Tinting Polycarbonate

[mkrug17]

I was hoping someone here might be able to help me out.I am an automotive painter at a custom car shop. We have a 2008 Lamborgini Gallardo that has polycarbonate quarter and back glass. I tried to custom tint the glass the usual way I tint plastic, such as taillights and marker lights. Everything seemed to work ok until i was washing off the rubbing compound with a hose and the tint just blew off. There was absolutley no adhesion. I later was told that these windows were made of the same material as RC cars so I thought I might come here for some advice.

[MPWR]

Before we move on to ideas/advice, what is the 'usual way' that you tried?

[mkrug17]

Sanded with red scotchbrite and sem scuff and clean applied RM 865 adhesion promoter then applied tinted Limco lc4100 clear. This method works great usually on plastic, I have painted hundreds of lights like this and never had a problem.

[MPWR]

A spray medium?

If you toothed the surface you applied it to, I'm surprised you had adhesion problems. Generally that's all the preparation that a polycarbonate surface requires for painting (and good cleaning, obviously).

But for a window panel, my first thought would have been professional grade glass tint film.

If you want a surface to practice on, polycarbonate is essentially the same thing that clear 2 liter soda bottles are made from. (Granted, it is also the same thing that 'bullet proof' armoured glass is made from.) But if you can get your tint technique to stick to a soda bottle, it should work on the Lambo part. It will at least work on R/C car bodies....