window tinting
#1
05-28-2005 | 11:19 PM
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Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 154
From: rapid city sd
window tinting
how hard is it to do window tinting....i saw some rolls of it at wal-mart and it seemed to be good quality and i was tempted to buy it......is it hard to get all the bubbles out...has anyone done this....do you install it wet like you do with a decal or what????? :happy9: THANX TRNIN
#2
05-29-2005 | 04:19 AM
Sigma Beta Rho Soldier
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 2,682
From: Philadelphia, PA
Its tricky and it take LOTS of time and patience. If you are one to rush things, dont do it yourself. You will end up with really bad looking tint after a few months.
Make sure its not purpled tint either. If you get the purple looking tint I would personally come up and smack you upside your head.
Basically the process is this:
Clean both the OUTSIDE and the INSIDE of your windows. Spray the outside of your window with a soap/water mixture (about 10 drops of joy dish soap). Now its time to gather up some other supplies. You will need a razor blade, a heat gun, a squeegie (like you use to smooth out wallpaper). After your done spraying the outside of the back window, lay the piece of tint flat on top of the window and cut off the edges. Remember to undercut the bottom and the sides just a little bit because the outside of the window has more surface area than the inside (the tint will have to slide in the small crevace between your inside rear windshield and your upholstry. If you dont end up cutting it a bit smaller, your going to run into fitment issues). Take the squeegie and the heat gun and push all the bubbles out. Its best to try and shrink them with the heat gun first then attempt to move them out SLOWLY to the sides. For the rear window, expect to use two pieces of tint, seamed in the middle. Cut along the defroster line in order to get a hidden seam (you cant tell where the two pieces meet if you cut along this line *ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE CAR*). If you have a third brakelight on the inside of your car, this is the time to remove it. Your going to be driving without it for a couple of days. Once you have everything fitted, heated and squeegied out, you want to find the edge of the cover piece of plastic film and slowly peel that off. As your peeling it off, you need to spray the newly exposed surface of the tint with the soap/water misture. Now coat the inside of the glass with the soap/water mixture. After pulling that off, you get to slowly take the piece of tint and take it off the outside of the car, and carefully and without creasing it, move it to the inside of the car. Stick it to the rear windshield about 2/3's of the way down, and SLOWLY (and I mean SLOWLY) slide the piece of tint down so that it fits inbetween the glass and the top end of the backseat. Grab your squeegie tool and heat gun, and get all those bubbles out. Once you are pleased with your tint and ALL of the bubbles are out (some bubbles you wont be able to get out but as the tint dries they will come out), leave the piece of tint ALONE for approximately two to three days. No touchy no nothing. It needs to cure.
Process is similiar for the driver and passenger windows, except for those its almost eaiser to actually pop the inside door panel off and do it that way. Same process as the back windows, except these your going to have to cut it a little longer so that the tint wont sitck and curl on the rubber piece where you roll your windows up and down on. Its a bit eaiser than the rear window because it is smaller surface area, but you might want to consider cutting it just a little bit smaller than the window itself, not too much but enough so that maybe 5mm is showing from the top and sides of the window.
Do the same thing for the quarter panels.
My suggestion, if its only one tint job dont do it yourself, let a professional do it. Youll kick yourself if the tint comes out horrible and you wasted time on it. That back window alone is going to take you at least an hour and a half to get just that ONE piece right.
Get your tint from a speedshop as well. I wouldnt trust Wal-Mart tint as far as I can throw it. I would buy two to three rolls as well, because tint goes pretty fast as your applying it.
Thats a rough outline as to how to tint your car. It takes LOTS of time and effort to get it done, and have it done right. Theres another method using Reynolds Butcher Paper which is outlined at this website. (http://www.tintdude.com/tint.html)
Hope that helped.
Make sure its not purpled tint either. If you get the purple looking tint I would personally come up and smack you upside your head.
Basically the process is this:
Clean both the OUTSIDE and the INSIDE of your windows. Spray the outside of your window with a soap/water mixture (about 10 drops of joy dish soap). Now its time to gather up some other supplies. You will need a razor blade, a heat gun, a squeegie (like you use to smooth out wallpaper). After your done spraying the outside of the back window, lay the piece of tint flat on top of the window and cut off the edges. Remember to undercut the bottom and the sides just a little bit because the outside of the window has more surface area than the inside (the tint will have to slide in the small crevace between your inside rear windshield and your upholstry. If you dont end up cutting it a bit smaller, your going to run into fitment issues). Take the squeegie and the heat gun and push all the bubbles out. Its best to try and shrink them with the heat gun first then attempt to move them out SLOWLY to the sides. For the rear window, expect to use two pieces of tint, seamed in the middle. Cut along the defroster line in order to get a hidden seam (you cant tell where the two pieces meet if you cut along this line *ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE CAR*). If you have a third brakelight on the inside of your car, this is the time to remove it. Your going to be driving without it for a couple of days. Once you have everything fitted, heated and squeegied out, you want to find the edge of the cover piece of plastic film and slowly peel that off. As your peeling it off, you need to spray the newly exposed surface of the tint with the soap/water misture. Now coat the inside of the glass with the soap/water mixture. After pulling that off, you get to slowly take the piece of tint and take it off the outside of the car, and carefully and without creasing it, move it to the inside of the car. Stick it to the rear windshield about 2/3's of the way down, and SLOWLY (and I mean SLOWLY) slide the piece of tint down so that it fits inbetween the glass and the top end of the backseat. Grab your squeegie tool and heat gun, and get all those bubbles out. Once you are pleased with your tint and ALL of the bubbles are out (some bubbles you wont be able to get out but as the tint dries they will come out), leave the piece of tint ALONE for approximately two to three days. No touchy no nothing. It needs to cure.
Process is similiar for the driver and passenger windows, except for those its almost eaiser to actually pop the inside door panel off and do it that way. Same process as the back windows, except these your going to have to cut it a little longer so that the tint wont sitck and curl on the rubber piece where you roll your windows up and down on. Its a bit eaiser than the rear window because it is smaller surface area, but you might want to consider cutting it just a little bit smaller than the window itself, not too much but enough so that maybe 5mm is showing from the top and sides of the window.
Do the same thing for the quarter panels.
My suggestion, if its only one tint job dont do it yourself, let a professional do it. Youll kick yourself if the tint comes out horrible and you wasted time on it. That back window alone is going to take you at least an hour and a half to get just that ONE piece right.
Get your tint from a speedshop as well. I wouldnt trust Wal-Mart tint as far as I can throw it. I would buy two to three rolls as well, because tint goes pretty fast as your applying it.
Thats a rough outline as to how to tint your car. It takes LOTS of time and effort to get it done, and have it done right. Theres another method using Reynolds Butcher Paper which is outlined at this website. (http://www.tintdude.com/tint.html)
Hope that helped.
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