Aftermarket Window Tinting for Automobiles

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Mustang2008Z

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I have a question about aftermarket window tinting.

What has been your experience related to after market window tinting, and is it worth the expense and trouble of maintaining the tinting?

Are the Lifetime warranties against bubbling, scratching, and peeling worth anything?
 
I've had good luck with 'professional' jobs in the past. I never had any bubbling or peeling. Films will scratch if you gouge them obviously, but normal everyday usage- they've held up perfectly for me. Funny you should mention this. I was recently contemplating having the windows done on my 4dr Cobalt. Places that do it have gotten REALLY scarce in my area. The one place I actually got through to quoted me ~$250+ over the phone. No thanks.

Joel
 
Originally Posted By: Mustang2008Z
I have a question about aftermarket window tinting.

What has been your experience related to after market window tinting, and is it worth the expense and trouble of maintaining the tinting?

Are the Lifetime warranties against bubbling, scratching, and peeling worth anything?


In Miami its worth every single penny..There is no expense to maintain it.

As far as warrenty goes the places down here will give you a warrenty for as long as you own the car..The catch is the tint is free but not the labor..It will get blurry after about 5 years and will have to eventually have to get re-done..With the blazing sun down here all year long they all get that way over time down here.

It costs between 150-180 bucks for a good job..We have 15% all around on all our cars and a strip on top of the windsheild..It does keep the car alot cooler..If I am in a car with no tint I feel I am burning up even with the a/c on the highest speed..With tint all you can keep the a/c on low most of the time.

The cops even put it on their take home cars at their own expense.
 
Spend money only once. You can get a lifetime warranty on both labor and materials. I paid $90 for the two front door windows. Unfortunately the TL doesn't come with felt like 99.99999% of other cars so I had to add it to keep the tint from getting scratched.

As for being worth it, it's 1,000% worth it in hot climates. The rear window and rear door windows had black factory tint. I did the fronts with the reflective UV blocker tint. Blocks as much or more UV rays than the dark stuff and the cops don't bother you. My CHP friend said that usually if it looks like you're "trying" to be legal as in darker in the rear, lighter in the front, they will give you a break.

This is how mine looks with the UV tint on front. It makes more of a difference than you would think for such a light tint.

 
Ive had my last 3 cars proffesionly tinted. I wouldnt even bother trying to do it yourself!. The place I deal with honors they're warranty against bubbling, and other defects, so read the warranty before the purchase. As far as maintence, there isnt any that I know of. Ive had tinted vehicles for 12 years, and never had to maintain anything. Just dont use any heavy duty cleaning chemicals on it, dont scrape it.. Its one of thos things where once you get it done you'll never go with out it again. Kinda like when you switched from dial up to high speed.
 
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I got my Corolla professionally tinted. It really does cut down on the heat. My only complaint is it cuts down visibility at night. But my eyesight is pretty bad.
 
I wanted to thank all of you who contributed to my questions regarding the aftermarket window tint. I know that each state has its' restrictions regarding how much and what can be tinted. I live in Texas, and I talked to 3 different shops about the window tint and read their written guarantees. For lifetime protection against bubbles, peeling, etc., the prices ranged, including tax, from 149.99 to around 278.95 installed. One of the shops guaranteed, through the window tint maker Llumar, repairing any scratches made by seatbelts from passengers or myself without charge. The other 2 shops written information stated that the maker of the tint, like 3M, would not cover such scratch/cut damage.

I told each shop that I wanted the tinting to be legal to pass state inspection, here in Texas, and they said that the front side windows could only be a certain tint level, around 25-35%, the back passenger windows could be darker, and the back window could be "limousine dark."

I went "medium dark", whatever that is, for the back passenger windows and the back window and the shop said that it would take about a week to "cure" properly, they said if there were any problems with haze, can't see out of the glass because of the installation, to bring it back and they would fix it free using computer cut tinting as the original aftermarket installation, and the written guarantee states that in writing from the tint manufacturer.

Again, thanks to those of you who told me what you knew about aftermarket tinting, and thanks to BuickGN for letting me see a picture of the tinting on his car.
 
Here is mine with 35% all around with Llumar ATC.

img3391large.jpg


img3392large.jpg
 
All my vehicles are tinted and I love it. Makes the cars look better, safer in an accident if glass where to break, and cooler in the summer. As for durabilty - I had my 1987 Buick GN done sometime around 1989 and it still looks really good. All my vehicles are 20% tint (dark).
 
Originally Posted By: BuickGN
Spend money only once. You can get a lifetime warranty on both labor and materials. I paid $90 for the two front door windows. Unfortunately the TL doesn't come with felt like 99.99999% of other cars so I had to add it to keep the tint from getting scratched.

As for being worth it, it's 1,000% worth it in hot climates. The rear window and rear door windows had black factory tint. I did the fronts with the reflective UV blocker tint. Blocks as much or more UV rays than the dark stuff and the cops don't bother you. My CHP friend said that usually if it looks like you're "trying" to be legal as in darker in the rear, lighter in the front, they will give you a break.

This is how mine looks with the UV tint on front. It makes more of a difference than you would think for such a light tint.



I was hoping to see the Buick Grand National..They were soooooooooo nice!

I called around 15 different places around Broward and Miami Dade and they all told me the same thing that the tint was free but I would have to pay the labor charge if it needs to be re-done.

Down here what usually happens anyway is the place will change hands before you will need the new tint..The place that did mine changed hands twice already..There does not seem to be a place here that will re-tint the car free of charge.

I do notice if you use the sun sheild on the front windsheild it helps make the tint last longer..When I had my car done my friend had his done at the exact same time and using the same tint...He never uses the sun sheild and I use it everytime I park..His tint is blurry and mine is still OK..They have both been on for almost 5 years now.
 
I had the rear side windows of my Volvo wagon tinted 11yrs ago. It was the the 1st thing I added to the car. I chose a very light tint(don't remember the %) and I opted not to have the rear hatch glass tinted. Aside from a few minor cuts in the tint due to my own recklessness, its held up very well.
 
It's worth it for me. I use the darkest (limo) tint and the only downside is reduced visibility when backing up at night and that you have to be careful not to have anything in contact with the inside of the windows when you're hauling stuff. I can deal with that in order to reduce heat in summer, make my car look better, increase privacy, and, most importantly, drastically reduce the intensity of following headlights at night. I hate driving at night with a non-tinted rear window. While I've never personally seen a tint job that was absolutely perfect, a decent one should never bubble. I had a small peel at a corner where the defrost grid prevented proper adhesion but a small piece of unnoticeable black electrical tape prevented that from becoming a problem. Mine still looks like new over five years later and I perform no maintenance aside from an occasional cleaning with distilled water. I've used Solargard and Llumar and have no complaints.
 
Anytime I have had to get mine done I got them done up here at Krown Rust control. Never had a problem with anything that you described and have used generic cleaners on them just fine.

They also look really great like factory tinting would.
 
I'll have to wait to move south or southwest to get mine tinted.

NY Tint laws are terrible, pretty much any tint on the side windows where passengers sit is illegal, and police write tickets for it. When I was younger I got a couple tickets for it.

One thing, when you get the windows tinted, get a name brand tint, not generic. Also, never use ammonia to clean the windows. Either use just water and a soft cloth, or a very little bit of alcohol based window cleaner (ammonia free)..

That will prevent the tint from turning purple..
 
Originally Posted By: JustinH
I'll have to wait to move south or southwest to get mine tinted.

NY Tint laws are terrible, pretty much any tint on the side windows where passengers sit is illegal, and police write tickets for it. When I was younger I got a couple tickets for it.

One thing, when you get the windows tinted, get a name brand tint, not generic. Also, never use ammonia to clean the windows. Either use just water and a soft cloth, or a very little bit of alcohol based window cleaner (ammonia free)..

That will prevent the tint from turning purple..


That's very good info on the ammonia causing the tint to turn purple. I didn't know that.

I think CA laws are similar. Are you allowed to have the rear side windows tinted or no side windows tinted.

So far with limo on the rear and rear sides and the solar light reflective tint on the front side windows I've never been given a second look. Though my highway patrol friend always comments that he can see my windows are kind of "dirty" still and that my front license plate must've fallen off again and that I should get some better screws lol.
 
Calif. laws are anything in the driver's peripheral vision can't have tint, windshield can be tinted to the AS1 mark. In theory you could have a portion of the front-side windows tinted but that always looks [censored]. Anything outside of the drivers periphery can be as dark as you want, even painted. No shiny tint allowed.
 
Originally Posted By: BuickGN
The rear window and rear door windows had black factory tint.


When did Acura offer factory tint on the rear windows on the TL?

I've never seen any sedan other than higher end models in N. America being offered w/ factory tint.
 
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Originally Posted By: Spartuss
Originally Posted By: BuickGN
The rear window and rear door windows had black factory tint.


When did Acura offer factory tint on the rear windows on the TL?

I've never seen any sedan other than higher end models in N. America being offered w/ factory tint.


I should've clarified, dealer installed tint.
 
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