Semi OT - Removing antenna mount from car window...

My son just bought a used car which has an antenna mount for a satellite radio stuck on the outside of the rear window.

It's a lump about 1-1/2" square with a short male threaded antenna starter piece sticking out of it.

He's no intention of getting a satellite radio and asked me how to safely remove that piece.

There's a matching lump on the inside of the glass which I assume is inductively or capacitively coupled to the outside piece, but he's not much concerned with that one and if it happens to be stuck over one of the defroster grid lines he's better off not messing wwith it.

I presume the outside piece he wants to remove is adhesively attached to the glass and wondered if the folks here here can recommend a safe way of removing it without risking damage to the rear window.

Thanks guys,

Jeff

Jeff Wisnia wrote in news:hogi9u$1a2$ snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org:

heat gun and razor blade? [on low heat]

or acetone.[risky to paint,plastics and gaskets]

you have to soften the adhesive somehow.

I'd take a putty knife and see if I could slide it under the antenna. (The ones I'm thinking of are stainless, and very thin, flexible but strong.)

It depends on the adhesive used. Some used that foam double sided tape, That's easy to separate with a sharp knife. Then you can remove the remains with a single edged razor blade.

You can also see how far you can disassemble the units down to just the part that is stuck to the glass and work from there with a razor blade and perhaps a bit of solvent applied sparingly to loosen it.

Obviously, you don't want to dribble MEK, Acetone or Xylene on any of the soft parts or paint on the vehicle.

Jeff

Brass rat eh? "Tech Hell" at it's finest.

A single-edged razor blade and lost of small sliding strokes back and forth. Patience will be a virtue here.

The best method is to use a lenght of dental floss and use it as a wire saw.

Softening the glue first with some heat or solvent will make it easier. Solvents based in citric terpenes are really good to remove glue residues, you can find them marketed as label removers or general degreasers.

The permanent variety are attached with some form of SuperGlue (cyanoacrylate adhesive). Try one of the numerous SuperGlue removers.

If it's glued with a 3M sticky pad, as is common on rear view mirrors, just heat it with a heat gun or hair dryer and it will fall off.

Shear strength of the adhesive comes to mind.

I spend a lot of time dealing with adhesives stuck onto things (labels, "anti-theft mounts", etc.).

Since I am usually interested in removing them *without* damaging the cosmetic finish of the item to which they are attached, I am deliberately methodical and conservative in my approach.

Labels are easy -- you can usually soak solvents *through* them (though metalized labels like inventory control tags and RFID tags are problematic).

For the sort of thing you are faced with, I would start with a *small* (1.5") "putty knife". A *good* one -- not some piece of crap from a discount store. The better knives are thinner and made of a more flexible steel.

YOU WANT ONE WITH SLIGHTLY ROUNDED "CORNERS" (lest they end up digging into the plastic coating on the safety-glass).

Try to work the center of the blade under a *corner* of the antenna mount.

PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE :>

Your goal isn't to try to pry it off -- yet! Rather, you want to *slowly* make progress under the metal/plastic part by coaxing bits of adhesive to give up their grip.

As you make progress on a "corner", it gets harder to continue making progress as your (assault) "front" becomes larger. So, keep moving the direction of attack so that you are addressing a newly formed corner.

E.g., a four sided region becomes *five* sided as you make progress on that first corner. So, move to one of the *two* corners most recently created to replace that one corner initially attacked. That corner new will then eventually become the

Depending on how large the area is and the strength of the adhesive, I imagine you may need to get half way through the area before you can expect to force it off (eventually, your patience will wear thin :> )

You will probably end up with a bit of adhesive left on the glass. You will need a combination of elbow grease and solvent to remove this. Patience is, again, a virtue! Start with the mildest solvent you can and gradually work your way up to more aggressive solvents.

I always start with water (won't help *you*), then alcohol, then mineral spirits. At this point, you typically haven't damamged any of the surfaces you are working with (notable exception is styrene).

Beyond that, its a judgement call based on the material: MEK, acetone, xylene, benzene, and the other "ene's" (polyethylene, marlene, charlene, etc.).

Note many of these are nasty -- read the MSDS before using.

One thing I have found surprisingly useful is a cleaner (?) found in the 99c stores called "Awesome". It is probably as nasty (biologically speaking) as any of the others but seems to work well without risk of literally soup-ifying some plastics (it will take the finish patina off of plastic parts, though!).

If he (or you) don't want to be *patient*, then just replace the entire window :-/

Have fun!

You didn't mention this, but I'll assume you know - If you apply a few drops of rubbing alcohol to the putty knife blade edge, it will help prevent the adhesive's sticking itself back down when the blade is removed to work on another corned. The alcohol is more a lubricant than a solvent in this case. If alcohol dries too quickly, sometimes a spray lubricant like WD-40 works well in its place. It just takes more cleanup after...