Should tint be reapplied?

[badluckmodel3]

I don't believe the issue is the glass. Regarding paint, that's CA mandating all cars manufactured there must use eco paint.

 

I thought about this problem, and I believe this can be explained with mechanics of materials.

 

I hypothesize the issue we are experiencing is due to Tesla's exteme glass curvature, causing the tint process to strain the film beyond it's elastic regime and causing significant plastic deformation (strain means deformation of material, or stretching). This effect is called crazing. See here for a high level physics discussion.

 

This effect is seen when you stretch a clear plastic bag to the point where it becomes opaque, indicating the molecular chain realignment in plastic deformation regime is distorting the light transmission.

 

Evidence from both of our cases

- defects occurred near the edges of the film

- tint shrink process stretches the film starting from the middle, and strains the film outward toward edges and corners

- tint install squeegees the film outward toward edges and corners

- defects distort the light transmission, makng the film opaque and crazed

 

Now the question is does this happen during the heat shrink process outside the car, or during the squeegeeing process inside the car? I believe it is more likely that the shrink process outside the window is the origin of this crazing effect, because

- polymers are very sensitive to temperature, eg tints become "rubbery" immediately when exposed to heat gun used to shrink

- no scar marks are seen from squeegeeing

 

[Tintguy1980]

The above 'strain' explanation may play role in the ghost squiggles seen in the OP's picture.

 

Window film expands under high heat of a heat gun used to shape the film to glass curvatures. It expands under the heat and as it cools, it shrinks back beyond its original start point. When a specific film is metalized through the sputter-coating process, sometime these ghost squiggles show up. Most of what I've experienced over my career in window film came from nickel-chromium metalizing, but some highly respected ceramic film products have been know to do the same ... more so when using the Wet-Shrink method. Someone mentioned a bunching of metal particles (microns in size) ... this may also play a role in ghosting.

 

Replace with a different product or ask that the film be shaped using the Dry-Shrink method on low heat.

[badluckmodel3]

27 minutes ago, Tintguy1980 said:

The above 'strain' explanation may play role in the ghost squiggles seen in the OP's picture.

 

Window film expands under high heat of a heat gun used to shape the film to glass curvatures. It expands under the heat and as it cools, it shrinks back beyond its original start point. When a specific film is metalized through the sputter-coating process, sometime these ghost squiggles show up. Most of what I've experienced over my career in window film came from nickel-chromium metalizing, but some highly respected ceramic film products have been know to do the same ... more so when using the Wet-Shrink method. Someone mentioned a bunching of metal particles (microns in size) ... this may also play a role in ghosting.

 

Replace with a different product or ask that the film be shaped using the Dry-Shrink method on low heat.

 

I have seen this hazy/blurry effect (sometimes with very small squiggles) in the following films

- Llumar Stratos

- Llumar Pinnacle

- 3M Ceramic IR

- STEK NEX (antimony tin oxide, tungsten, carbon, graphene)

 

Is the benefit of dry shrink method to shrink a larger area at a time, since it is not bounded by water's surface tension? Thus reducing the thermal and mechanical stress in the film?