Tint

Most people i've talked to have told me that if i try and tint my windows myself... its just gonna end up looking like shit. Is it worth trying it myself? Is their some method that will work better than others when doing it? Or should i just bite the bullet and go and spend a couple hundred bucks?

Thanks

I used to do it semi-profesonal and would say that you can probably do it yourself but its a huge pain in the ass.

If you dont know exatly how to do it, it wont work good and will look like shit.

I say pay someone that knows what they are doing. its worth it.

Bring it to a profesional, and I think youre supposed to get a metalic type or something. I'm not to sure on that but I know one type turns purple.

yea, when you get it professionally done, they actuallu tint it, like dye it i believe. that fake shit that turns purple it the stick on stuff that dealership used to have on older cars. unfortunetly the person who had the car before me wanted that crap. ive been told a couple hundered to take off the fake stuff and retint

Originally posted by strodda
yea, when you get it professionally done, they actuallu tint it, like dye it i believe. that fake shit that turns purple it the stick on stuff that dealership used to have on older cars. unfortunetly the person who had the car before me wanted that crap. ive been told a couple hundered to take off the fake stuff and retint

That's way too much.

The old tint on my car needed to be replaced. It was all bubbled up in the back from the rear window defrost.

Anyways, it was only like 30 bucks extra for them to strip the old stuff (I paid $180 total, a professional job). The only problem is that on alot of cars, if you strip the tint off the rear window, you're almost guaranteed to take some of the rear window defroster heating element with it. This renders the defrost useless. So, if you really really need your defrost, you can buy a whole new rear window... Maybe that's why they quoted you so much? I don't drive my car in the winter, so I didn't replace the glass.

Originally posted by ci5ic


That's way too much.

The old tint on my car needed to be replaced. It was all bubbled up in the back from the rear window defrost.


so the reason for bubbling is using the defroster?? i thought it was just heat from the sun. its wierd cause my car is 11 years old and it hasnt bubbled in the back yet. but i see alot newer cars, and its already bubbled really bad.

and im assuming youre talking about the lines going through the rear window when you say defrosting element. if some comes off will it not defrost at all, or just not as well?

and whats that tint called that looks like a smoked mirror?? real shiney and reflective... and illegal but who cares. and does that kind cost more than just the basic black tint?

So can anyone recommend an inexpensive (but not shitty) window tinting place here in San Diego?

Originally posted by strodda

so the reason for bubbling is using the defroster?? i thought it was just heat from the sun. its wierd cause my car is 11 years old and it hasnt bubbled in the back yet. but i see alot newer cars, and its already bubbled really bad.

and im assuming youre talking about the lines going through the rear window when you say defrosting element. if some comes off will it not defrost at all, or just not as well?

and whats that tint called that looks like a smoked mirror?? real shiney and reflective... and illegal but who cares. and does that kind cost more than just the basic black tint?

Well, it could be from either the sun or the defrost element. The main problem is when the tint is put on, if it's not done properly, you can get tiny airbubbles under the tint. You may not even be able to see them, but when they heat up (defroster or sun or whatever) they will expand, causing the tint to bubble up. The shop that re-did my tint has a lifetime warrantee on their work, so if it bubbles up or peels or whatever, I can take my car back and they'll re-do it for free.

As far as the heating element (the copper traces on the rear window) if only parts of the middle come off, some of it may still work but not as well, but it all depends how the traces are laid out. As long as there is a continuous un-broken path from one side of the element to the other, it should work to some degree. However, it's highly likely that if some of it comes off with the tint, most of it is going to come off...

Also, the silver tint is usually referred to as "mirror" tint... Looks pretty good on light colored cars (especially silver ones).

Bubbling is from shitty installation. Done right your tint won't do this.

And strodda, factory tint is dyed glass. Anywhere else you go to get tint, it's gonna be a film. Tint that turns purple is crappy tint. I've got Johnson tint and it's great. Been black fro 2 years in the hot florida sun and still going strong.

I've tinted my car myself before and it didn't come out that bad, and very cheap, like $30 for the whole car. Problem is, if you want it to look real good, you need to use a good quality, name brand film, otehrwise you can't heat-shrink it around curves and it will also turn purple.

One more thing, never pay someone to remove old tint. All it takes is soapy water and a razor blade. And use an sos pad on the rear glass.

oh, my bad.
so when im getting quoted a hundred or 2, thats for them to put on the film?? how much would a good dye job cost?

with taking off the film, do you have to take out the window? ive never really tried but i accidentally scraped a little off in the corner, and it didnt seem that easy to remove. does the soap disolve the film? or how does it get to the glue behind it?

if i wanted to retint myself, how hard would it be to take off the rear window? if that is how its done.

ive been calling around to local shops from the yellow pages, and the cheapest ive been quoted for removing tint only, is $100. why the hell are they all saying so high.

and does anyony know the legal light percentage limit in california??

I don't know if you can even get a "dye job". That's factory so you'd probably have to replace your glass and it would cost you a fortune. I paid I think $110 for my tint. that's usually about what it runs, I wouldn't pay 200 for tint.

And no, you don't need to remove windows when tinting. But door panels help.

Removing the tint is pure labor so just do it yourself and save the money. you can just pull the tint off but the soapy water and razor blade helps to remove the tough parts and the glue.

ok, thanks cx.

but anyone know where i can find out about legal limits. i found a 5% mirror tint, im sure thats not legal but it looks nice.

what are some sites i can find about different tints i can buy? the one im looking for is a mirror tint, but its not like the ones i found... its a lighter color like a bright silver.

You may want to call the local shops. They'll be able to tell you what the legal limits are. Some of them won't install illegal tint in your ride, but some of them will if you pay cash (that way, they won't keep a record of it, and it can't come back on them).

You may want to call the local shops. They'll be able to tell you what the legal limits are. Some of them won't install illegal tint in your ride, but some of them will if you pay cash (that way, they won't keep a record of it, and it can't come back on them).

Also, I've heard before that if you go to a doctor complaining about light-induced headaches, they can actually write you a prescription for darker than legal tint... That's may be just a rumor though...

Here you are, answer to all your legal questions for any state!


http://www.pcisys.net/~bpc/auto_law/tint/

I hear in FL (Brevard county) they are quite picky about tint laws, and most sheriff have the tool available to check the "Visible light" percentage...

I'm guessing it's one of those things though, they aren't gonna just pull you over for a dark tint (oh hey, this car has dark tint, let's pull them over)...more of, "this guy is weaving between lanes, running off the road nearly twice, maybe we should check up...lol" - pull him over, find he's high off his ass, drunk, driving the vehicle intoxicated, so they also decide to check the window tint Visible light percentage while they are at it :)

Here in FL we don't have annual "vehicle inspections" but I've heard some states that do (more inspections, more money, more jobs, for people to inspect those cars? lol).

But yea, usually you can call up the local cop shop (or highway patrol, law enforcement, etc) and they will be able to tell you local law restrictions, or where to go to find it yourself.


But yea, I found a place here that tints that quoted me 100$ for the full car, 4 doors, back window, and the front window (above the AS-1 line only as per Florida law).

Figure I'm better off just paying something, but I'm kind of hesitant since I've heard so much stuff about the rear window/defrost lines, and I use my defrost quite a lot.

7 year old thread dude