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Ceramic/cermet worth it over carbon? If so, which film?

Guest prech

By Guest prech
in Window Tinting - General Discussion

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Guest prech

Guest prech

Posted
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Doing some research and checking out films and installers to use for my silver colored sedan laden with electronics and would love your input.

Basically I've found some great installers locally capable of installing these selection of films (I've removed Huber Optik from consideration because of how pricey and difficult the install is on curved surfaces--I only found one installer capable of it, and they were unwilling to do the rear glass). Pricing wise, the three ceramic/cermet is very comparable to one another with the carbon about 60% the cost of the ceramic/cermet, so, as a numbers guy, I looked up the heat rejection for these films.

Geo TSER

Pinnacle TSER

ATX TSER

Suntek carb TSER

3M CS TSER 40 53

35 50

40 40

50 37

50 37 30 60

15 59

30 44

35 42

35 39

15 50

18 44

20 52

1) First off, for a silver vehicle, I'd rather not go too dark up front (contrasts too much with the light silver color exterior) as it would easily be visible by the police (my state only allows 70%), so that's why I'm showing numbers with the ceramic/cermet up to 40% VLT while the carbons I've collected for up to 50%. From pictures online, at the same VLT (or so it appears), carbons appear darker than the ceramic/cermet. That is, to gain the same aesthetic darkness of a carbon at say, 40% VLT, the ceramic would need to be at 30% VLT or thereabouts?

2) With aesthetics out of the way, if I wanted something like 35% VLT up front and 15-20% in the back/rear, Pinnacle and Geo offer more heat rejection, but (for the fronts) is 50-60% TSER significantly different from 39-44% TSER? Similarly, for the back/rear, is 59% TSER that different from 44-52%, in real-world "feeling" of the heat--how well does a TSER number translate to my skin/body senses? The ATX definitely appears to behave more like the carbons rather than the ceramic for heat rejection, so it does not appear nearly as cost-effective!

3) If I go all ceramic, unfortunately the local Geo installer only carries up to 30% Geo, not the Dark Matter, so for the rears, I would either need to a) have the same installer use Suntek carbon at 18%, b) go to a different installer for Pinnacle/ATX/carbon. Would going with either option be very evident? For example, I've heard the Suntek can appear greenish, so may not match well with the Geo30 up front? How about matching one of the other ceramic/carbons with the Geo30?

4) Alternately, if I go all ceramic, I can go to the Pinnacle installer and have 35% in the front and 15% in the back/rear all done in one shot. Is there any preference for Pinnacle over the Geo ceramic? I read some posts about Huber being two layers and the Geo being one, is the Pinnacle one as well? What is the advantage/disadvantage of one vs two layers? Since both the Pinnacle and Geo would be done by experienced installers, I'm not too concerned about flaming or shrinking difficulty as the end-user, but are there other benefits of one versus the other outside of TSER numbers?

4) If I decide to go with the cheaper option of the carbon, is there a preference for the Suntek versus the 3M? I'm leaning towards the 3M because of it's 52% TSER versus 44% for 18-20% VLT, plus I'd avoid any greenish/bronzish tint others have mentioned with the Suntek.

Overall, I do like the ceramic aesthetics a bit more because of how glass-y/reflective it looks compared to dyes, but I'll have to decide if it is several hundred dollars worth.

Looking forward to some good discussion and useful advice, thanks all!

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Guest prech

Guest prech

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Oops, should have previewed before posting. Here are those TSER's

Geo	TSER		Pinnacle    TSER		ATX	TSER		Suntek carb	TSER		3M CS	TSER
40	53		   35	      50		  40	 40		50       	37		50	37
30	60		   15	      59		  30     44		35	        42		35	39
					          15     50		15	        44		20	52

Geo TSER

40 53

30 60

Pinnacle TSER

35 50

15 59

ATX TSER

40 40

30 44

15 50

Suntek carb TSER

50 37

35 42

15 44

3M CS TSER

50 37

35 39

20 52

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Guest darkdan

Guest darkdan

Posted
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I don't recommend mixing and matching different brands/lines of film. You will see a difference.

Have you looked at the samples yet? Each film looks different from each other. This may come down to how you want your car to look like.

A few % TSER here and there isn't going to make a very big impact on your comfort level. All the ceramics are close, and cermet and CS are very close to each other and the carbon bringing up the rear. So it comes down to appearance and your budget.

Look at them in your head, use your imagination, and then figure out which you want on your car.

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Guest prech

Guest prech

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I don't recommend mixing and matching different brands/lines of film. You will see a difference.

Have you looked at the samples yet? Each film looks different from each other. This may come down to how you want your car to look like.

Thanks for the tips. Unfortunately each shop only carries 1-2 films each (one ceramic, one non-metallic) and they are all 30-90 minutes from one another, so I haven't yet figured out how best to check out multiple films...

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V4V

V4V

Posted
Posted
Bingo

Just my two cents (biased of course)

Pinnacle offers a no fault warranty and an automatically transferable warranty.

That might tilt your consideration somewhat.

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Guest prech

Guest prech

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my guess would be some form of engineer.

All the high end films deliver, I"d go with the shop you feel most comfortable with.

I definitely anticipate checking out at least two installers to get a sense of their work, phone conversations and this pre-work research has definitely helped whittle down the numbers of choices

Pinnacle offers a no fault warranty and an automatically transferable warranty.

Ah, good to know, but aren't virtually all ceramic/non-metallic (or at least those I can choose from above) offer lifetime warranties?

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