Tint Gone Bad, Radio Reception etc. Advice needed

I had my '00 S500 tinted last Friday with Suntek Infinity Metallic 35% all around. It killed my AM Radio reception. Additionally, there are a few light scratches (guessing from the edge of the squegee) on 2 side windows, a small crease in a rear vent window, a couple of small spots that are not stuck to the rear glass at the bottom edge of the rear windshield.

Having said that, none of the flaws can be seen from the outside and the car looks great. My question is the following:

Reasonably speaking:

1. Should the installer, who came highly recommended (I paid him the asking price w/o negotiation) have known and informed me about the Radio interference w/rear antenna ?
2. What is a reasonable compromise I should seek as a remedy ? He is looking at it tomorrow.
3. Will replacing the tint with a Suntek Carbon or a ceramic product damage the defrost lines and the antenna ?
4. Are the minor imperfections I am noticing common or should they be fixed by him ?

Again, I want to be reasonable with him and am willing to pay extra, but just want the job to be flawless.

Advice and suggestions for a remedy are appreciated.

Need to mention that the tint brand and type was strongly recommended by him.

If he was Highly recomended, then.......


1. Yes he should have known, and yes should have informed you about the reception issues to insue with a metalized film

2. He should remove the film and put a film that will not interfear with the antenna and IMO should do so for free as it was his mistake.

3. If he is a compitent (sc) installer, he should be able to remove the film without any harm to the antenna or defrost lines.

4a. the scratches are they in the film or the glass? we have been having a discussion on the board about some recent problems with Suntek film scratching while squeeging it out, so thats tough to say without seeing it.
4b. again with the crease hard to say without seeing it, but no there should be no creases in the film after installation my
4c. the bottom of the rear window has a run of matrix (little black dots) and it is hard for the film to lay absolutly perfect on those, but it should be able to be pressed out.

5. a question to you, since it is a Mercedes, did he add felt to your door rubbers as Mercedes do not add felt from the factory anymore your film WILL scratch over a short time from rolling the windows up and down, not a film problem, it is a car problem and alot of car mfg. are starting to do them that way.

Hope that answers your questions and helps you out.
A good reputable installer will handle the problems in question without hesitation if he/she feels they are an issue.



P.S. to the board

A job will never be flawless but should not have a lot of imperfections. As far as the re-tint as long as he is not using razors to remove the back glass you are all good. A color stable dyed film will not affect the am but also will not look like an all metal film. Good luck

Give it two weeks to dry out

Appreciate the quick repsonse from everyone.

1. The scratch is on the tint and not the glass.
2. No felt was added on the door rubber and nothing was mentioned. I discovered that during my research as well.
3. I pointed out the scratches when picking up the car he asked me to give it 5 days. Tomorrow is day 12 (granted no sun for the 6 days after install).

You can't judge a wet tint job

out of curiosity where are you located?

no scratch in the film is going to dry up, sorry what he meant by that,
and I would ask him about the felt on the rubbers, that is a KEY factor when doing vehicles that don't have it.




Thats what we are here for

good luck man.

one other thing is if you paid him for a higher priced film such as a metalized and since there is interferance with the radio then its either dyed or ceramic and the dyed is typically a cheaper film that will fade to purple.

I warn all of my customers about the am reception. We actaully tested it with Infinity. Had the am radio going when we placed the film on the BG. Sure enough, no reception. This particular customer did not care, wanted it anyway!


As for the rest of it, Infintiy shows more imperfections than the average film. I should know I have it on my car and I tinted it myself.

Sooooooooo what your saying is your tinted windows are not perfect they have imprefections

We have no idea what brand or line of film was installed. We cannot automatically assume that the film will turn purple just because a film is dyed. There are numerous metalized films that on the market that will not turn purple.

Bottom line, if you are not satisfied with the installation, return to your dealer and keep the rational outlook that you currently have. Chances are, he will deal with you, or at least explain what your options are at this point.

Lets put it this way....if the average Joe looked my car over, they would think it is a perfect tint job. But if a tinter looked it over, I am sure they would see a few flaws Hey I am not perfect and do not want to be

Here is the option he presented:

He will fix the imperfections and re-tint the rear windsheild w/Carbon Dyed Suntek film at no charge to fix the reception problem . If I want all windows to match and want it redone in Carbon dyed, he will charge me another $200 which is what I originally paid. Basically won't charge me for removing the current tint.

The 35% Carbon has a slight greenish hue as oppsed to the metallic which is charcoal and what I have now. A decision I need to make is have a rear windshield mismatched from the front and the radio working or replace everything and pay another $200.

Any thoughts regarding the proposed solution ?

my first question is on your current rear windshield is there a slight blueish tint on the bottom half of the window already. most of the S's have a layer of tint already in the glass since most are laminated. if so go ahead and just have him do it for free because nothing will match all the way around anyway because your sides DON'T have that tint in it. if it doesnt i would argue to have him retint the whole car in a high performance noninterference tint. i wouldnt recomend dyed. pay the difference from the infinity to the ceramic. he should retint the doors to match all for free as well but if you upgrade the tint again you should pay the difference. dont pay more for a lower grade film.

My windows are the same all the way around, no special tint in the rear. He is not open to redoing the entire tint and did not take accountability for not informing me of the radio problem. Simply that he will replace the rear portion with another tint but I have to pay again to replace all.

In the Carbon SunTek inferior to the metallic version ?

I am not a suntek user, but as far as I know the carbon is a non metal color stable film, It is not an inferior product, just different.
I would just have him redo the BG and not worry about it, what did he say about the felt on the doors?

He said that these Sunteks are scratch-proof and not to worry about it.

I am leaning toward what you suggested. Let him do the BG with Carbon and leave the rest as is. If the mismatch bugs me enough I will pay somelse to redo the the sides w/ carbon and be done with it.