How can I get an auto window sticker off in one piece.

A razor blade and denatured alcohol. Reconstruct the sticker on a piece of paper.

Lighter fluid. I’m serious. The kind you use to fill up a Zippo. It comes in a yellow plastic bottle. It’s an amazing solvent.

Get a little under one corner and then a little more and a little more, etc.

Steam directed at the sticker should allow you to gradually peel back the sticker.

@marinelife, @Dr_Lawrence & @Dr_Lawrence Thanks. I now have a range of options to try.

Hot water on a wash cloth works great. Hold the hot wash cloth on top of the sticker for about 8 to 10 minutes. This will melt the glue and the sticker will peel right off.

Razor blade is a must, hair dryer will help melt the glue.

While a hot wet towel or water may work, I would avoid anything that would make it wet.

Hair dryer might work, from the opposite side of the window that the sticker is.. stuck.

The City of Boston instructions online state that they need the following :
What to Bring:
The Massachusetts vehicle registration for your new license plates.
Proof of residency acceptable by the BTD.*
The Resident Parking Permit for your previous registration number, regardless of the condition when it was removed. If you do not have the old sticker, please contact the Office of the Parking Clerk for further instructions.

Based on the statement “regardless of the condition when it was removed” to me implies that they deal with many people who simply can’t get the old one off intact.
Do your best and piece what you can onto a piece of paper to provide to them.

Soaking in some kind of chemical listed above to break down the glue and a razor scraper should do the trick.

Leave it to Mumbles Menino to have citizens try to get stickers off their window before issuing City of Boston Resident Parking stickers. It’s hard enough to park so lets make it harder.

Is it a sticker like plastic bumper sticker, or a paper-based one more like a stamp?

I would say a hair dryer and patience. This seems like it could be quite tricky. Goo gone maybe? However, I’m not sure how the sticker would hold up.

You might try putting clear shipping tape over the sticker first to give it a strong backing, to keep it from tearing or disintegrating when you peel it off with the razor blade. Then you bring in the remains with clear tape over it.

As @blueiiznh points out, they should accept your tattered sticker, “regardless of the condition”.

It’s like taking ripped up money to the bank. If you have 51% of a $5 bill, you’ve got $5.

If the Boston stickers are like the Chicago stickers, they are designed to fall apart on removal, because the premise is you are not moving the sticker from vehicle to vehicle. And it prevents theft (the stickers are not cheap).

@john65pennington Thanks. @tedd & @ANef_is_Enuf I’d need to be careful to heat it slowly to avoid thermal shock and cracking the glass. Also don’t want to melt the rubber moulding that weather seals it.

@blueiiznh BINGO! I told my son when he related the story that the city worker was just being a jerk. The whole idea of thise stickers is that you can’t get them off in one piece. That preents people stealing them and swapping them onto their own cars. Next time I’ll send him down there with the rule book in hand and tell him to get the employee number and ask to speak to a supervisor if the clerk at the window gives him a load of bull.

@Pied_Pfeffer It’s more like a very thin plastic decal with incredibly tenacious glue. Once stuck on, the only way I know to easily get it off is to shred it up with a single-edged razor or preferably one of thise scrapers that holds one.

@JessicaRTBH & @gasman Thanks, but I think @jaytkay‘s right, @blueiiznh nailed the answer. The clerk is asking for something that is not only not required, but next to impossible to deliver. Rather than remove the sticker in that manner, I prefer to remove the clerk.

Have you tried using a putty knife? It covers more ground and is less likely to scratch the windshield. It also might be worthwhile to call a windshield replacement company to see if they have any recommendations. Surely, they must have some experience with this.

@Pied_Pfeffer As much as that might work, I;m done with trying to comply with what amounts to be an idioticn and non-existent regulation. @blueiiznh pointed out that the clerk was making up rules on the fly.

You would think a cellphone photo would be enough today.

@ETpro But I’m curious as to which of the chemicals/ideas worked best to remove stickers in general. PLease update.

I am in favor of the hair dryer. That is what they use to remove bumper stickers and the like in car yards. It also works to remove price tags from gifts.

@ETpro Glad it worked out. Oh how I miss dealing with the Mass gov and City of Boston since escaping over the border to NH. NOT! I still have to deal with them as a “Non-Resident” now.

@zensky The reason they want the old one brought back in is that it’s not allowed to have a neighborhood parking sticker for more than one neighborhood at a time. If you have a local business license, you can get a business sticker for deliveries, and that lets you use neighborhood restricted parking in any neighborhood.

@rooeytoo I suspect that would have worked.

@blueiiznh Funny. I have had nothing but pleasant experiences dealing with the city. Even the RMV and the local office of the Social Security Administration have been extremely polite and helpful to me. Maybe when I walk in they can look at me and tell my wife gives me all the grief I need at home.

What did end up working, @zensky, was what my wife suggested to our kid. She gave him a bottle of Goo Gone and along with the scraper loaded with a single-edge razor blade that I provided him, he actually did get the sticker off intact. So even though, as @blueiiznh established, it was not necessary, he went beyond the letter of the law and produced the exact evidence the little-Hitler clerk asked for.