2004 Mazda RX8

Just tinted this mazda, looks great don't it

those cars are freakin' awesome looking! I doubt I'll se one in this town for a long time.

DAMN LOOK AT THE BACK GLASS IT LOOKS HARD.......

Not hard at all, the back glass took me about 10 minutes total. the side where harder then the back glass

I'll give you a pat on the back shadytinting

Hey Shadytinting,
Looks like you work at a stereo shop. What did you guys charge for the job? I've done a few of them already but every one of my customer's chose to use the Huper Optik ceramic film as well as the V-Kool which is quite expensive.

Litespeeds, At my shop we do just about everything automotive expect engine and body work, I charged the customer $175.00

except, sorry typed to fast

175.00 is a decent price.

Litespeeds what would you charge for that car with a VK film?

Shady..Anything tough enough on that car to charge a premium over normal 2 door car price? Preciate the heads up.

BK

how was the access to the backglass? any roll bars or the like in the way?

Looks great, and the two small doors make it easy to access the rear and quarter windows.

MDOG, Doing the back window was really a breeze, nothing in the way on the inside, except there was not to much room back there, no roll bars.

@ Mdog........dont' worry, the way those rear doors open...the back window is easy to get to, not like the Z.. (the back twister) and yes the Rx8 is a very easy car to tint

10 minute back glass start to finish????? Clean outside of glass, apply sizing (let dry or help dry with some heat), measure back glass so you dont waste too much film guessing,find paper towels to wet one to make your water line, take film out of box put onto back glass, srink tint to fit back glass, do a final cut of film,take film off car and put in onto your cutting glass, clean inside of back glass VERY VERY VERY good. Remove liner and install tint making sure that you squeege very good to remove all water, clean outside of back glass so you can find every imperfection. Using a chop stick or your tool of choice "polish" out all little specs that you might have ended up with. Clean the inside of back glass and wipe off all interior panels so your customer is not pissed with streaks on their brand new car. If you can do all that in 10 minutes you are the man!

thats right REDNECK, except half of the things u wrote. this is how you tint. 1st mount tint, cut tint, shrink tint then clean the glass, then install the tint, THATS IT!
maybe even 8 minutes.

hope i can get my fat ass in there

It is amazing how fast someone can tint a car. It is amazing how many cars some people can tint in one 8 hour work day by themself. It is amazing how, " My work is spotless, I never have a spec in any window that I tint." All of this sounds great on the internet. But those of use that have been tinting windows for 20 plus years know better.

Yea i havent been tinting 20 plus years and i know better!

I've been at it 17+ years and I have one thing to say.........

Aside from what OT would call a 'DMC'.....If the tintjob turned out well...then that's all that matters...

The last 2 that I did with Huper Optik on the rear and V-Kool on the fronts, I charged $350. That was giving them a discount of $20. I originally quoted him $195 for the rear 3 windows and $175 for the 2 front doors.
We usually get $175 for the 2 front doors with V-Kool 70% but it can range from $150 to $200 depending on which vehicle.
If I were to do an RX8 with a hybrid film, I would charge $245 for everything except the windshield.
As for speed, that is not my main concern so I will take about 2 - 2.5 hours with the Huper and V-Kool and about 1.5 hours with the hybrid. My goal is quality, not quantity.

Huper 30% rear, 40% rear quarters and V-Kool 70% fronts

I guess it really isn't a contest since there's only one person doing the measuring......

I agree with Red and Blade.
I bet I could pick the be-jesus out of a 10 minute install but I bet a customer with a white cane and Labrador won't.
Devil

Those are some nice looking pics Litespeeds....

I do our Mazda dealers work in town...hope I get to try one of these soon..if anyone in town can afford it. I'm usually a 2 hr tinter for 2 drs myself..I'll be happy if I can do this car in 2 hrs

I just did one.It was an easy install. I reverse rolled from the center on the BG and it went in real easy.

We've done about 6 so far, I almost feel bad charging so much for them they are soooo easy.

RedNeck is a very experienced tinter,I dont think he needs any pointers

Easy, Easy car .

Have one schedule next week but that back looks harder than what is being said for a newby,what about the wrap around curve on each end

It is extremely easy. Don't be fooled by that curve. Simple!

I own one.....piece of cake to tint. Panels come off easy and the back window is nothin'. Such a small amount of curve it can quickly be wet shrank.

Hope your right i`ve got one booked in for next week will let you know how i get on

Tinted my 1st one today...... Damn you gotta watch out, or it will tint itself.

Easy car, surprisingly.

Gotta love it when the front of the tint shop looks like this I'm havin' a good Friday.

I've got my first in on Monday. They don't look all that easy.
Devil

they are easy DEVIL suprisingly there is not really that much shrinking on the backglass eventhough it looks so curvy. you will like tinting it

Whomever said watch out or it may just tint itself was pretty dead on!

i smell a Rx8 Special coming on

Anyone able to post a DIY for an RX-8 owner that wants to try tinting it himself. I bought 35% VL Tint and wanted to know how to do it. I tinted our Paladium window in the front of the house and it was really easy. Figured a car is the same.

Can someoone look at these steps I think I am supposed to do:
1) Roughly cut film to shape on outside of car.
2) Clean inside of window very good.
3) Peel backing off tint, spraying it with solution so it doesn't stick to itself.
4) Spray window.
5) Adhere tint.
6) Squeege tint to remove air bubbles.

Not sure how to shrink / size tint nor make it wrap around a curve without letting it lay that way and trimming to shape. Also not sure how to get that 1/4" gap around the tint. If there is anything else someone could help me with I would greatly appreciate it. BTW - live in Maryland near Fredrick if there is a good tint shop that is decently priced and I can't do this. Please send emails to dyochem@yahoo.com. Thanks.

Some questions besides steps above:

1) Do you have to remove any molding when you tint. I would assume if everyone is saying it could tint itself would be a no.
2) About how much film will I need? I bought one roll so far and it says it will cover 2 1/2 fett by 6 1/2 feet. Will this be enough for the two sides, rear quarters and rear?

Scott

dude...it's a sweet car. just take it to a professional. car owners that spend $30,000 on a car and can't spend $200 to have it tinted drive me friggin nuts. fuggin aye here's mine...

is that yours blade? like you own it?

You figured wrong

With these instructions out..I'm in awe how come there isn't a pro tinter on every street corner...there is a few more "tricks to the trade than this"

Things you cannot read and master on one car.


I've done many of these cars..my way and not nessessarily THE way is to pull off the door panels on this car due to having to shrink the doors + it's too tight a gasket area for longevity of no peeling (but that's a separate arguement on the forum)

1/4 windows are easy.

If you know what your doing, the shrink on the back window isnt too bad either...good luck on loading that peice on cleanly for a first timer


Last but not least ..take a nice car like that and as mentioned B4...take it to a pro

why dont these people ever listen?

yep....it's mine