PPF installation skills vs. tint installation skills

[TITAN500]

blueyes I started with trimline back in the day too 1979/1980 if I remember right.

[hoosierwindowtek]

I've only tried PPF on one vehicle, recently, and found it to be WAY less frustrating than window tint was when I started it years ago. That tells me that my film experience has carryover value.

I think overall, PPF is easier, but that doesn't mean it is easy.

[Guest blueyes]

blueyes I started with trimline back in the day too 1979/1980 if I remember right.

Dang you must be old! I know I am.

[Guest blueyes]

blueyes I started with trimline back in the day too 1979/1980 if I remember right.

Im surprised anyone still remembers Trim Line Just kiddin about being old TITAN. Im not that old. How did things end for you with Trim Line? NO COMPETE CONTRACT!

[Slick]

blueyes I started with trimline back in the day too 1979/1980 if I remember right.

Me too, 87-88 I believe. no computer cut here then either, all custom cut.

[hoosierwindowtek]

I have friends that worked for Trim Line back in the day, then it became Auto Trim Design. That's how I got my start. Now that ATD of Stutz is gone, I have a friend who's nickname at all the dealerships here has been TrimLine for years so when he started his own busines, he named it "Trimm Line"!

[TINTZEUS]

whats up with the 15-16 year exp....1987...... do the math

[Guest blueyes]

I have friends that worked for Trim Line back in the day, then it became Auto Trim Design. That's how I got my start. Now that ATD of Stutz is gone, I have a friend who's nickname at all the dealerships here has been TrimLine for years so when he started his own busines, he named it "Trimm Line"!

Some of us guys got into some trouble early on using the name 3M said it was goin to sue. If you wanted the privledge of using the name it was going to cost you somthing like ....... it was into the hundreds of thousands of dollors. Some got away with it. I dont think 3M cares anymore.

for you others who want the boreing details.

The Trim Line Design story goes something like this.

Two guys who happened to be Jehovah’s Witnesses did dealer work many years ago. If I got the story right they went to 3M or perhaps 3M came to them and worked out a franchise deal. Since the Witnesses are a close group many of the franchises were started by Jehovah's Witnesses but not all and no you did not have to be one to own a franchise. after much success Trim Line was a force in the aftermarket auto dealership world. In my neck of the woods they ruled. When I started with them I could go into just about any dealership do what I thought was best and write up a ticket and get paid. We gave good deals to the dealers but to my surprise we charged premium prices for alot of things. What has stood out to me to this day is how loyal the dealers were to us. im not kidding other guys would come in and offer to do work at a reduced rate and the manager would send them packing.

Then the end came.

When I was 19 years old it wasn’t uncommon for me to take home close to a grand a week after taxes. this is in 1988. Not for long. As I understand it the franchise owners started looking to cut corners and increase profit margins by using non Trim Line Products. as a result 3M stopped giving a 1year exclusive on new products to Trim Line Dealers. As onetime workers started going out on their own and untold numbers of others started doing trim work and most of all Many dealers started going in-house Trim Line Design was no longer profitable for anybody 3M or their franchises.

inter Auto Trim Design a large number of Trim Line Design shops began to network with one another the benefits of buying their materials in large amounts gave them a better profit margin than doing so as an independent.

The Auto Trim Design network gave them this ability. Auto Trim Design has never had the national success that Trim Line Design once did.

As far as work Quality. I have never seen a Trim Line Shop do bad work as a whole. They had a few installers that eventually would be let go if they could not do the job right. but overall some of the best ive ever seen in this field got their start with Trim Line. As far as seemed back glasses. its true when I started out we did back glasses that by today’s standards we would laugh at. However the first person ive ever saw do a back glass in one piece was a guy I knew at trim line. At the time we didn’t have tint dude to go to we didn’t talk to competition it wasn’t allowed. you could get fired for having a conversation with the competition. This guy discovered Heat shrinking by accident. While he was heating a finger on the inside of the car one day he noticed that the film shriveled and he got it down without any problems. after sleeping on it one night he thought to himself was it possible to do this on the back glass before the liner was pulled. He practiced and practiced ......... at home by the way if the owner would have seen him going through that much film he would have had a fit. Then one day he wants us to see a back glass he did in one piece. It was a 1987 Pontiac grand am. No big deal today but then we were amazed. I know there are probably dozens of guys who claim to have invented heat shirking. Its not impossible for two people to have the same idea at the same time. Alexander Graham Bell got the patent for the telephone only a short time before some other guy with the same invention. But I know for a fact their wasn’t anybody for miles who did it before this cat did. Anyhow. My longest most boring post yet

[Slick]

whats up with the 15-16 year exp....1987...... do the math

if that is addressed to me....I started with Trim-Line in 87-88....doing custom graphics....I started TINTING around 92-93......do the math.

[Guest CleanCutter]

Where in the country was this?

In 1988 (same year I first started), heat shrinking was old news and we were doing Vette's. TBirds, Berretta's and Camaro's everyday. By the time the Saturn's came on the market in late '90, - if you weren't one-piecing, you're shop wasn't gonna be the one getting the work.

I have friends that worked for Trim Line back in the day, then it became Auto Trim Design. That's how I got my start. Now that ATD of Stutz is gone, I have a friend who's nickname at all the dealerships here has been TrimLine for years so when he started his own busines, he named it "Trimm Line"!

Some of us guys got into some trouble early on using the name 3M said it was goin to sue. If you wanted the privledge of using the name it was going to cost you somthing like ....... it was into the hundreds of thousands of dollors. Some got away with it. I dont think 3M cares anymore.

for you others who want the boreing details.

The Trim Line Design story goes something like this.

Two guys who happened to be Jehovah’s Witnesses did dealer work many years ago. If I got the story right they went to 3M or perhaps 3M came to them and worked out a franchise deal. Since the Witnesses are a close group many of the franchises were started by Jehovah's Witnesses but not all and no you did not have to be one to own a franchise. after much success Trim Line was a force in the aftermarket auto dealership world. In my neck of the woods they ruled. When I started with them I could go into just about any dealership do what I thought was best and write up a ticket and get paid. We gave good deals to the dealers but to my surprise we charged premium prices for alot of things. What has stood out to me to this day is how loyal the dealers were to us. im not kidding other guys would come in and offer to do work at a reduced rate and the manager would send them packing.

Then the end came.

When I was 19 years old it wasn’t uncommon for me to take home close to a grand a week after taxes. this is in 1988. Not for long. As I understand it the franchise owners started looking to cut corners and increase profit margins by using non Trim Line Products. as a result 3M stopped giving a 1year exclusive on new products to Trim Line Dealers. As onetime workers started going out on their own and untold numbers of others started doing trim work and most of all Many dealers started going in-house Trim Line Design was no longer profitable for anybody 3M or their franchises.

inter Auto Trim Design a large number of Trim Line Design shops began to network with one another the benefits of buying their materials in large amounts gave them a better profit margin than doing so as an independent.

The Auto Trim Design network gave them this ability. Auto Trim Design has never had the national success that Trim Line Design once did.

As far as work Quality. I have never seen a Trim Line Shop do bad work as a whole. They had a few installers that eventually would be let go if they could not do the job right. but overall some of the best ive ever seen in this field got their start with Trim Line. As far as seemed back glasses. its true when I started out we did back glasses that by today’s standards we would laugh at. However the first person ive ever saw do a back glass in one piece was a guy I knew at trim line. At the time we didn’t have tint dude to go to we didn’t talk to competition it wasn’t allowed. you could get fired for having a conversation with the competition. This guy discovered Heat shrinking by accident. While he was heating a finger on the inside of the car one day he noticed that the film shriveled and he got it down without any problems. after sleeping on it one night he thought to himself was it possible to do this on the back glass before the liner was pulled. He practiced and practiced ......... at home by the way if the owner would have seen him going through that much film he would have had a fit. Then one day he wants us to see a back glass he did in one piece. It was a 1987 Pontiac grand am. No big deal today but then we were amazed. I know there are probably dozens of guys who claim to have invented heat shirking. Its not impossible for two people to have the same idea at the same time. Alexander Graham Bell got the patent for the telephone only a short time before some other guy with the same invention. But I know for a fact their wasn’t anybody for miles who did it before this cat did. Anyhow. My longest most boring post yet