Automotive film specs are not what you think!

[southcentraltinting]

You really dont understand heat transfer at all.

[Glass Tinting Supplies]

Good for you Ralph.. Keeps the big boys on their toes.

In regards to driver comfort, My customers seem to want the glare cut whilst they are driving as much sometimes as heat...

In Aus, selling your products based on heat rejection performance is all too easy. They all want it darker than they are allowed by law..

All the best.

[palmettotint]

I think Ralph explained at the top of the show that this was heat that you can feel. Customer comfort. I thought this whole video (as usual with all his videos) was very informative and useful to tinters in their everyday applications. Hats off Ralph. Thanks again for the videos and keep them coming.

[vquestfilms.com]

I don't mean down talk anybody...but I did mention in the video that the confusion was going to be that solar energy and heat are not the same. This video was not about solar energy; nor did I intend to turn this into a solar energy debate. It was simply about heat and how window films conduct it. That's it. I can probably think of about of 1001 ways to bring heat to a piece of glass with some tint on it. I am just trying to show what the heat does after that. If anybody can offer a better way to do it, I will make another video. I can reproduce the results with a cigarette lighter, torch, camp fire, and a heat gun just as long as I can get the glass to heat up. What I can prove is that window films conduct heat predictably depending on how they are made. I can prove it with anybodies hand. No meters necessary.

Since this video is not about solar energy, I was not trying to explain all the "contradictions" with solar energy. I was able to prove that solar energy specs do not exclusively determine how your customer is going to feel behind the wheel of a car. I clearly demonstrated that window film manages heat differently depending on how it is made. If you were an astronaut, would you be more concerned about how much IR, UV, or visible light the tiles were blocking under the space shuttle or would you want to know how much heat they blocked? Think about it... there life depended on it. What do you think our customers are really concerned about? Heat or solar energy specs?

Just remember that this is a heat demonstration. Not a solar energy demonstration. You measure heat with a thermometer in degrees (Fahrenheit or Celsius) not a meter. How much heat does your film block? If your not sure your film meter meters at the perfect nano meter range to satisfy your film rep, trust your hand. Your customers will.

Ralph,

By your demonstration alone not to mention a number of your statements throughout your video plus the fact that you have "Solar Window Film" as your test piece kinda makes this about solar energy. I don't see how you could make it anything else but that. My point is that your are calling out some pretty sophisticated and accurate ways to determine how one product performs in comparison to another but you are using a very inaccurate method to make your point.

What is that stuff emitting your heat lamp before it is absorbed by the Heat Sheet? Energy or heat?

When we drive our cars outside, are we in space or are we on earth where Visible Light, Infrared, and UV transmit through the windows on our vehicles? If we are on earth, how many of those 3 hit our cars on a sunny day? 1,2, or all 3?

If it is all 3, then how can you say that your simulation is accurately demonstrating your window film's supposed superior ability to filter and thus insulate electromagnetic energy when you are excluding one of its major sources in your demonstration, that is visible light?

[Guest nellc_tint]

Interesting....

[flat rock stan]

Very interesting and above my pay grade, nice video work as usual Ralfe but this is a RARE occasion where I agree with Rob!

Other than disputed numbers I have heard nothing but good about the flex line. C to C puts it on a lot of cars and seems happy happy happy with it and the service.

I will be happy to give the film a try after it has been out awhile.

Cheers

[addicted to tint]

Great marketing video - very folksy at a level most can follow, that explains the heat you feel may not match the "expected" heat rejection if you base everything on TSER. It's really not about ceramics, it's about IR absorbers, and the films that have these do seem "space age". Ralph is a clever marketer that will develop a strong customer base in time!

[rvpjr]

I appreciate all the comments. The good, the bad and the ugly. I even enjoy having vquestfilms beat me up sometimes. I will admit that you are very wise about all this tint nerd stuff and right about most everything you say. I just want people to know that I am window tinter. I have a family. I know what it is like to go to work every day and not know if I am going to tint anything or not. It's scary! I spend my time trying to be the best and use the best products.

There were many days that I did not bring home a dime. I had to struggle. I was constantly having to deal with competitors trying to undercut me. Customers were calling me on the phone and playing me against all the other tinters just to score a deal at my expense. I was in a price war and I did not know what to do. I knew that if I didn't lower my price, I would not get the business and then go out of business.

This story has a very good ending... I discovered ceramic film. I learned from other film manufactures that ceramic film was the best. I saw every one of them use an infrared bulb in a display to sell it. They charged the most money for it. Customers were reacting favorable to it. I knew somehow that ceramic had to be the answer to all my problems but I just had to figure it out.

Most window tinters do not use it because they say it is too expensive. (if you are struggling to barely get over 100 dollars per car, how are you going to sell it?) Tinters also say it is hard to work with. The most popular reason tinters will not buy it is...." Nobody is asking for it".

Ok, the way my brain works is I saw this as an opportunity! (most people do not see this) I learned from other manufactures that you could use a "heatbox" (not my idea) to sell the "experience" of ceramic instead of struggling to use the "Science" of ceramic window film. You see if you try to explain how film works and you start to sound like me and vquestfilms having an exchange on this forum, your customers will be confused and run straight for the door. You have to dumb down the sales presentation to the customer so they can understand. For example: Show your customer two slides. One slide should be a dyed film and the other should be ceramic(better, best) (same shade) and drop them in front of the heat lamp. ( this method is used by all the manufactures who produce IR blocking films and if they say this is not the right way to demonstrate their product then why do they do it? I learned it from them.) The customer will quickly see that the ceramic film will feel better than the dyed product.

Ok, now here is the cool part! Remember the "price war"... you just changed this sale into a" technology war". You see, I never to this day ever figured out how to beat the price war. I was just getting my butt kicked! But the good news is that I can beat the technology war every time! All human beings will want the film that made their hand feel the best. You have just created an opportunity to ask for more money! If you would have just taken the keys and tinted the car, you would have only made what you priced it for over the phone. I not saying that every one will buy ceramic because you can't squeeze blood from a turnip. I am saying that if you do not show your customer a better product and share the experience and ask for more money-------------- YOU WILL NOT GET IT. YOU WILL STAY BROKE OR WORK YOURSELF TO DEATH.

In conclusion, ceramic film should double or triple your profit when you use it. It certainly allows you to outsmart your competition and especially turn the tables on your customers and regain control.

I am not trying to make this an infomercial------------------- I am just trying to share something that changed my life and help me start enjoying going to work every day. Without this new knowledge, I would not be in this business today.

[rvpjr]

I have removed the video from youtube. Some window film professionals have expressed concerns about the content within this video. I am excited to resolve any concerns they may have. I will handle this utilizing the "Golden Rule". I will keep this thread posted. Thanks for all the feed back from everyone!

[Tintguy1980]

Ralph, it's not so much your style in getting the word out, it's more the word. One of the biggest issues in our industry is misinformation and once it gets a hold of many it seems to spread unchecked for the most part because many may not care enough, know to or want to confirm its accuracy, why, because it sells film. Everybody does it so it must be legit.

Remember when VLT, UV and IR were known to be 53, 44 and 3%? Well that took years for someone to come along and question the accuracy. We now know its more along the line of 49+ VLT, 48+ IR and less than 2% UV.

Ceramic is just a buzz word a company many years ago capitalized on and now the industry finds itself back-peddling in an attempt to clear up erroneous information associated with this component. Ceramic is simply another mode of controlling solar energy in film, nothing more; it doesn't make it better than metal much the same as comparing sputtering to vapor coating. Just as much…IR rejection is just a buzz word capitalized on by one company many years ago whose intent was also to sell more film; despite the fact there was no such measurement across the broad IR range.

A French Fry lamp used for years is now fallen into question because it emits 95% IR and 5% VLT. This cannot even begin to clearly represent what the sun's energy can do in terms of heat. Yes, IR is ‘felt’ but that is only because their wavelengths impacts nerve receptors sooner compared to visible light. Visible light will heat a surface up the same, if not slightly more so than IR, because it represents slight more of the sun’s energy striking a surface.

I mentioned a halogen flood lamp earlier in the thread as the one bulb that should be used to measure performance because it IS about as close as we can get to mimicking solar energy from one readily available bulb. I also have learned the same manny that was first to use ceramic in film construction is also the one that found the discrepancy in how solar energy is split (>49,> 48, <2), they also debunked infrared reject as representative of film’s true performance and is now moving away from French fry lamps to using halogen in their dealer displays.

It seems these type things start out as niche and at some point reach a mass audience through seeing without knowing or sometimes regard for the truth about what is seen. Much the same as you now see people backing into a space in a parking lot rather than pulling in or making a left turn into the right lane on a four lane highway; it is more rampant than it once was.

Again, props to you for your messaging for it is truly professional from a visual perspective; but from an information accuracy perspective, that’s where more in-depth research is needed before the camera rolls.

Much success with your endeavors.