Heating Glass Near Moulding

By TintWizard

When heating a minor crease on a rolldown near plastic trim that melts or discolors easily like on some mirror casings, etc. disperse the heat.

What do I mean?

Let's say it takes 6 seconds of blasting heat to heat a spot you want to work on hot enough, but the plastic will start to discolour in 2 seconds.

Before you can get the crease/air spot to heat up, roll the glass down 2/3 of the way down, heat for 2 seconds, roll up to 1/3, heat for 2 seconds then all the way up and heat for 2 seconds. This way you've concentrated the heat directly on the same spot you want to work on the window for 6 seconds, but you haven't discolored the plastic mouldings because you've heated it for 2 seconds (but dispersed).

I used to use an old squeegee to "shield" the plastic when heating, but there is still a significant heat build up and does not always work of more sensitive mouldings.

If not a TOTW, It's still a good tip to keep in mind since ALL tinters HAVE to heat something on glass at some point.