Toyota Coaster Motorhome Conversion – Window Tint Removal and Application

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Our Toyota Coaster windows are already tinted, so why would we want to change it? Well, we are a little bit special that way and like things to be new and clean. So Shane and I decided it would be a great idea to replace the old, tired window tint in the bus with new ‘do it yourself’ window tint. As with everything we have done so far, we thought, ‘how hard could it be?’. Well I can tell you, the window tint removal was fun. Turns out when you follow instructions, it can be hard to the point of stamping your feet and crumpling the tint up into a ball. Yep, as you can see towards the end of the video, that is what happened.

So back to the decision of window tint. We purchased Altrex extra dark smoke 5% from our local Supercheap Auto store. This is a super dark tint, with only 5% of light being allowed in.

We decided to go with the darkest tint we could find, for the windows that were going to be directly behind the bathroom cubicle and the fridge. We did not want to be able to look in from the outside of the bus and see the back of these.

The Removal Process –

Removing the old window tint was the first step.

I had purchased a scraper blade from our local hardware shop, Bunnings, and had planned to just scrape it off. I began by removing the window lock using a phillips head screwdriver and taking out two screws. I set this aside to put back on after the new window tint was in place. You can leave the window lock on and cut the tint around it, but I found that the ease in removing it was much more convenient than trying to work around it.

I then began to scrape the window tint off piece by piece. Two hours, and half the window tint later, I decided no more. There must be an easier way; that’s when I turned to Google.

Heat.

I found a hair dryer, heated the edges of the window tint and used my scraper to start a peel. It worked. What had taken me so long on my own, took only 15 minutes to complete the rest of the window with the hair dryer. Time for the next window.

Once the old tint was removed from all of the windows we decided on, they were cleaned with ammonia free glass cleaner to get them ready for the new tint. We are not sure why it was necessary to have ammonia free glass cleaner; the instructions said so and we decided it would be best to follow them, just in case. We wiped the windows with paper towel so as not to leave any dust or marks.

New Tint Application, First Try –

The process was supposed to be simple. We purchased all the items required –

• Tint
• Bucket
• Mild dish washing liquid (Mix approximately a cap full with 4 litres of water and fill spray bottle)
• Spray Bottle
• Squeegee
• Utility knife
• Large 60cm ruler
• Clear tape
• Ammonia free window cleaner
• Paper Towel
• Cleaning Cloth
• Butchers paper for the outline
• Marker

The instructions said, measure twice, cut once.

So that’s what we did. We measured the window, drew it up on the butcher’s paper, and cut out the paper only to reveal it was too small. Time to measure again. This piece looked better. We then placed our piece of butcher’s paper up against the new tint, cut around it, and left approximately 1 centimeter around the entire outside. This was just in case there were any issues, and it could be trimmed later.

The next step was a bit fiddly. The new tint has a thin protective layer which once removed, meant that we could adhere it to the window. Using 2 pieces of sticky tape on either side of the tint, and pulling gently, it allowed us to separate it. Once we had done that just a little, we wet the window and tint with a mixture of dish washing liquid and water in a spray bottle. While ever the window and tint were wet, you could move it easily. We learnt this probably a bit too late; our first attempt started to dry and no matter what we did, we could not get it to line up.

It was so difficult! This is where I ended up stamping and crinkling it into a ball.

Our piece of tint was too small. It didn’t work. Measure twice, cut once they said. It didn’t work!

Back to the drawing board.

New Tint Application, Second Try –

We decided not to measure the window up this time. It was time to ‘wing it’.

We held the tint up against the window and cut a piece big enough to fit with plenty of excess around the edges. We decided it would be easier to just trim around the edges once in place. We separated it, and kept it completely wet throughout so it did not crinkle as we got it in place, and stuck it on. And… it worked! Our way worked! Once it was in place, we used the squeegee on the new tint. Shane gently pressed it, and pushed all the water to the outside edges to get it flat, remove the air bubbles and all excess water from underneath.

The utility knife was then used to cut around the edges of the excess tint and make it a nice clean edge.

It was done. And with our way, the second and third windows were complete without issues.

And for a ‘do it yourself’ job, it looked fantastic! We were super happy and decided that possibly one day, definitely not too soon, we would do the rest of the windows, just not as dark.

So that was the window tint. The final step before we could mark out our layout in the bus and start framing!

The Layout –

We have talked about our design before and what we want in our bus. It was finally time to tape it up on the bus floor and get an idea of where we stand. Both Shane and I had been wanting to get to this step for so long. We wanted to see if everything we had discussed and hoped would actually work.

The day was beginning to fade so this would be our last job before leaving. We got out our plan, measured and taped it out. It started to look real.

Thankfully, just about everything we had talked about and measured worked. We will go through this in more details once we start framing, but it was just exciting to get it up and running!

Keep an eye out for next time, the exciting stuff begins!