NA — Car Window Tint

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JGoodish

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JGoodish
For the first time in nearly 3 decades of car ownership, I had my car windows (fronts) tinted at a local shop with dozens of 5 star Google reviews. Owner was nice enough, price was market, and tint looks great from a distance. However, up close I can see tint bubbles under the film. My understanding is that these will disappear after the water evaporates and the tint *should* be bubble-free. Is that accurate?

I’ve attached a couple pictures from the exterior, with the bay lights shining to illuminate the tint.


Appreciate any feedback from those more experienced with tint. Thanks!40470AF8-94ED-4B38-AE51-2F1CCD44707D.jpegB0814495-4EDA-4F18-B18C-638BFDB6E322.jpeg
 
Yes, give it some time, and follow whatever guidance the installer gave you (like "Don't roll down the windows for x days"). They should have told you by when you should expect the bubbles to disappear.

They should also have offered a warranty, so that you can sleep easy while you wait for the bubbles to disappear, knowing they will stand behind their work if the bubbles don't go away.
 
Jim_R said:
Yes, give it some time, and follow whatever guidance the installer gave you (like "Don't roll down the windows for x days"). They should have told you by when you should expect the bubbles to disappear.

They should also have offered a warranty, so that you can sleep easy while you wait for the bubbles to disappear, knowing they will stand behind their work if the bubbles don't go away.
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Yes, they did say to keep windows up for a couple days, and they offer a lifetime warranty on their work (from what I can tell, they’ve been around for quite a while under the same ownership.) I’m expecting everything to clear up, but just wanted to make sure that it didn’t look askew from normal right after application.
 
I’ve had everything tinted, heck even our boat when we had that. Yes, bubbles will go away and they may have even encouraged you to park it in the sun. Quality tint makes all the difference. You’ll love it.
 
Yup give it 2-3 days of parking in the sun and the bubbles will be gone. I just had my Excursion tinted and it dropped the interior temps a ton when sitting in the sun all day at work. 5% on all side windows, 45% full windshield tint. Not really legal but it doesn't generate any looks from police unless you're doing something else to attract their attention. Looks like an undercover FBI vehicle now, lol.
 
I tinted the windows of the car I took to California to keep thieves out of it, since contained all my worldly belongings. Looked nice too. @JGoodish will like it when the dust settles. I liked mine. If I didn't drive a convertible I'd do it again.
 
SoonerAviator said:
5% on all side windows, 45% full windshield tint. Not really legal but it doesn't generate any looks from police unless you're doing something else to attract their attention. Looks like an undercover FBI vehicle now, lol.
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Do you have an issue with visibilty at night? I want to add on tint on top of the factory tint, but I dont want to lose visibility at night.
 
charheep said:
Do you have an issue with visibilty at night? I want to add on tint on top of the factory tint, but I dont want to lose visibility at night.
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Zero issues out of the windshield at night. The 5% on the windows certainly adds challenges at night if you're trying to back a trailer or something, but for just driving down the road it's just fine. The rear view camera handles most of the backing duties with the side views just for double-checking something isn't approaching from the side. I believe the rear 5-windows are all factory "privacy glass" which is roughly 20% tint, but has zero UV filtering so the radiation just passes right through. The tint shop adds whatever tint % to make the final darkness 5% (or whatever final darkness you want). We have 20% tint on the wife's Caddy because she has terrible night vision so that's as dark as she wants it, but loves the Excursion in the daytime.

The other benefit to the full-windshield tint is that it reduces the glare from oncoming traffic headlights, especially with newer HID/LED setups that are pretty intense.
 
SoonerAviator said:
Yup give it 2-3 days of parking in the sun and the bubbles will be gone. I just had my Excursion tinted and it dropped the interior temps a ton when sitting in the sun all day at work. 5% on all side windows, 45% full windshield tint. Not really legal but it doesn't generate any looks from police unless you're doing something else to attract their attention. Looks like an undercover FBI vehicle now, lol.
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The only issue I have with tinting is that I can't see someone's' face when they come to a corner for a turn. If I see their face, there's reasonable chance they see me too and won't turn in front of me. Especially when I'm on a bicycle.
 
Cap'n Jack said:
The only issue I have with tinting is that I can't see someone's' face when they come to a corner for a turn. If I see their face, there's reasonable chance they see me too and won't turn in front of me. Especially when I'm on a bicycle.
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I believed that at one time.

Years ago, riding my motorcycle and looking into a man's face as he pulled right out in front of me. I got it stopped in time to keep from slamming into his driver's door. He admitted he never saw me.

Since then I've been trained to watch the front tire. It will show you movement before anything else. If they are coming at you it will also indicate turning before anything else.

Just because they are looking at you doesn't mean they see you ...
 
Daleandee said:
I believed that at one time.

Years ago, riding my motorcycle and looking into a man's face as he pulled right out in front of me. I got it stopped in time to keep from slamming into his driver's door. He admitted he never saw me.

Since then I've been trained to watch the front tire. It will show you movement before anything else. If they are coming at you it will also indicate turning before anything else.

Just because they are looking at you doesn't mean they see you ...
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True. But if you don't see their face, you KNOW they don't see you.
 
Cap'n Jack said:
True. But if you don't see their face, you KNOW they don't see you.
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If you see their face you still don't know if they saw you. So to lean to the conservative side I'm looking for vehicle movement, that will tell me what I need to know ...
 
Cap'n Jack said:
The only issue I have with tinting is that I can't see someone's' face when they come to a corner for a turn. If I see their face, there's reasonable chance they see me too and won't turn in front of me. Especially when I'm on a bicycle.
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I can understand that point of view, but the tint isn't for other people's benefit. Not a whole lot of bicycle traffic out my way either, especially not the type that intermingles with autos.

I haven't been pulled over in over a decade that I can recall, but I'm usually pretty quick to have both front windows rolled all the way down when an officer is approaching. Just to help set their mind a bit more at ease. That is the one case where I don't want the tint restricting someone's vision.
 
SoonerAviator said:
I can understand that point of view, but the tint isn't for other people's benefit. Not a whole lot of bicycle traffic out my way either, especially not the type that intermingles with autos.

I haven't been pulled over in over a decade that I can recall, but I'm usually pretty quick to have both front windows rolled all the way down when an officer is approaching. Just to help set their mind a bit more at ease. That is the one case where I don't want the tint restricting someone's vision.
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As it takes a little time for them to call in that they stopped someone, I also have my papers on the dashboard so they can see I'm not reaching for anything other than those papers. The last time I was pulled over for going 1 over in a construction zone, and let off with a warning. I suspect the real reason was having New Jersey plates in Nebraska a week after I moved. The trooper stuck his head in the passenger window and looked in the back of the SUV before asking for anything.

I realize the tint isn't for anyone else's benefit, and I'm not against tints. But realize that if I see your car moving at all (as @Daleandee mentions) and I can't see your face, I'm likely to slow anticipating you to pull in front of me if I can't clear the lane. It depends on the situation. The person waiting on me may well wonder what I'm doing when I'm just anticipating a possible action on their part.
 
An update: while the moisture bubbles in the photos disappeared after a couple days, there remained quite a few debris bubbles and a couple of scratches on the film (visible in first photo above). Film appears to be cut and fitted well around the window, however. Installer took one look and said, “that needs to be redone,” and agreed to redo it without issue.

I suspect that if he had cleaned up the outside of the windows better after application, he would have noticed these flaws. A bit of an inconvenience to drop the car again, but hopefully he’ll get it right.
 
JGoodish said:
An update: while the moisture bubbles in the photos disappeared after a couple days, there remained quite a few debris bubbles and a couple of scratches on the film (visible in first photo above). Film appears to be cut and fitted well around the window, however. Installer took one look and said, “that needs to be redone,” and agreed to redo it without issue.

I suspect that if he had cleaned up the outside of the windows better after application, he would have noticed these flaws. A bit of an inconvenience to drop the car again, but hopefully he’ll get it right.
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At least they were honest about the quality of the work. I clean my windows inside and out prior to giving them my vehicle just to help prevent some of that stuff from sliding by. I don't want fingerprints and little dust specs trapped in the window film for me to notice/obsess over for years, lol.
 
SoonerAviator said:
Yup give it 2-3 days of parking in the sun and the bubbles will be gone. I just had my Excursion tinted and it dropped the interior temps a ton when sitting in the sun all day at work. 5% on all side windows, 45% full windshield tint. Not really legal but it doesn't generate any looks from police unless you're doing something else to attract their attention. Looks like an undercover FBI vehicle now, lol.
Click to expand...

I wasn't a believer on windshield tint until a trusted installer talked me into it. Worth every penny, makes a huge difference.
 
Zeldman said:
Around my parts you can get a tint job for 15 bucks, if you don't mind the lack of quality...
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Lol, my Excursion has a LOT of glass surface area. It was still only $400 for tint on 7 windows and the windshield for quality work. While I could have had it done cheaper by smaller independent shops, I don't think I could have it done for $15 around here unless the rest of the balance was paid in meth, lol.
 
Zeldman said:
Around my parts you can get a tint job for 15 bucks, if you don't mind the lack of quality...
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This was $70 for 2 windows, which appears to be the market rate around here. Considering that I have another vehicle to be tinted, I’m somewhat surprised that they didn’t put forth a bit more effort to ensure that the first one was good.
 
First time I have seen this thread and the first thing that came to mind was the dirt I saw in your pictures. It can not have dirt under the film. Glad they agreed to redo it for ya.
 
Gary Ward said:
First time I have seen this thread and the first thing that came to mind was the dirt I saw in your pictures. It can not have dirt under the film. Glad they agreed to redo it for ya.
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Yes, this seems like a rookie mistake. I’ll give them one more shot and then I’ll ask for a refund.
 
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