Most every truck has them and over time they begin to come off. Could be installed incorrectly, not good preparation or sun damage and they just begin to leak...

I decided to re-do mine yesterday. My drivers side door was poorly installed and because it was being held in place by the mirror, no hurry to get it done. Previous owner tried to fix it with some sort of glue or something, just basically made a mess.

A couple things are needed to get it done correctly.
1) a set of window visor/shades. I used eBay, $28.99
2) 3M 94, its a primer for 3M double back sticky tape.
3) a square stick with a cut edge, or a small toothbrush sized wire brush
4) Isopropyl Alcohol @ 91% from Target
5) some rags
6) about 2 tablespoons of Butter... yes, butter.
7) a small sponge brush
8) beers of your favorite kind

First, remove the old vents. Start at the back working forward slowly pulling the shade off. I used my thumb, you can even use fishing line (per a video on you tube). It leaves behind a mess like this.


get your stick and using some elbow grease, work the old tape off the rubber. It won't hurt the rubber or the paint. Work slowly, pushing the old stuff along the rubber.


Get the remaining residue with a combination of butter, the stick and alcohol. I'd get it wet with butter, its oily and works great on pitch and 3M tape... The goo-Gone stuff is petroleum based, say's not to use it on rubber. Using lacquer thinner can hurt the paint and paint thinner leaves behind another residue form hard to remove from the rubber.


Apply butter, use the stick to scrape it just like removing the tape, wipe with a rag soaked in the alcohol. You'll need to go back and forth several times. The rag would leave behind some lint and it stuck to the residue and then I'd push that along and remove with alcohol. In this picture you can still see some residual residue... it all needs to come off.


Once its all removed


It should look like this, dull, no shiny anything left on the rubber.


Wipe it down with a lint free cloth and alcohol one more time allowing it to dry. Make sure the butter is gone as well. Apply the 3M primer with a brush or a sponge brush like I did. Nice even coat and after drying, a second coat. You can remove the primer with the alcohol, don't worry.


After the primer is dry, don't touch it. Its very sticky by itself and will let the 3M tape do its job. Even a test fit of the visor would almost remove the tape backing. I started in the corner, remove the protective plastic cover and worked my way back putting the visor on. Once installed, I wiped it with alchohol one more time removing the primer not covered by the visor and it cleaned up well.


Final product


They came out great, are stuck on very good and I expect years of service. Total time was 2 hours. My finger tips are a little sore... but I expect no infection from using the alcohol..

Don't forget, the alcohol will remove the wax from the paint, you'll need to wax it again around the window frame.

sit back and enjoy a ... your visor shades will look great!

 

Thanks man! I'm going to try the butter/alcohol.
One of mine broke so I ripped them all off and I rubbed and rubbed the adhesive with my thumbs. I learned that was a mistake. Huge blisters on both of them. Lol.
Reps if I could ..

I don't know if I'm going to put more back on or not. But I want the residue off for sure!

 

Nice job! They look great.

I just removed the ones that came on my truck about 2 or 3 months ago. They were stuck to the paint. It was a big pia to get them off properly. The previous owner used some type of super glue on the front edges to prevent leaks I guess. That was an even more pia.

I replaced them with the kind that go inside the window channel and like them a whole lot better.

 

Good excuse to get the wife to keep butter around

 

Good work. Do they still make the visors that slide up into the molding without glue?

 

not sure... I've heard they don't always allow the window to close completely and auto close doesn't seem to work well with them I've read.

in post #3, Brian said he used them.

 

I have the "in channel" rain guards on both the F-350 and Suburban.

I had the "stick on" version on the F-350 and still have them on my Malibu.

I like the "in channel" the best.

YMMY, just MHO.

 

I have the in the molding type and have never had a problem with them.

 

I wonder if margarine would work

 

it's the oil that does the trick.... Wesson oil may work. I used butter because it was controllable and not all over the place.... plus I already knew it worked like Goo Gone, just not petroleum based to ruin the rubber.

 

inner channel? pic please..

 

These go on without glue. I got some for my wife's car. Nice quality and easy install. The ones on my truck are glued on

WeatherTech Side Window Deflectors, Rain Guards, Wind Deflectors | WeatherTech.com

 

I have both on my two trucks, The GMC has the in channel and the edge of the window has scratched over time. Go for the stick on one and just make sure you clean and prime it good

 

And if you have tinted windows, the stick on kind, they will become frayed on the edge and look like crap.... wife has those kind and I'll need to re-do the tint.

 

You can get a set of weathertech inchannel's for about $100 for a crewcab.