To Tint, or not to Tint?

Having formerly owned a window tint and detail business I feel qualified to weigh in on this. My only disclaimer is that I have been out of the biz for 10 years or so but I still talk to my tinter once a year or so. Back in the day we used Llumar and Johnson window films. With tint film you definitely get what you pay for. We had more issues with the Johnson than the Llumar. This may sound kind of funny but for a home job use your sliding glass door if you have one as a place to work from. Mix up some water and Johnson and Johnson no tear kids shampoo, the honey colored stuff in the clear bottle in about a 10% mixture and don't be afraid to use it. Clean the inside and outside of your windows with some non ammonia foaming glass cleaner. For the best results pull the windows out of the car and set them on some sawhorses covered in towels. You can also do it with the windows in but it makes it harder especially with the older rigs to make sure that no dirt gets in the final product. Always work the tint on the outside of the window first to shape it and trim it, you will be puttin the heat on the layer of film that you remove to expose the glue and it gives you a little leeway on the heat factor, a little not much. once you get it heat shaped to the contours of your glass, you spray down the sliding glass door and the tint will cling to it. Once there you can remove the cling layer and spray down the glue side as well as spray the inside of the window. The spray acts like a lube to allow you to position the film without it sticking until you want it to. We used to use what looked like a body filler squeegee but was considerably softer and was a somewhat specialized tool. About 4" long flat edge that was a medium soft rubber edge. Once you get it where you want it, squegee the water out from the center out to the sides and from the top down. Start with the side windows first as they are usually the easiest and the back windows are usually the toughest. On any window that rolls up leave the film about 1/16" long on the top edge and after it has dried for about 1 hour come back with a fine metal file and file the edge at about a 45* angle to the window and it should be trouble free for the seal at the top.

Tint shades are rated in the amount of light they let pass thru. 50% is barely noticeable but will cut out a lot of UV, we used to do this on houses and storefronts alot. 35% is about what comes from the factory on most cars. 20% is pretty close to what most SUVs have on the back windows and 5% is commonly referred to as "limo" tint. They all block about the same amount of UV rays.

I have been out of the loop for a while but 15 years ago in Washington state the laws were any 35% for any window on any car, the front driver and pass window on any SUV, van or truck; all other windows were as dark as you wanted them. We actually did most of the State Patrol and Sheriff K9 vehicles in the area and we would go 5% all the way around in the back, seems they are exempt from the laws they enforce. One warning though, the dark stuff and especially the reflective stuff tend to reverse themselves at night and as little as bright dash lights can affect your ability to see outside. The front windshield could be tinted down from the top 6" from the outside window molding and 4" up from the dash line on the inside on the bottom.

Raw material cost is about $35-50/car or was back in my day, and we would charge 179 for a 2 door car. We would always try and talk the customer into removing the rear window on the older cars. We had a glass shop next door and they would pop them in and out for $50 and we would split the cost with the customer.

--Jason