Window Tinting advice

[dannywss]

ok, i used to get from tintprofessor.

Now, in Victoria only, who can tell me the cheapest yet good quality place to get tinting RE-done?

[Davenic]

Meh, had mine done at tint professor 28% i recall all round their black one, no problems with interference at all.

AcoustiK, did you check out the Endurance tint at the Tint Professor?

On their website they recommend the Endurance tint for black cars. Has anyone seen how this looks and would they recommend it?

[AcoustiK]

Meh, had mine done at tint professor 28% i recall all round their black one, no problems with interference at all.

AcoustiK, did you check out the Endurance tint at the Tint Professor?

On their website they recommend the Endurance tint for black cars. Has anyone seen how this looks and would they recommend it?

Endurance was the silvery one is it?, I was recommended the blackish one, as the car has chrome window lining the black on black works great.

[Davenic]

Meh, had mine done at tint professor 28% i recall all round their black one, no problems with interference at all.

AcoustiK, did you check out the Endurance tint at the Tint Professor?

On their website they recommend the Endurance tint for black cars. Has anyone seen how this looks and would they recommend it?

Endurance was the silvery one is it?, I was recommended the blackish one, as the car has chrome window lining the black on black works great.

Yep, the Endurance is more "neutral" and "reflective". I must say, from the pics, I prefer the black tint.

[Danos]

I got Tint-a-car in Sydney (SUTHERLAND) to price me their tints for an Aurion just this week. I bought mine with a mild tint already and will need to get it removed before they apply the new tint. A for compatability, I'm not sure but the F1 tint isn't metallic so there should be no interferance. Here are the prices:

www.tintacar.com.au

IT WILL COST $100 TO REMOVE OLD TINT.

BOLLE ~ RRP $545.00.

Lifetime Warranty

60% Heat and Glare Reduction

99% U.V. Protection

35% VLT Darkness

Bolle Automotive film is manufactured by Bolle sunglass’s and is designed to give you the same optic and appearance as their sunglass. This film comes in two options a blue/black or bottle green design.

FORMULA ONE ~ RRP $465.00. Can do for you $395.00

25 Year Warranty

65% Heat and Glare Reduction

99.9% U.V. Protection

38% VLT Darkness

Formula One is the only film on the retail market with a UPF/SPF 50+ sunscreen rating, so if you are after protection with film with give you the best.

MIDNIGHT EXPRESS ~ RRP $395.00. Can do for you $345.00

10 Year Warranty

60% Heat and Glare Reduction

99% U.V. Protection

35% VLT Darkness

Midnight Express is the darkest film in our range, it is purely black in appearance, so if you are after darkness with film with achieve this for you.

ASHCOOL ~ RRP $295.00.

10 Year Warranty

60% Heat and Glare Reduction

99% U.V. Protection

38% VLT Darkness

Ashcool is a metalized film that will with you good protection and a dark appearance.

I used Midnight Express on my previous car - Mazda 3 - it was great, heaps dark and looked good as the car was black.

[dannywss]

Possible to remove the tint ourselves? it shouldnt be hard? then i can save the $100, and more money on re-tint.

[MarkMish]

I got Tint-a-car in Sydney (SUTHERLAND) to price me their tints for an Aurion just this week. I bought mine with a mild tint already and will need to get it removed before they apply the new tint. A for compatability, I'm not sure but the F1 tint isn't metallic so there should be no interferance. Here are the prices:

www.tintacar.com.au

IT WILL COST $100 TO REMOVE OLD TINT.

BOLLE ~ RRP $545.00.

Lifetime Warranty

60% Heat and Glare Reduction

99% U.V. Protection

35% VLT Darkness

Bolle Automotive film is manufactured by Bolle sunglass’s and is designed to give you the same optic and appearance as their sunglass. This film comes in two options a blue/black or bottle green design.

FORMULA ONE ~ RRP $465.00. Can do for you $395.00

25 Year Warranty

65% Heat and Glare Reduction

99.9% U.V. Protection

38% VLT Darkness

Formula One is the only film on the retail market with a UPF/SPF 50+ sunscreen rating, so if you are after protection with film with give you the best.

MIDNIGHT EXPRESS ~ RRP $395.00. Can do for you $345.00

10 Year Warranty

60% Heat and Glare Reduction

99% U.V. Protection

35% VLT Darkness

Midnight Express is the darkest film in our range, it is purely black in appearance, so if you are after darkness with film with achieve this for you.

ASHCOOL ~ RRP $295.00.

10 Year Warranty

60% Heat and Glare Reduction

99% U.V. Protection

38% VLT Darkness

Ashcool is a metalized film that will with you good protection and a dark appearance.

I used Midnight Express on my previous car - Mazda 3 - it was great, heaps dark and looked good as the car was black.

WOW thats a expensive got mine done for $180 thats wit the mirror look 15%

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Possible to remove the tint ourselves? it shouldnt be hard? then i can save the $100, and more money on re-tint.

yeah its possible just use a steam gun and remember to take ur time and not to leave any glue behind

[AcoustiK]

Meh, had mine done at tint professor 28% i recall all round their black one, no problems with interference at all.

AcoustiK, did you check out the Endurance tint at the Tint Professor?

On their website they recommend the Endurance tint for black cars. Has anyone seen how this looks and would they recommend it?

Endurance was the silvery one is it?, I was recommended the blackish one, as the car has chrome window lining the black on black works great.

Yep, the Endurance is more "neutral" and "reflective". I must say, from the pics, I prefer the black tint.

Yep :)

[Hyo]

Last Friday I had my car tinted with 3M film. I rang 3M and they directed me to one of their local distributors. It's 35%, but looks more deeper than that. So far so good!

[Danos]

WOW thats a expensive got mine done for $180 thats wit the mirror look 15%

Did you get it done in Sydney ? and where ? so I can go get mine done also. My Aurion is Silver so mirrow would look pretty sweet

[Davenic]

Has anyone tinted their headlights?

[Danos]

Question: Has anyone ever done tint with the back window darker than the door windows ? By this I mean the 4 door windows tinted to the legal limit but the back (rear) window darker than the legal limit.

The last time I got my windows tinted the guy doing the tint said do 'do you want me to do double tint on the rear window, it makes the whole thing look much darker'

I don't think I'd be doing double the legal limit but maybe just a bit darker. Not sure if it would look OK - I'd think that it would not be too obvious that the rear window are different from the door windows as they are not exactly adjacent. From the side profile the windows would look the same it would only be at the angle that you'd see a different when you can see both the side and rear. In that case the windows would be at different angles and would look different anyway.

I'v attached the RTA's (nsw) rules on window tinting - Probably similar in other states

vsi03_rev3.pdf

Edited March 11, 2008 by Danos

[dannywss]

Question: Has anyone ever done tint with the back window darker than the door windows ? By this I mean the 4 door windows tinted to the legal limit but the back (rear) window darker than the legal limit.

The last time I got my windows tinted the guy doing the tint said do 'do you want me to do double tint on the rear window, it makes the whole thing look much darker'

yes, i was asked the same question, and i asked them to do the darkest possible on every piece of window. The front door's is a little brighter than the back door's, and the rear window is darkest.

i sent to another place to confirm if this is legal. and i got my answer "yes" BUT u have to decide if u wan to notice 3 kind of darkness tint on your car. personally, i dont mind, as long as my car is DARK

Edited March 11, 2008 by dannywss

[riftime]

Has anyone tinted their headlights?

Looks mean to do that, but its counter productive for night driving. I had some plastic light protecters tinted in the past on another car which made it look as if the whole light+indicator was tinted. Looked good with white car which also had tinted windows, tinted tail lights, two-tone paint, lowered, dark mags, etc... Made night driving significantly worse, the lights were dim and yellowish. The covers didn't last long, I took them off after a few frustrated night drives.

If you are considering doing that, I'd suggest you do what I did. Buy some light (plastic) protective covers (Aurion genuine parts should cost around $70) and get them tinted rather than the actual headlight. That way if you can "chose" if you want your headlights tinted on any particular day... or night. Also not sure about the legalities of tinting the actual headlights. Might be a roadworthy issue. However, if it's a plastic cover and the police pull you over, you can just remove them and say that they're for looks/temporary. At night they won't notice.

[AcoustiK]

Id rather wait till one day, they'll have JDM style headlights (black internal plastics). Would be safer and looks part of the car instead of tinting the headlights.

[insi]

HI..

I have a friend that can do window tint aurion for $240 in the South Eastern Suburb of Melbourne.

PM me if you want to get his details and let me know your real name so I can pass it to him that you will give him a call. THanks.

I've done mine with 20% for my black aurion touring.

He will treat you like a friend instead of sales person and if something wrong he will take care of it.

[Quark]

Might be a silly question, but you know how there's already proven technology in the optometry world for "transition" lenses? (those that darken in proportion to the amount of UV hitting them)... Why don't they make tint films like that so that at night the windows are NOT tinted, but during the day they are ?

Wouldn't that be nice ? However, going by the price optometrists charge for transition lenses, a tint job will cost more than the car!!!

If transition can't be made in a "film", then Toyota should have it as an option for the type of glass used.

... just thinking out loud

I too would be interested to know what kind of tint costs more than $800 !!! Cross my fingers that it's the one I'm describing above, but somehow I doubt it.

Greetings All,

Interesting thread.

Just thought I might add some info worth considering before applying a window tint.

There is no doubt that the right window tint certainly looks good, but is it's value really just cosmetic?

Lets consider what UV & IR radiation really are.

UV radiation is outside the short wavelength end of the visible specrtum 40nm down to 10nm wavelength and as such more energetic than the radiation making up the visible spectrum. We are probably most aware of it as the cause of sunburn and melanomas.

IR radiation is just off of the red or long wavelength end of the visible spectrum 700nm to 1mm wavelength. We feel IR radiation as heat.

From the manuals made available to us by AurionZR6, the specifications for the glass used in the Aurion (if the Australian spec's are the same as for the US Camry) make interesting reading.

From the NCF pdf page MO-21, "all glass used is HSEA (High Solar Energy Absorbing), which blocks UV and IR rays in sunlight."

The table on the above referenced page provides the following specification.

Windscreen blocks 100% UV and 25% visible light.

All other windows other than Moon roof block 90% UV and 25% visible light.

Moon roof blocks 93% UV and 80% visible light.

These figures quite categorically list specific UV reduction figures, however as IR is at longer wavelengths than visible light, the figures listed as reductions in visible light really have no bearing on IR.

Flowing from this, it would seem that the value of tinting is primarily in the tints ability to reduce IR.

The ability of any added tint to reduce UV would seem irrelevant.

Just some food for thought

Regards

Quark

[Danos]

I had mine done with Johnson Window Tint:

Greystone on the rear to not interfer with the radio antenna ~30% VLT

http://www.johnsonwindowfilms.com/GSN.php

Silhouette on the sides, metalised tint ~32% VLT

http://www.johnsonwindowfilms.com/SP.php#

All done for $200 from a mate of a mates

Looks good

[riftime]

Flowing from this, it would seem that the value of tinting is primarily in the tints ability to reduce IR.

... and reduce visible light thereby increasing privacy. As you described, reducing IR though would act as a heat insulation of sorts ?

So increasing the insulation property of the vehicle (most noticeable in summer?) and increasing privacy... isn't that why people usually get window tinting ? At least that's my criteria. I haven't made the leap yet, and although I've had the Presara now for 4 months, I still miss the privacy of the window tinting I had in my last car.

My idea/point about the UV-sensitive tints was more in line with having a changing level of tint based on amount of UV. So at night there would be less tinting to avoid the reduction in visibility. However, as you point out, UV gets filtered out so for this to work (assuming that there is such a film) the tint would have to be applied to the exterior rather than the interior (as the glass filters UV before reaching the interior film). Exterior film application would be silly though ? Just an idea...

Here's another question about the tinting process. Given that the film is applied on the inside, how well are the windows actually cleaned prior to the film being applied ? What's used to clean the windows ? Might seem like a silly question, but have you ever tried to clean the car windows (especially the rear window) to such an extent that it is absolutely spotless and streak-free? Seems to me like quite a challenge, and to have film applied over a bad clean job would permanently seal that disappointment in? Maybe there's a scientific explanation why this is not important if you add another layer on top with no gap for light to be refracted?

Edited April 23, 2008 by riftime

[DJKOR]

Flowing from this, it would seem that the value of tinting is primarily in the tints ability to reduce IR.

... and reduce visible light thereby increasing privacy. As you described, reducing IR though would act as a heat insulation of sorts ?

So increasing the insulation property of the vehicle (most noticeable in summer?) and increasing privacy... isn't that why people usually get window tinting ? At least that's my criteria. I haven't made the leap yet, and although I've had the Presara now for 4 months, I still miss the privacy of the window tinting I had in my last car.

My idea/point about the UV-sensitive tints was more in line with having a changing level of tint based on amount of UV. So at night there would be less tinting to avoid the reduction in visibility. However, as you point out, UV gets filtered out so for this to work (assuming that there is such a film) the tint would have to be applied to the exterior rather than the interior (as the glass filters UV before reaching the interior film). Exterior film application would be silly though ? Just an idea...

Here's another question about the tinting process. Given that the film is applied on the inside, how well are the windows actually cleaned prior to the film being applied ? What's used to clean the windows ? Might seem like a silly question, but have you ever tried to clean the car windows (especially the rear window) to such an extent that it is absolutely spotless and streak-free? Seems to me like quite a challenge, and to have film applied over a bad clean job would permanently seal that disappointment in? Maybe there's a scientific explanation why this is not important if you add another layer on top with no gap for light to be refracted?

They should be able to clean the glass to a streak-free finish prior to applying the tint. There are many solutions out there that can clean your windows well and remove all that oily residue from the plastics in your car. One of my favourite glass cleaners is CRC Glass and Window Cleaner. It may cost about $7.95 a can, but that stuff is wonderful. Just spray it on an wipe it off for a crystal clear finish. It's even safe to use on tinting. Otherwise, if you'd like to get down to basics; metho and water also works rather well.

[Danos]

Flowing from this, it would seem that the value of tinting is primarily in the tints ability to reduce IR.

... and reduce visible light thereby increasing privacy. As you described, reducing IR though would act as a heat insulation of sorts ?

So increasing the insulation property of the vehicle (most noticeable in summer?) and increasing privacy... isn't that why people usually get window tinting ? At least that's my criteria. I haven't made the leap yet, and although I've had the Presara now for 4 months, I still miss the privacy of the window tinting I had in my last car.

My idea/point about the UV-sensitive tints was more in line with having a changing level of tint based on amount of UV. So at night there would be less tinting to avoid the reduction in visibility. However, as you point out, UV gets filtered out so for this to work (assuming that there is such a film) the tint would have to be applied to the exterior rather than the interior (as the glass filters UV before reaching the interior film). Exterior film application would be silly though ? Just an idea...

Here's another question about the tinting process. Given that the film is applied on the inside, how well are the windows actually cleaned prior to the film being applied ? What's used to clean the windows ? Might seem like a silly question, but have you ever tried to clean the car windows (especially the rear window) to such an extent that it is absolutely spotless and streak-free? Seems to me like quite a challenge, and to have film applied over a bad clean job would permanently seal that disappointment in? Maybe there's a scientific explanation why this is not important if you add another layer on top with no gap for light to be refracted?

Once you have window tint you should not wash the tint side of the window with anything other than water. At the most use a window cleaner but only the clear stuff not the blue coloured stuff cause it has ammonia in it.

I watched the guy do my windows and the cleaning process was pretty thorough and quite alot of water was used. Normally the reason they don't let you watch, I was quite amazed at how much water was actually used.

To get a streak free finish I use a wet cloth and then dry newspaper . . .

Edited April 24, 2008 by Danos

[riftime]

Id rather wait till one day, they'll have JDM style headlights (black internal plastics). Would be safer and looks part of the car instead of tinting the headlights.

Black internal plastics? You mean instead of the mirror parts? How exactly would that work, the mirror is used to reflect (and focus) light from the bulb to the road.

[J e r e M y]

Id rather wait till one day, they'll have JDM style headlights (black internal plastics). Would be safer and looks part of the car instead of tinting the headlights.

Black internal plastics? You mean instead of the mirror parts? How exactly would that work, the mirror is used to reflect (and focus) light from the bulb to the road.

second that

[Quark]

Flowing from this, it would seem that the value of tinting is primarily in the tints ability to reduce IR.

... and reduce visible light thereby increasing privacy. As you described, reducing IR though would act as a heat insulation of sorts ?

So increasing the insulation property of the vehicle (most noticeable in summer?) and increasing privacy... isn't that why people usually get window tinting ? At least that's my criteria. I haven't made the leap yet, and although I've had the Presara now for 4 months, I still miss the privacy of the window tinting I had in my last car.

My idea/point about the UV-sensitive tints was more in line with having a changing level of tint based on amount of UV. So at night there would be less tinting to avoid the reduction in visibility. However, as you point out, UV gets filtered out so for this to work (assuming that there is such a film) the tint would have to be applied to the exterior rather than the interior (as the glass filters UV before reaching the interior film). Exterior film application would be silly though ? Just an idea...

Here's another question about the tinting process. Given that the film is applied on the inside, how well are the windows actually cleaned prior to the film being applied ? What's used to clean the windows ? Might seem like a silly question, but have you ever tried to clean the car windows (especially the rear window) to such an extent that it is absolutely spotless and streak-free? Seems to me like quite a challenge, and to have film applied over a bad clean job would permanently seal that disappointment in? Maybe there's a scientific explanation why this is not important if you add another layer on top with no gap for light to be refracted?

They should be able to clean the glass to a streak-free finish prior to applying the tint. There are many solutions out there that can clean your windows well and remove all that oily residue from the plastics in your car. One of my favourite glass cleaners is CRC Glass and Window Cleaner. It may cost about $7.95 a can, but that stuff is wonderful. Just spray it on an wipe it off for a crystal clear finish. It's even safe to use on tinting. Otherwise, if you'd like to get down to basics; metho and water also works rather well.

Hi DJKOR,

Have also had good results with CRC Glass Cleaner but my favourate is Meguiar's No Smear Glass Cleaner, it doesnt streek and is ammonia free.

I also clean it off with Viva paper roll, does a brilliant job.

Regards

Quark

[Dead]

Just an FYI

Solartint did a good job on my car. For $350 I received the Metal Edge, which is a 35% tint, 69% heat reduction, smash proof (I think?). It's a simple grey tint.