I tried fishing line, but found it bound up too much and ended up snapping and didn't trust any form of metal wire. In the end I went with the trim remover/putty knife method and it got the job done.
Once you've removed all the locking tabs from behind the window, force a plastic trim remover tool up and under the outside of the frame. Do it over and over until you've gone around both sides and the bottom. After masking up around the panel (I used duct tape for extra paint protection from the knife) work the knife in at one of the corners and begin to prise the frame from the panel while pulling it away from the car. You may be able to pull sections of the foam out from behind the window, but you still have to break the bond of the bead of sealant.
The prising part is the hardest in terms of not forcing it, but using enough force the break the bond. You'll quickly gain a feel for how much pressure can and must be used, and once you feel the bond start to give you will feel a lot better as the prising process just gets easier from there.
Once you've freed up the bottom you may get an urge to use the window frame itself as a lever to break the remaining bond. I would recommend against this as it is a fairly thin aluminium panel and there's a chance you might deform it. Best to lever the window frame in conjunction with working the knife in. Once you have just the top remaining you can lever the frame on its own as its too difficult, atleast for me, to get anything in behind there with the sill in the way. Just be sure to take the weight of the window as the last of the bond is broken so you don't drop it, but in truth they aren't that heavy.
I dreaded this job and put it off for a while, but when I committed myself and felt that first bond break I knew I had it in the bag. If you really don't feel up to it, maybe hire a windscreen bloke to come and assist with removal?
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