Took tint off, now rear window defrost is damaged

Took tint off, now rear window defrost is damaged

Like the title says, a shop took the tint off my rear window and now the defrost system is damaged. How hard/expensive would it be to fix it?

My dad does auto body work and from what he's told me, if the defrost is damaged, he would usually have to replace the whole rear windshield since its not easy fixing just the defrost.

Did the tint shop say they wouldn't cover anything if the defrost was damaged due to the tint? or were there any signs posted up? usually a tint shop is supposed to tell you the pros and cons of doing that. And that if anything goes wrong, they are not responsible for it. if they never mentioned it, you can TRY and get the shop to pay for the damage.

oh i forgot to mention that unless u have a hookup somewhere, the entire windshield can get costly. When my girl's neon got broken into, they replaced the side window for 250.00 and that included the labor. he only gave us that price cause we weren't going thru insurance. If I would of went thru insurance, they would of charged over 400.00.

Some may say its too expensive but this shop is very well known around the area and they deal with alot of the dealerships here. so basically you get for what you pay. If you know how to replace windows then you can save urself a few hundred bucks...

I was afraid that's what I was going to hear. I'm putting way more into my car than it's probably worth, so I may hold off on that. It's looking more and more like I might have to just put some solder across there.... lol

you can possibly repair it but if its too much its not cost effective. i had the rear window on my 98 LE replaced for 300 at the dealer since the tint it had also affected the defrost but i did not pay for anything, i was fortunate enough and the tint company paid for it.

Yeah the rear windshield is usually the most expensive to replace. How many lines did they mess up? They must be a bunch of idiots because I removed tint from my rear windows twice and never manage to damage any of the lines. If anything they should replace it for you.

Yeah he's right they should replace it for you. DON'T let the f*ckers push you around... It's their fault.

If you do let them push you around, or for some reason they're not responsible;
They also make clear conductive paint. You should be able to find it at any parts store. Comes in a little bottle with a brush. Forget solder.

They also have conductive paint pens - kind of like touch up paint in a pen - works great as long as you have a steady hand or use a straight-edge if you don't. The repair kits the brush method works just as well - but little more prep work is involved (easiest way is to mask off a trace to the correct width, paint, and peel off the mask - instant trace).

If it is only one ot two traces - I'd just fix it and be done. Replacing the glass is fine - if the installer put it in correctly - nothing worse than getting leaks in the car after a POS install and having to beat the snot out of them to correct it. But they are clearly negligent in this case - unless they had you sign a waiver - give them some hell.

here is what i reccomend, have them pay for it or get a new one yourself and get the correct and legal tint and leave it at that. reason is if you fix the defrost wires and if not fixed correctly and you plan to put tint on once again it may wind up bubbling or cracking.

Use a multi-meter on a ‘continuity’ setting to find the lines that are broken.

The top three lines work but the rest are broken. Thanks for the advice.

Damn ! they really fucked u over. definately make them pay for it.

i paid 119 for my front windshield on my 01 S and 130 when i had the 98 LE about two years ago . Thats because they were dealer replaced and installed for both cars.

they gave me a Toyota owners loyalty discount.if that make any difference, does it?

Illegal or not, I'm not the one getting in trouble for it if they get caught. But like i said, this place is well known and my girls brother and the general manager (also a family friend) of Koons said they are always doing good jobs with the cars that would go to Koons. So in reality I went to a place that is trusted. Are they overpriced? maybe they are, every area around here is different. However, they did a good job and they also fixed the spider crack that was on the windshield for free. I rather pay a lil more and go to a good place then to pay less and risk having issues with the job done (granted nothing may go wrong but I would of still ran the risk of a shitty job and having to go back and forth with a shitty place).

thats basically what i said....I may go the cheaper route at a place I've never been to, but I still run a risk of having a shitty job done. I'm not saying it will, but there's that small chance that it can be that way.

That is shady but i'm sure there are lots of businesses out there that are the same. You just don't realize which ones are cause they never make it known. And I can't do anything about that.

how did they remove the tint? at my old shop, we used a steam machine and that took the tint off no problem, there wasn't even any glue residue left on the rear windshield, and we never damaged any defroster lines