which I
prefer because there Victor than
traditional paper towels so you can
actually do heavier duty jobs with them
so Hayley I'm going to hand this to you
so spray that spray that on the window
area get the whole area and then it
really doesn't take much because it's
either going to work or it's not and you
rub and you see you tell me what's
happening
Lindsay going away okay I'm actually
surprised
it is but see often I am surprised
is it scaring it or do you think it's
going away well I do saw some texture
skill okay so maybe it's a combination
of removing it but not entirely or do
you think it's kind of just
repositioning it on your window now
fellas okay
what's encouraging I can see smears so
yeah like you reduce it you break it
down so I'm actually surprised that the
window cleaner but that window cleaner
has probably ammonia or alcohol in it
it's just a very weak solution okay so
let's reach for the straight rubbing
alcohol and try that and see if because
it looks like the other strip is thicker
as in more residue left over
typically a big wad right there is
what's going on that the wad is yeah
that's a pretty thick wad so it's
breaking it down right yeah okay this is
a kind of smearing it well put some more
get a fresh spot on your cloth and put
more rubbing alcohol on it because what
happens is you break it down you're
essentially transferring that residue
from the glass to your cloth so you need
to rotate a section of your cloth so if
you have a clean area with some fresh
rubbing alcohol does it look like it's
working yeah I mean from here it does
but I still see centering it right here
okay so let's do this let's try the
acetone and me the bottle
because acetone has a lid on it that has
to be this is not one of my simple tools
it's called a key it's got this little
latch on it for lack of a better word
and I just pop it off like that
so Haley will now and it's the same with
the rubbing alcohol you just need a
little little wet spot there so Haley
let's switch and you tell me if you feel
like that just cuts right yeah it's a
lot mother yeah yeah a lot better
and based on my experience with acetone
that's generally the rule is it's going
to cut to the chase it's just that not
everyone's going to have it so at this
point what I like to do because now you
have a combination of residue from the
rubbing alcohol the acetone it's not
perfectly clean as in a front windshield
that we need to look out and drive
safely with so let's reach for our glass
cleaner and our magic eraser
so spray the window yep exactly
and what the magic eraser will do will
clean it off aside from making some
really noxious noises probably the third
worst noise in the world that squeak
it's like taking a nice kick to your
eardrums
okay so we've cleaned that off now at
this point yes you can reach for your
microfiber now that's not my first
preferred choice as far as cleaning
windows with and this moment we're
actually not trying to demonstrate how
to clean windows so get the window
cleaner shoot it on the window and then
you can clean it off how does the glass
feel does it feel smooth is you're
wiping across now anyway residue at all
tinting now there's anything showing up
in the camera folks just know that the
outside of this glass is dirty so let me
you hold this let me verify something
okay everything that I am seeing is on
the outside of that glass that's what I
want to verify and this feels perfectly
smooth I feel no residue whatsoever
so I would say we have complete success
I also just recognize that one at the
top okay you know what that is it looks
like one of those games stick yeah and
you see how your finger just quickly
kind of just outlines oh okay that was
my now why don't you try the glass
cleaner first since we already have that
with a cleaning cloth yeah and see if
that will eliminate it that works okay
yeah that's pretty straightforward okay
till next time folks we will see you
then