Vfelix702
Registered User
Flareside thanx for the welcome to OB I look forward to being here!!!
Tinting windows
- Thread starter The Warden
- Start date
Back in high school I had an 83 F150 with 5% on the rear, the doors, and a 6" brow. Not legal, not even a little bit. (Not very useful on a cold night either) Yes, a bad idea in retrospect. Anyway, I'm pulling out of a parking lot and I see a cop looking dead at me and I know I'm as good as got. So he pulls me over, walks up and says "Son your tint is way to da** dark. Hell, you coulda been pointing a bazooka at me and Ida never known." To which I reply with a straight face, "Sir where I come from most folks roll their windows down before they shoot their bazooka...." Didn't manage to get out of that one without a ticket.... and I don't drive that truck through that town any more....
flareside_thun
Reviving The General Tao
Ya, I had a state trooper down here last week make a point to turn around and pull me over for my windshield STRIPS...I had upper and lower. I yanked em off the windshield right in front of him and the ******* still wrote me a 115 dollar ticket.....And LEO's wonder how they make themselves targets?
93cc7.3
needs turbo power
suntech is most preferred if having a shop do it .... if you havent done it before its very difficult to do it took me 3 years of trying here and there and then watching some serious pros do it but i still have trouble if you do decide to try it which im not trying to discourage you.
take your time.
scrap your windows clean with a razor blade
use tons of water with several teaspoons of dishsoap to clean with and soak all surfaces
take off door panels
clean the outside of the window and door then put tint with backing still on onto outside of window with the backing facing you (when unrolling roll its the inside)
then use mildly soft plastic squegee to smooth tint out to remove the big bubbles then use a utility razor knife to trim out shape of window half an inch wider on all sides and can leave several inches on the bottom of all moving windows (driver pass front and rear)
then crack your window just enough to see the top edge
now soak inside of the window remove backing then slide the bottom of the tint down into the window channel (easy with door panel off)
make sure there is overlap on all edges
then here is the part that takes time and a gentle hand
wet outside of tint
first pass center of window upwards gentle not trying to remove every buble first pass
second center down
third pass center to left
forth pass center right
now you will have a + in your window
now work each "box" sepratly always working from center to left or right approatlly
now once all large bubbles are gone rewet window now repeat with firm pressure but
going very slow
once everything is laying well trim all excess tint slowly (it helps to use the squegee as a straight edge to hold the tint from moving now on the top hold the knife at a 45 degree or greater angle to the top of the window and also at a 45 or greater degree to the horzontal plane of the window
once done slowly roll up window and dont touch for atleast a week dont roll them down if you see a large bubble form squegee it out pih head size bubbles are typical and most will bake out.
now the KEY to less gray hairs is using a decent quality tint
all of your autopart stores carry a "good" "better" and "best" of most brands
DONT TOUCH THE "GOOD" i like black magics premimum so if you decide your hand at it good luck and PM me with any questions
take your time.
scrap your windows clean with a razor blade
use tons of water with several teaspoons of dishsoap to clean with and soak all surfaces
take off door panels
clean the outside of the window and door then put tint with backing still on onto outside of window with the backing facing you (when unrolling roll its the inside)
then use mildly soft plastic squegee to smooth tint out to remove the big bubbles then use a utility razor knife to trim out shape of window half an inch wider on all sides and can leave several inches on the bottom of all moving windows (driver pass front and rear)
then crack your window just enough to see the top edge
now soak inside of the window remove backing then slide the bottom of the tint down into the window channel (easy with door panel off)
make sure there is overlap on all edges
then here is the part that takes time and a gentle hand
wet outside of tint
first pass center of window upwards gentle not trying to remove every buble first pass
second center down
third pass center to left
forth pass center right
now you will have a + in your window
now work each "box" sepratly always working from center to left or right approatlly
now once all large bubbles are gone rewet window now repeat with firm pressure but
going very slow
once everything is laying well trim all excess tint slowly (it helps to use the squegee as a straight edge to hold the tint from moving now on the top hold the knife at a 45 degree or greater angle to the top of the window and also at a 45 or greater degree to the horzontal plane of the window
once done slowly roll up window and dont touch for atleast a week dont roll them down if you see a large bubble form squegee it out pih head size bubbles are typical and most will bake out.
now the KEY to less gray hairs is using a decent quality tint
all of your autopart stores carry a "good" "better" and "best" of most brands
DONT TOUCH THE "GOOD" i like black magics premimum so if you decide your hand at it good luck and PM me with any questions
It figures, I just looked and as usual, jacked up California won't let you have a medical exemption for a darker tint. Most states if you can get a dr to sign that you have trouble with heat stroke or any medical condition where you need extra protection from heat and light, you can get a medical exemption to run darker window tint.
I'm the same way, It gets over 65 deg and I;m dieing from the heat. put me in -40 and I feel great. There's a reason I got so good at rigging AC systems
I'm the same way, It gets over 65 deg and I;m dieing from the heat. put me in -40 and I feel great. There's a reason I got so good at rigging AC systems
Yeah, that really sucks...the sad thing is, I'm sensitive enough to bright light that, if CA did allow a medical exemption, my eyedoctor would sign that note without even thinking twice. I'm already under doctor's orders to wear sunglasses whenever I'm outside in the sunIt figures, I just looked and as usual, jacked up California won't let you have a medical exemption for a darker tint. Most states if you can get a dr to sign that you have trouble with heat stroke or any medical condition where you need extra protection from heat and light, you can get a medical exemption to run darker window tint.
I'm the same way, It gets over 65 deg and I;m dieing from the heat. put me in -40 and I feel great. There's a reason I got so good at rigging AC systems
I'm amazed that you can stand living in Arkansas...I went to Texas once (bought my first M-B and drove it back, in 2002) and that was about 3 times too many!! BTW I'm planning to redo my truck's a/c (among other things) at some point; I plan to try and pick your brain when the time comes...
93cc7.3, great write-up, thank you!! Unfortunately, even with your excellent instructions, I don't trust myself to get it right especially on my first try, and (assuming that I get this car, which is looking more and more likely) I don't want to mess up a fairly new car. Have you ever heard of Geoshield ceramic window films? I found this place that I may go to, and they're talking about this stuff...
Thank you all again
shaneps86
Registered User
Lucky for me Illinois let's you get away with quite a bit, as long as you have nothing on your fronts you can black out your backs and rear, I love the black magic as a DIY kit, got it at wall world for cheap too... took me about 2 and a half hours to do the back mains and sectional pieces (took out all the glass first) and like mentioned earlier, use TONS of soapy water, you'll wind up with tiny pockets if you don't! Good luck!
shaneps86
Registered User
Oh and one other note to add, if you decide to pull the glass out, once the tint is applied I trimmed off about 1/16 of an inch inside to ensure the tint doesn't get peeled back up on the edges upon reinstallation.
93cc7.3
needs turbo power
Yeah, that really sucks...the sad thing is, I'm sensitive enough to bright light that, if CA did allow a medical exemption, my eyedoctor would sign that note without even thinking twice. I'm already under doctor's orders to wear sunglasses whenever I'm outside in the sun
I'm amazed that you can stand living in Arkansas...I went to Texas once (bought my first M-B and drove it back, in 2002) and that was about 3 times too many!! BTW I'm planning to redo my truck's a/c (among other things) at some point; I plan to try and pick your brain when the time comes...
93cc7.3, great write-up, thank you!! Unfortunately, even with your excellent instructions, I don't trust myself to get it right especially on my first try, and (assuming that I get this car, which is looking more and more likely) I don't want to mess up a fairly new car. Have you ever heard of Geoshield ceramic window films? I found this place that I may go to, and they're talking about this stuff...
Thank you all again
Can't say that I've heard of them but I will check them out .. just about any decent tint shop is gonna use quality tint its good business and makes their job easier if they give you options you want a tint that is metalized it gives you a better uv block with a lighter shade percentage
itsacrazyasian
residentcrazyasian
llumar all the way around with a clear uv film (legal) on the windshield.
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h2odrx
Anti-O
In NC a Crew-cab is a multi use vehicle and any window behind the drive can be as black as you want. only 5" of front and 35% on front doors.....
Thank you again
just wondering, were you able to find anything out?
93cc7.3
needs turbo power
I wasn't able to find out much about any one patirular brand ...seems pro. Window tint is left to the wholesalers and pro. Installers and shops not much info given to the public what I did find is that I must retract my previous statement about metalized tint NOW nano-ceramic tint is the latest and greatest better blocking than metalized with no cons ie. Metalized can give you poor cell phone recption and issues with polarized sunglasses
Very cool!! That was actually one of my biggest questions...it's good to get confirmation that the nano-ceramic is an improvement and better go with the metal. Thank you so much for that!!
BTW I've noticed the issues with polarized sunglasses before and always found it annoying...I thought it was something with the glass (since I've seen it sometimes even on non-tinted glass), but it's good to know that the nano-ceramic won't pose a problem there. I'm wearing sunglasses anytime I'm behind the wheel during the day, so that's a pretty big deal.
Thank you again!!!!!
performancelaw
Full Access Member
When I had my tahoe here in Florida I drove around for 3 years. Got stopped once. Trailer lights came unplugged. He checked my Windows. Back came out to be -12% fronts were 1% backs had factory tint plus 2 coats of 5% the ac worked GREAT in that thing. He didst ticket me because I played stupid. But its 141.00 per window here. I had 7 that were beyond illegal. When I do my crew cab it'll be the same way. I'm going to stay cool no matter what they like. I don't plan on shooting them so I roll all the windows down when they stop me for anything.
