2002 Toyota Echo

willman · June 16, 2015

Hi everyone, new poster here. After spending some time on this forum this morning I am hoping to get some advice from such an impressive knowledge base of tinters.

I will try to keep it brief, I had the windows tinted on my Echo a couple months ago. They turned out looking great, sadly though they started to scratch immediatly the very first time the windows were rolled down. At this point the drivers side window looks HORRIBLE. There are vertical scratches top to bottom from one side to the other. On day 6 I took it back to the tint shop to ask him what was going on. He said I should take it in to a auto shop and have the panels taken off, gaskets cleaned, look for dirt grime, etc. and then he would re-tint it for me. Well, I did not want to pay a shop and I am moderatly mechanically inclined so I took the panels off myself and cleaned all the gaskets and yes they were pretty darn grimey. However, this all happened before I started doing research and from this site I have learned that Echo's are always problematic because they do not have felted gaskets.

Would also like to mention, I have NO problem with the tinter, he has agreed to redo it no charge and I fully understand it is not his fault, nor is it part of the warranty or a film defect. He is being very understanding about it and I was pleasantly surprised he is wlling to redo it no charge. I just don't want his work to be wasted and I end up with tint all scratched to hell again so I want to try and remedy the cause first.

I called the Toyota dealer because I had read that 2003+ they started using felt, so I was just going to buy new gaskets but according to the dealer that is not true, same part # for all years and he can't confirm if it's felted or not. Worse yet, they are no longer making them (at least in the 4 door model) and he said there is only 1 available in the entire US. I am not going to order 1 gasket just to find out if it's felted or not, bummer.

Seeing as though I have an upcoming appointment for the re-tint, best I can tell I have 2 options. Stick some felt to the gaskets or cut them, obviously cutting them is not ideal but that is what I am considering doing, afterall it's not like it's a rare corvette, it's an Echo. Whether I cut or felt, do I need to do it to both the upper and lower gasket, or just the lower? Is the only concern with cutting them that you end up with wind noise through the door? The appt is in a few days, not a lot of time to order felt, does Home Depot, or Autozone or some other retailer stock a felt I can use?

Any other helpful advice or options?

Thanks in advance

TintDude · June 16, 2015

CR Laurence makes a good felt tape: http://www.crlaurence.com/apps/sitesearch/search.aspx?query=Felt%20Tape

willman · June 17, 2015

Thanks TD, I think I will try felt instead of cutting anything. Car goes in today for the re-tint, Thankfully the car has A/C, so I will just leave the windows up until I get the felt ordered.

willman · June 23, 2015

Well, just to wrap this up in case anyone in the future is searching for a solution to their Echo's scratched up tint trouble I ended up buying felt tape from Amazon, part # FELT-06 and selected the 1mm thick x 3/4" width on a 75' roll.

I installed the felt tape a few days ago and so far it has performed perfectly and my new tint is scratch free. I cleaned the gaskets with rubbing alcohol before applying the tape which proved to have a very strong adhesive backing that has held up just fine after a couple days of 8 hours direct sunlight on 90+ degree days. I am quite satisfied with this $13 solution.