eliminating light gaps on old ford 150's when cutting against trim. . .

[Go2Guy]

i just recently did a ford f150,  i told the customer ahead of time that the seals on these trucks are grity dirty and uneven and i have have to cut against them, however when i completed he seemed to completely forget me telling him that. . .. i didn't complete it until about sundown [6 occlock]so i could not really see any light leaks and i told him i would come back and black out any light leaks. when i came back the next day he bluntly told me how unsatisfied he was with the light leaks. . . .[This is a first time a custy straight up told me he didnt like my work. . .]  and to be HONEST I WAS NOT SATISFIED EITHER. . . . . . So my question for all the tinters more experinced than me.  

How do you go about cutting a perfect seal against an uneven metal/rubber trim is there a technique i'm missing? . i especially have trouble when going around the rounded back bottom corners !

do you guys youse black out tape? Paint markers? Silicone? different type of razor?

 

Side note . it seems that the previous tinter that did this truck many years before me used some type of 1/4 black out on the outside of the glass arround the back seals to hide light gaps from the previous install. . . . it doesn't seem to be normal black out tape that 44 tools sells as it wraps arround the rounded corners with out binding up and has a very strong adhesive as it out lasted the original tint on the truck which is likely over 15 years old.

 

I would really appreciate any suggestions, I told him i would try to find and thinner black out tape and come back with that, ideally im trying to find the original tape that was used on the bg as seemed to hold up very well.

Edited November 15, 2017 by Go2Guy

[no ma'am]

Puffy paint has been mentioned several times on here as a better solution than tape or opaquer pens. Apparently it's available at Walmart 

[highplains]

Puffy paint works well and is cheap. If you're hung up on using a tape on the outside I've used black pinstripe tape with good results as well, from what you're describing that's probably what was used the first time.

[Jkatfelix]

If it's rubber seals I pull the window out...but be super careful pulling it out and installing

 

[jh812]

He's talking about the slider so pulling will do no good. 

[Go2Guy]

Thanks guys for the responses, and for your recommendations I will try both pinstriping and the Puffy paint ,
Im not sure that i would want the liability of removing the rear window on these type vehicles but then again i guess it must be almost required to get a perfect job and probably even more so on even older vehicles. {sounds like a 1000 dollar tint job to me]  

I have done about 5 of these trucks and most have the whole window but this last one had the slider,they both suck!.  . . is it even possible hand cut a zero light gap edge against an irregular seal with no border, and then butting the hand cut tint directly against the irregular seal, and expect to neither to have a light gap nor lift because of being to long,.  . .  
its so irregual that  I put a factory edge of the tint against the factory straight edge of the slidder and there was a very slight light gap

Do all tinters resort to blackout concoctions for these jobs?

How well do plotters do with these but jointint to irregular edges, 

Again thanks guys for the assitance

[no ma'am]

A plotter pattern would make you laugh in that instance 

[SEMO SHADE]

How does the puffy paint look on the window. Can you get a clean look that the custy will Like? I have had the same issues from older vehicles.

[highplains]

It's all in the application, if you do it right it looks like rubber gasket material and blends in.

[highplains]

And most people aren't going to look that close to begin with