Hey. Today I was trying to take the windshield tape off on my MY01 Sebring S, but I had to give up. The tape is in bad condition, lots of cracks in it. I was trying to take it off, but I could only peel tiny pieces off at a time. I've seen pics of the tape coming off in one piece, so why am I not able to? I was trying to take it off in 91°F weather directly in the sun, with the help of a hair dryer. Any tips? I tried using a knife to make the end come up to pull it, but only scratched the paint. Thanks.

 

Sounds like your tape is dry rotted, and considering it's a 01 I could understand why.

 

Ran into the same issue on my 2000. Hair dryer did nothing for me. Broke down and had to purchase the cheapest heat gun (Harbor Freight $6 for me). Still took hours with it coming off in tiny pieces and then lots of Goo Gone when done, but I managed to finish it. Nails were sore the day after from lightly scraping it up but looks darn good now. Don't give up and grab a heat gun.

I also thought about picking up one of those 3M eraser wheels but wasn't sure if that'd work..

 

I did mine in the dead of winter, no heat at all, it came off in little bits , but I used some wood cuticle sticks (things women use to manicure their finger nail cuticles), they made the job much easier and they don't damage the paint surface. You can find them by the bag at beauty supply stores for cheap.

 

I don't have a heat gun at my disposal, but the forecast puts next week afternoons in the 90's, so I think that's enough for the hair dryer to work. And yeah my nails are hurting a lot haha

 

yeah the job is hard on the fingers when the tape breaks into small pieces, hence my recommendation to use some wood cuticle sticks to help lift the edges of the tape, and they are safe on the paint.

 

I used a heat gun, very fine modeling needle nose pliers, and patience. The tape is old at this point and has had a lot of time to "bake" on to the surface of the underlying paint. On my '05, I was able to get large sections of it to come off as one piece, but you have to pull at it very slowly otherwise the tape tears. In your case, it sounds like piecemeal is the only way it's going to come off. Even with it coming off in large sections, I still had to pull the smaller pieces from the gaps between the seal and the windshield molding.

 

May also get some helpful info in body and paint subforum.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, I went to Walmart and bought a pack. Now, how do I get all the residue underneath off?

 

Try Goof-Off or even WD-40.