While stickers are a lot of fun and can show your commitment to a cause or make you laugh, when it’s time to remove them you may have trouble with the sticky residue left over. In the following article, we’ll show you how to remove sticker residue from a car window and how to keep it looking clean and new.

This article is broken up into sections. First we’re going to answer your initial question that brought you to this article and then we’ll cover some of the best products and methods to remove sticker residue. Keep reading into the first section that details how to remove that sticky residue.

How to Remove Sticker Residue from a Car Window

Sticker residue is the gooey mess that’s leftover when you peel a sticker off of something. It comes from the glue that was used to hold the sticker onto the surface, which in this case is your car. It can be hard, but not impossible to remove so let’s dive into the following 5 step process to remove the residue.

Time needed: 15 minutes

Wash the surface with soap and water
The first step is to wash the surface with soapy water and lightly scrub with a soft sponge. You can even use your nail to scrape off some of the harder bits.

Sometimes this is enough to completely remove the sticker residue and if it is then you’re in luck and don’t even need to move to the future steps. If that doesn’t get the job done, then let’s talk about using a plastic scraper.
Use a plastic scraper to remove the glue residue
Once you’ve covered the sticker residue with soapy water and scrubbed it with a soft sponge, if the sticker residue is still there try using a scraper to gently remove the residue.

You want to use a plastic scraper or even your nail to prevent any damage to the window. If this works, excellent, but if it doesn’t, move onto the next step.
Dry the surface completely
If soapy water and a plastic scraper didn’t work to remove the sticker residue, you’ll want to move onto something stronger, but before you do that, make sure the surface is completely dry so the cleaning solution can work correctly.
Use a dedicated cleaning solution like Goo Gone
If the sticker residue is particularly difficult to remove, you can try something stronger like Goo Gone, which should be a staple in any household.

You can follow the instructions listed on the bottle, but as a quick summary, you’ll spray the Goo Gone on the sticker residue, leave it for a few minutes, wipe it off with a cloth and some light scrubbing, and then clean with soapy water.
Repeat the Goo Gone cleaning solution (optional)
Finally, if the sticker residue still remains, repeat the cleaning process with Goo Gone and use the plastic scraper to really get the residue off of your car window. Repeat this process until the sticker residue is completely gone.

And that’s it! A quick and easy process on how to remove sticker residue from car windows. And if you cleaned it all off at step #2 with the plastic scraper, no need to move onto the Goo Gone. You only need to do that if it’s particularly hard to remove.

Best Sticker Residue Removers

For any project, there are a lot of products and cleaning solutions out there that promise to get the job done, but it’s hard to know which ones will work and which ones leave a lot to be desired. In the following section, we’ll talk about the best ways to remove sticker residue.

Goo Gone to Clean Car Windows

As already mentioned in the steps above, Goo Gone is the go to sticker residue remover product. It’s a household name that is synonymous with removing tough, gooey residue and if you don’t have it in your house, that needs to change today.

It’s super handy, safe and effective, however it should be kept out of reach of children because if ingested it can cause health issues.

You can find Goo Gone at any big box store, Walgreens, CVS, or on Amazon. Here’s a link to one of the most highly rated Goo Gone products on Amazon.

Vinegar to Clean Sticker Residue

We’ve written about vinegar as a cleaning solution for a number of items and that’s because it’s so effective and can also clean sticker residue. It’s truly a miracle cleaning product.

If you want to use something organic instead of Goo Gone, vinegar is a great solution. Wet a clean cloth in a 50/50 vinegar and water solution and then gently scrub the sticker residue until it starts to come off.

You may need to use a plastic scraper to really get everything off, but vinegar is an excellent, organic cleaning product if you want to avoid the chemicals in Goo Gone.

And if you’re interested in the other articles regarding vinegar as a cleaning solution, click any of the links below:

Plastic Scrapers to Clean Sticker Residue

Not necessarily a cleaning solution, but if you’re going to be removing sticker residue, you need a plastic scraper, especially for those tough to remove stickers.

If you’ve ever tried to remove sticker residue, you’ve probably used your nail, which while may help in a pinch, it’s no replacement for a plastic scraper. And the best part is that it won’t damage the surface as long as you’re gentle with the scraping.

Plastic scrapers are available at any hardware store like Home Depot, Lowe’s, or Amazon.

Boiling Water to Remove Sticker Residue

Not necessarily a product, but boiling water is a great way to remove sticker residue that just doesn’t want to come off. Now this only works for things like jars that can fit into a boiling pot of water, but if you’ve tried soapy water and Goo Gone and even a plastic scraper then this is another potential solution.

Boil a pot of water and place the jar inside and boil for 10 to 15 minutes. That should loosen the sticker residue and allow you to easily scrape it off.

If the residue still remains after boiling then try the Goo Gone and plastic scraper directly afterwards. Just make sure not to burn yourself by touching the hot jar.

Conclusion

And there you have it! A quick and easy way on how to remove sticker residue from a car window.

In this article, we covered the process on getting sticker residue off the car window and some helpful and necessary products to get the task completed. If the sticker residue is hard to remove, then Goo Gone is an absolute must. Add a plastic scraper to the mix and there’s almost no sticker residue that can’t be removed.

And finally, we talked about using boiling water to remove sticker residue from smaller items like jars and containers. It won’t necessarily work on your car windows, but it’s also handy to know for those smaller items.

Hopefully this article was helpful and can help you remove that pesky sticker residue in the future.