Window Tint Film

[JayEstes 172]

Another appearance question for you.  I'm getting close to putting the windows back in.  All 4 are in great condition and will soon get reinstalled.  They are original windows with the greenish tint (glue in).  

 

I live in Houston, TX area, so heat and UV is a major issue here.  I want to add a window tint film to the side windows (windshield and rear window are original and still installed).

 

What have you guys used?  I can't find many on here that talk about window tint.  There are some new "ceramic" films that reject 99% IR & UV.  I'm hoping to put one of those kinds in.

 

Do you have any advice?  

Thanks in advance-

Jay

[JD08 42]

I've used the heat blocking that the tint place I go to offers on my daily drivers, but I never gave a thought to putting it on a classic.

 

Is your car going to be outside for extended periods of time?

[JayEstes 172]

Well, I do hope to drive it to work some of the time.  I live in Houston, and it will be sitting outside in Texas heat for the bulk of the day if I drive it there.  If you've ever lived anywhere near the texas gulf coast, you'd understand the need for these things in summer...

[MikeStang 247]

I have used and like the following tints.

Oh and I worked in a tint shop for a while so I speak with a little Exp.

 

1.Lumar

2.Sologuard

 

you can get it in all kinds of shades, colors and UV Reflectiveness.

Tint has gotten so good now that you can take a 35-50% and it will reflect as much or More UV than a sheet of 5% from years ago.

Your Tint does not have to be super dark to get the UV Protection that you want like back in the old days.

 

I however still LOVE darker tints and have 5% on my back glass, 20% on my sides and a 5% Visor strip that is almost 3 times the legal length from top to bottom.

My reasoning was 2 fold... I wanted blacked out windows because the car looks good with it and I wanted the UV protection, and I didn't want to spend a lot of money.

Generally speaking the Darker tints are usually cheaper but lack the High UV protection of the lighter better engineered high UV tints. The darker % tints seem to feel cooler inside but most research claims the newer more expensive lighter shades provide actual better UV protection.

Then there is the fact that I don't like people seeing everything I am doing inside my car lol... Never know what might be going down in there at a stop light HaHa.

 

Here's a pointer #1.

When you pick a tint shop to do the work, ask them if they can do your whole back glass in 1 piece, if they look at it and say No then walk away...it either means they have installers with little exp or they use cheap ass tint.

Tinting our back glass is a chore in and of its self simply because there is not much room to work and the piece of tint is Huge, plus the angles you gotta get in to work it.

 

Pointer #2.

If you can have the glass tinted while its out of the car.

This will provide the best tint job possible, but will make installing the glass a little harder because you will have to be careful not to scratch the tint LOL.

 

Pointer #3.

if you wait to have it tinted until after its installed do the following things for best final tint results

1. Leave all of the interior trim off around the front glass.

2. clean up any Goo that may be on the glass near the weather stripping, and I mean get some windex and a razor blade and scrape it all off right up to the edge of the weather stripping.

3. Take same windex and razor blade and hose the whole glass down and scrape it ALL, being careful not to tilt the blade so you scratch the glass because it will show in the tint if its bad enough.

4. Leave the door panels off... By doing this it lets the tint guys actually get the tint further down on the window and helps eliminate the possibility of the tint ever peeling from catching on anything installed on top of door panel...the weather stripping over time will cause this in some cases.

5. be sure that your little metal window guides at the front of the car are rubber coated really good and don't apply much pressure to the glass or it will wear through the tint fast.

6. I like my tint to be within about 1/16" to 1/8" from the very top of the driver and passenger side windows.

it makes for a better finished job and looks much better, however a lot of shops will leave it down 3/8" to as much as 1/2" and it looks like unfinished shit.

 

I am very picky with my tint and when the shop that did mine called me and told me it was ready It was late before I could get it, and didn't inspect it because it was dark, but the next day I was not a happy camper but haven't had time to let them fix it.

So when I changed my front windshield and needed my front visor strip replaced I found a little mom and pop shop that had an installer that was top notch. I told him what I was wanting and his response was simple "cars like this DESERVE Top notch service and that is what I do" He took the front trim off, carefully cleaned the excess sealer off, then I sat in the car while he laid the tint across the windshield outside and found the length that I wanted it down from the top that was comfortable for me to just see under and block the sun. He then installed the tint and it was PERFECT, just like I used to do...They now handle all my tinting needs and the installer gets a $20 tip every time, even tho he always tries to refuse it :)

 

If you are ever in the Lake Charles area I can hook ya up with them and you can get a top notch job.

[1969vert 55]

window tint.com for me I but in bulk...

Texas is hot and all of my vehicles have some sort of slightly show only tint..

Get the inspection done with the windows rolled down.. 

5% in my black coupe so the other driver cant see me watching them at the stripe 

5% on my convertible ... 5% on my truck.. 20% on my wife's excursion

Did 5% on my old motorhome just so we could sleep in when the sun came up..

I'm closer to the coast than you....

[JayEstes 172]

Men-  Thanks for the replies!  I have bought some of the higher quality 35% tint.  It contains the ceramic material so should be awesome at blocking UV, page I bought from said hi 90%'s+ UV block.  I liked the idea of the darker tints, but didn't want to stray too far, from the original look.  I think it will make a nice balance of my sun-blocking needs, and maintaining a mostly original look.

 

Mike-  My doors have all weather strip off,  and all interior trim is removed (she just got back from paint).  My plan is to do the tint myself, and then find a way to "carefully" get it back in the car.  I even have the regulator and everything removed from the doors.  I'm assuming I'll install & prep the regulators, then tint windows, then line the door slots with some kind of thin temporary protector pad, and get windows in & mounted.  Then go for weatherstripping window slot and door frames.

 

I've done a little bit of tint work in the past, long time ago.  It should be easy since I can lay the windows on a table.  I talked to a local shop to see if he would do the tint with windows out, and when the guy told me "it's actually harder with the windows not in the car", I thought to myself, "this guy is full of $hit... I'm not having him do the work".  I'm assuming he was just gonna use that to extract more $'s out of me.

 

I like doing all the work, it just takes me forever, as I have a wife and kids, and well it seem like the shop time is limited to way late in the days when I am dog-tired.  I suspect most of you know what I am talking about.

[MikeStang 247]

Ha-Ha yeah I know what your talking about bud.

They say it is harder to do with window out because it usually requires a 2nd hand to hold the glass, plus its easier to hang the film vertically than from top to bottom...There is less chance of getting crap under it doing it in the car vs on a bench somewhere also, but all in all its what and what on door glass, but the rear window is a PITA to do in the car. and I prefer to do that one out of the car LOL...

there are a lot of new products out there to make installing easier, But I like to use the basics...Water in a pump sprayer with a cap full of baby shampoo and that's all ya need besides some clean windows and good squeegee block