Hardest aspect of tinting?

I would like to ask people with high experiences, what is the hardest part of tinting?
Is it cutting the pattern? Applying the tint? Heat shrinking ? Etc...
I understand people told me that tinting every car is different , but what are some of the important skills that will help prepare me for every car in the long run. I have tinted a few hondas and I just feel they are not much different. What should I be aware of for any car?

The hardest part is everything for the first couple of years.
Tinting is not just shrinking, or puting tint on the glass and keeping it clean etc.
It's all that combined, along with beeing able to do it in first try and quick enough to be worth it...
Just take it to a pro

That is an excelent start. But I would say dealing with the industry as a whole is the hardest aspect.

getting new customers and establishing your shop . It takes 2-3 years

Dealing with customers.

Just starting out myself and I would have to agree with solar. As far as the customers, i havent had any problems with anyone yet. Starting out you need to make sure you take VERY good care of your customers.

the hardest part about tinting is keeping all the damn liner's off the floor.
the next hardest thing is finding a dist. that is willing to work with you at the being.once your eastablised they wont leave you the f alone
find a window tinter in your area that will be your friend and help you,
but good luck with that most of us are not taking application's for new shop stalker's
remeber tintin is a way of like
oh yea ,dont yell at the window tint when you mess up it's not the tint's fault

finding people that want to pay for the best quality tint

figuring out how to cut doors. most r easy but you get some that shift and some that break. you can remember most but then you have to able to know how to do it just by watching it roll down.

figuring out how to get out of it

one thing I would add to all the above is to charge what the business is WORTH from the start. No DEALS for anyone. If you start out cheap you will never get up where you should be.

i def was a spazz for the first few years the tint and car got cussed out constanly lol

but it does get better

when im in a rush that liner will find me again

Make sure not to leave your tools in the cars.
i loose freakin tools all the time. Sometimes I get them back but mostly not

dam olfa's just get up and walk away,i leave them in the box when cutting film, and when i come back to cut more, dam thing is gone. i come well prepared. boss will replace them. might ask the customer please be carfull that my blade is floating around "hint hint". i have an extra 1/2 dozon olfa's in my tool cady

Putting it all together in a timely manner!

do not watch the clock. it will f u up

I tell them i'm done when I'm done. If it takes longer than expected they must wait. I aim to do my best

If we are just talking about the tinting of something with all other aspects of business aside, it definately doing a clean job. I cringe when a 1980 something come in the door. Anything with 10-20 years worth of driving and accumulating crap in gaskets is a challenge, even if the car itself is easy to tint...same goes for FG.

hardest part... as an installer... learning the game in general. As an installer and owner... being profitable

Never underestimate your opponent. Just because a job 'looks' easy, does not mean it will be.

Trying to get clients to make responsible choices is also another obstacle.

I think the hardest, or atleast the longest skill to develop, is the ability to read the glass. Glass that you have never done before you have to be able to read the curve, seals and movemnet of the glass so that you are able to tint it right the first time without someone else telling you how. Less time, Less film, Excellent tint job makes a tinter happy.

customers that are 30 min late. p1ss me off the most. will give them a 5 min s/s or no s/s,will do it later

Learn to have a good routine! Develope a good system that helps you with time but doesn't affect your quality!

The patience to do it right the first time, and if you mess up on a window and have to redo it, just realize it is a chance to get it better the 2nd time.
Being able to put up with the nit-picky customers that come back cause the film is full of flaws, then they take 10 min before they can find an imaginary speck.

Yeah, the imaginary speck is right!
Also, stay in shape. The knees and back dont stay 24 for long!
Charge enough for some capital improvements down the road- New vehicles, equipment, even more training.

OK...tuttle you keep putting "s/s"! What is that? a W/S windshield strip?

i feel ya on that. im 35 and my knee gives me fits. i always set a BG myself and always got in the passenger side with no hands so to speak. i have to go in the driver side now or my knee goes outta place. its awesome sitting there in pain with a wet piece of film in your hands trying to work a limb back to where it needs to be without messing up the piece of film you have shrunk to perfection lol...

umm patience keep it uncontaminated and yes dealing with custy's and shrinking sideways or curvy back windows

When you can admit your in over your head!!! But its to late to turn around and go back!! God I love Tinting!!!

convincing your neighbors that all you do is tint windows

Dealing with customers,if only i could survive without them

Making a transition from your 9-5 job to tinting full time. Hard to give up a steady pay check.

The hardest think, to get free time in the summer and hawe lots off money in the winter when the buisnes is slow.

staying motivated in the slow times is the hardest thing for me.

yes specially when your dealing with a custi that is a perfectionist that knows nothing about tint or the process of inatallation.

you mean you got another job as a distdibutor?

seriously, our neighbors at the shop and at my house just dont believe it. its slow now and we always have 4 guys in the shop, even if its dead.

and at my house its just me and my girlfriend and she does hair. the rest of the neighbors in our cul de sac are all families. the only ones we really get along with dont really work either. the wife is a professional moutain bike racer, and her husband is the teams physical trainer. for some reason the rest of our neighbors, idk dont respect us because we dont work for anybody else or something. the other guy happens to be my age and the same ethnicity also.

yea i have that problem too. wife dont work, we live in a nice place with nice vehicles. all her freinds are scepticle

To add to the business end, having help up front that can not make a distinction between one car and another and thereby can't properly book or charge a job sucks.
As far as actual tinting goes, the install is where it's at. Alot of focus is cast on the technique of shrinking and to a lesser extent cutting proper patterns because one has to achieve good results there before he/she can move on to the install. If all I had to all day do was cut patterns and shape and shrink film, man that'd be sweet.

i think the hardest part of tinting is keeping your cool when someone asks you - SO DOES THE TINT GO ON THE OUTSIDE!!!!

After you hear that a couple hundred times, I just don't even respond anymore.

Not cracking open that beer because you are frustrated and just need to relax and take it easy to get the job done..........

Not going ape %&$# when you hear $%^ ssshhhhhhiiiikkkkkk coming from the bay for the fifth time that day......

I always reply; "Oh, you wanted the stuff that goes inside? That costs extra".

Trimming the tint is the easiest,and cleaning and preparing the glass.

heat shrinking and installing the tint take lots and lots of practice be prepaired to go though alot of Tint Good luck

yup. lots of patience. patience, patience, patience, and more patience. then after awhile, you can do everything better and faster.

The hardest part about tinting is trying to convince you all that my techniques are the best...

Well they are!

20 years later still looking to get out . Need a job where i sit on my ass mon-fri 9-5 no weekends

Posting on TintDude without annoying anybody and getting flamed !!!

The hardest aspect has to be dirt.
Devil