As a window tinter I decided to help you guys out and answer a lot of questions.
It's not about price. If you go to the phone book and call two dozen tint shops to find the $99 special....you're getting what you're paying for.
It's less about brand. Almost all brands make good films, okay films, and crap films. Rely less on brand name. Some are obviously a bit better than others, but just because you have ABC brand doesn't mean it's better than XYZ because they might be installing the cheap stuff!
What is it all about? A few simple questions:
1.) How many years of experience does the installer have?
This can be a problem at larger shops that have 20 installers.
2.) What kind of warranty does the film have?
a.) Is it a lifetime nationwide warranty?
b.) Does it cover fading and/or color change?
c.) What is the brand name and film line? (then research it on the internet)
3.) Ask yourself, does my car have GPS or a built in radio antenna? Do I have keyless entry? Remote start? Anything using RF?
a.) If yes, you need a dyed film or a ceramic film that won't interfere with RF signals.
b.) If no, the world is your oyster
A 35% window film containing metal can cause 7 dB of signal attenuation along the RF band that automotive accessories operate on. What does that mean? For every watt transmitted about 1/4 of a watt gets through the glass! That will cause a drastic reduction in distance and reception. A 5% containing metal has up to 15 dB of signal attenuation! That's 1/30th of a watt getting through.
Here is a video demonstrating the reception differences between a metal free (MADICO Charcool) film vs a metalized film (Suntek HP):
4.) Ask friends, "Where'd you get your tint job? How does it look? How was the service before and after the sale? How well has it held up? Are you happy?"
5.) Ask yourself, "What benefits am I looking for?"
a.) How important is heat rejection?
b.) Do I just want the windows dark?
c.) Do I want that bling-bling chrome look?
6.) What are the legal limits?
a.) What's the penalty for illegal tint?
b.) How unsafe is it?
c.) Will my insurance company cancel my insurance or deny my claim because of illegal tint?
d.) How sue-happy are people in my area if I hit them while willfully driving a car deemed "unsafe" by my state?
7.) Do I have a coupe with a dot matrix?
a.) How will they solve the problem of it not sticking uniformly to the matrix?
b.) Do they guarantee it's appearance?
c.) Keep in mind the industry standard is to do nothing to it. Cutting it off is unacceptable, but tinters that take pride in their craft use one of many solutions available to satisfy 7b.
Once you narrow the field down to good installers that are offering good products with good service...then worry about price.
Plus, not all films are created equal.
1.) Dyed. Originally though to be cheap, there are now many color stable (non-purpling) dyed films out there. They're GPS/radio safe. Usually, heat rejection isn't the greatest, but some do okay. Examples would be Global Quick Dry Plus, 3M Color Stable, Madico CharCOOL, Llumar AT CH, and a few others.
2.) Metalized (Hybrid, HP, etc). This is a dyed film with a small amount of metal in it. Some are color stable, others are not. It's by far the most popular out there currently. Sometimes it effects GPS and/or AM radio reception, sometimes it effects FM too while the defroster is on. Examples would be Llumar ATR Charcoal, Madico Onyx, Global HP Charcoal, 3M Tint-FX HP, etc.
3.) Full Metal. The bling! Offers awesome heat rejection. Mid to high reflectivity. It will fubar your GPS antenna! LOL.
4.) High end films. These are specialty films. Mostly ceramics or other super duper technologies to provide exceptional performance. Expect to pay a lot for these. However, you can get 70% VLT films that offer over 50% heat rejection! Or you can get a dark GPS safe film with superb heat rejection and low reflectivity! If you have to ask how much, you can't afford it! But typically they cannot fade, cannot change color, and offer awesome benefits. Well worth the money.
I hope this little guide will help you in getting the tint job your vehicle deserves! Why put an $89 hack job onto a beautiful new expensive automobile?
A reasonably priced ceramic tint job from a quality shop will give you excellent heat rejection, last as long as you own the car, and not cut your keyless entry distance in half. Compare that with a hack job by a shop that puts out tint jobs as fast as they can with the cheapest imported tint they can find!
There are several removal techniques. It depends on the tinter. They should know what they're doing if you've asked them the previous questions.
One thing to be warned about. No one will guarantee that the defrosters will still work. We do our best, but the natural of the tint (pressure sensitive adhesive) can ruin rip parts off. On one of my cars after at least 7 tint jobs over the years....I think 4 lines still work. LOL.
I'm a "multi-tinter" I suppose. I do homes, businesses, cars, paint protection film, sell AMSOIL, and work a day job.
Doing homes and cars are completely different really. Same thing with paint protection film. Just because it's plastic with glue on it doesn't mean it's all the same. LOL. So you have to have a wide skill set to do it all. =)
Is the tint applied to the outside or the inside? If you cant use the defroster(which is on the inside of my car) is it still ok to use a ice scraper on the outside?
All good tips. I tried to follow similar guidelines when I got my Civic tinted, but the results just weren't as good as what my previous tinter had done on my past cars. Too bad he's a thousand miles away. Sometimes you just don't know until the job is done.
That drives me crazy too. Apparently it's very regional though. Some places call it that, others don't. I have had one customer that added the S or Z to the end. So I guess I'm lucky I live in a non-tintS region.
Yes, you can expect it. It's a toss up though. I've had it where the tint didn't want to come off to save my life and the lines were fine, I've had it where the tint came off like butter and ruined all the lines. /shrug I redid a 240 and the tint came off and left behind no glue, but removed large patches from each line! Made a neat black/orange pattern though.
Since your radio antenna is embedded in the window you can expect damage to that too.
Professional tinters have methods of "safely" removing the film, but sometimes it just can't be avoided.
Yet ONE more reason to keep it legal. If you get illegal tint and remove it later there goes your defroster lines and radio reception!
Yes, if you want to keep your factory nav working or AM radio reception you'll need either a NR film (well, dyed, but dyed sounds bad) or a ceramic.
If you still want decent heat rejection you'll need to pay more and get a ceramic film installed or something like 3M Color Stable, Madico Charcool, or Llumar ATX.
If you just want the "looks" then a high quality dyed film will do you well.
Remember, nowadays there are many color stable dyed films out there. You'll just have to ask about it.
I'm planning on getting tint soon. I've been wanting to get Huper Optik tint. The tint shop is gonna charge $250. Do you think the price is right for that ceramic tint? Or I should go to someone else?
I'm planning on getting tint soon. I've been wanting to get Huper Optik tint. The tint shop is gonna charge $250. Do you think the price is right for that ceramic tint? Or I should go to someone else?
I'm planning on getting tint soon. I've been wanting to get Huper Optik tint. The tint shop is gonna charge $250. Do you think the price is right for that ceramic tint? Or I should go to someone else?
CPFilms is Llumar and FormulaOne. FormulaOne has a ceramic.
Llumar now has the new ATX (Axcess sp?). It's "cermet".....sounds like Kermit! =) It allows for decent heat rejection and no signal loss. Plus, it looks almost identical to ATR CHarcoal (Llumar's most popular film).
Both F1 and ATX are high end films.....aka, expect to pay a lot, but you'll get a lot!
I've asked this question before I believe, somewhere..but I have yet to get a definitive answer. Will any of the aftermarket spoilers for the 4 door si fit the si coupe? I'm thinking like the nice jsracing or the apr spoilers. I'm not looking for a universal fit, I want something that fits well...
How easy/hard or possible is it to swap a stock EX sedan steering wheel with an SI one?
I love the 3 spoke look and the leather.
EX Sedan
5. 78501-SNA-N61ZA
9. 78540-SNA-A81ZA
Si Coupe
04. 78501-SVA-A41ZA
10. 78540-SVA-A01ZB
Those parts are the main difference etc. Found a...
OK so there seems to be some confusion about the Spoon Wide View Rearview mirror accessory. I did some research and looked at some past threads and noticed many people were buying the wrong model mirror for our cars. This item is made in Japan (Spoon) so they are using a Type R for fitment...
pic borrowed fm Daryl Nilsen with thanks (not the yellow circles)
but the black strip between bumper and fender
Any guy can shed some light on the above removal
i hit my rear bumper and broke the side spacer too
now need to replace else it protrude out abit
thanks for the advice
been trying to find the best and least $$ hands free holder for our car. I have a 2008 ex 4 door sedan. don't seem to have many places to attach holders to. And the windows are so far away, most suction type holders are not long enough to reach windshield.
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