Metallic vs. Ceramic Film

[Guest BCCwintint]

I am wondering if it's true that if I install a metallic film on a back glass that has an internal radio antenna if it will interfere with the radio reception like I have heard. Just would like to know if anyone else has experienced that with a film like LLumastar ATR. I've also seen on the HuperOptik website that they have a ceramic film that doesn't mess with the reception. Anyone found this to be true, or is it just a gimmick?

[Mdog]

I use ATR charcoal and HAVE experienced it on a handful of cars. only AM reception was affected not FM. AM is a weak signal to begin with and the metalized film seems to degrade the signal even more on SOME cars not all.

most recent I can remember was a 03 IMPALA and a chrysler CONCORD.

I tinted a toyota solara wednesday and the customer had it on AM I thought OH GREAT a AM freak when I was dont it worked just as it did when I pulled it in, it didnt affect this car at all some it does and some it doesnt.

[Guest tintslut]

metal film seems to affect GM vehicles the most. Malibu, Impala and Monte Carlo

being the ones that are most notable.

[Guest Tint Masters]

I do'nt remember what car it was but on some cars the antenna is above the clear part of the glass. So.... I do'nt tint that part ! I never had anyone say they had problems

[RICHat22]

ATR slightly, and even more so, "mirror" films will affect the FM just a tad on outter edges of their normal reception. The MOST important thing is watching out for the Accords and such that have GPS in the rear deck. These are affected as well. And the thing about GPS is it works or it doesn't. No static, fading, etc. I had one come back that I didn't sell or install and had to remove and put a non metal film on it.

Just something to watch.

[Guest BCCwintint]

Thanks guys for answering my question. Guess I can install LLumastar AT if the customer complains, since it's compatible with the LLumastar ATR. I don't really like the AT film, though. Creases too easily.

[Devil with bad attitude]

The Huper Optik Stark 30 Ceramic on my own car affects AM.

Devil

[Guest skeeter]

You answered your own question. Unless you'd rather go Huper for their Ceramic line or F1 for Pinnacle and pay A LOT more for the cost of the film. Stick with the AT, you'll do fine with the install.

Make sure rear glas is saturated with water and ample slip solution. Place film and hand squeegee film as flat as possible. Take your time and squeegee - once down do aggressive blue max stroke.

[Guest atypicaldave]

Conductivity tests showed that ceramic can be just that, conductive. It can also be non-conductive! FormulaOne's Pinnacle is non-conductive. The ceramic used in FormulaOne's Ultimate film is a conductive ceramic, yet the 50% does not cause signal disruption.

Loss of signal varies from car to car, electronic system to electronic system, film to film, metal or no metal, ceramic or no ceramic, in other words, it's a crap shoot.

Non-metal and non-ceramic films have zero signal disruption issues (keyless, GPS, AM, FM, cell, wi-fi).

[RICHat22]

metal film seems to affect GM vehicles the most. Malibu, Impala and Monte Carlo

being the ones that are most notable.

Your are pretty much right TS. The contributing factor in those will be the fact they have multiple service bulletins out on the rear defroster having "micro-arching" between the lines. This is typically only noticed when the customer uses the defroster by static inthe radio. I ve seen cars that had poor reception w/o using it, then no reception even to local stations when it's turned on. These can be found with a magnifying glass or a laser temp gun to check for breaks. If there were more then a couple breaks, I had the rear window replaced. I'm not spending hours repairing breaks when I have found as many as 40 breaks in an Impala before.

Just a tech note in case you run into a newer GM customer that complains of rear tint causing problems. Chances are you amplified an existing problem that was unnoticed before cuz they weren't "looking for a problem"