There’s one hassle about driving in the city that we can’t change: the various mandatory windshield stickers that not only hampers your view of the road, but can also derail a car’s overall look and style. Whether it’s for a parking or entry permit at school, work, or home, windshield stickers are here to stay. And since these stickers aren’t designed to be permanent, there’s the added hassle of having to replace them regularly, risking damage to your windshield. So if you’re stuck with stickers that need to be removed, read on.

The main problem with removing these things is that they’re designed for semi-permanent use; their adhesives should be powerful enough to keep the sticker on the windshield for a year or two without peeling off. And industrial strength adhesives are no joke. That being said, here’s the proper procedure to follow for removing windshield stickers:

1) Find some vinegar and paper towels. The vinegar should be the strongest one you can find. Why? Because for this procedure, we’ll be counting on the acidity of the vinegar to loosen the sticker’s adhesives. For the paper towels: any thick, rather tough brand will do the trick. And while not completely necessary for the job, a rubber squeegee for window cleaning or t-shirt printing will help you later on.

2) Now lay two pieces of the paper towel down on the offending sticker, soaking the entire area covered by the paper with the vinegar. Take a break; let it sit for 10 minutes or so.

3) Remove the paper towel. Push and pull on the surface of the sticker to see if it’s loosened up. If it has, use a fingernail to slowly peel off the sticker from one side, being careful to not rip anything off. If it hasn’t loosened completely, repeat step 2. Otherwise, continue.

4) If the sticker’s still difficult to remove, here’s when the rubber squeegee will come in handy. Use its “sharp” edge to poke at the adhesive part of the offending sticker. If it’s still difficult, apply vinegar to the sticker as you poke with the squeegee.

That wasn’t so bad now was it? And it only cost you some paper towels and vinegar (plus the rubber squeegee if you needed it). Now it’s just a matter of getting whatever new sticker you need to get. Should you need to repeat this job in the future, just check back with us if you’ve forgotten a couple steps.

Sources:

http://www.ehow.com/how_6693245_remove-stickers-windshields.html