Dust specs and film defects - am I being unreasonable?

AgentK · March 1, 2022

Three months ago I got a new car and went to get the windshield and both front side windows tinted at a place a did not use before and it was my first windshield tint. After about a month I came back to the tinter because there were many film defects, some look like smudges, some like streaks. The tinter agreed and said they changes film suppliers to Xpel so now it shouldn't be an issue, they redo the job and it was pretty much perfect so I decided to get my other car's windshield tinted as well. When they gave my the car back there were tons of water marks so hard to tell how it came out, now it's been few weeks and there is what I would call plenty of dust spec bubbles and one film defect, not as bad as the first one but it's there and I notice it and it's a little annoying, i'm the kind of guy who can't wear sunglass with scratches on them. I can't capture the film imperfection but I'll attach photos of some of the dust specs. If the dust specs are ok and won't cause a premature failure of the film I guess I can live with that, but it was a fairly expensive job (I think, 275$ for just windshield) with what suppose to be good quality film Xpel XR Plus.

TintDude · March 1, 2022

18 minutes ago, AgentK said:

The tinter agreed and said they changes film suppliers to Xpel so now it shouldn't be an issue,

That is contamination and has nothing to do with the brand of film, but rather the installer did a not so perfect job.

Bham · March 1, 2022

:yeah Yep, what TintDude said. That has nothing to do with type of film, but type of installer. Dust and fibers that contaminate installs are both inside and outside the vehicle. We try to be as perfect as we can and control our environment to benefit good installs(at least you hope that's what your installer does). But now you have to worry about left over glue on top of other normal contaminates. Hopefully the new install comes out better.

AgentK · March 1, 2022

3 minutes ago, TintDude said:

That is contamination and has nothing to do with the brand of film, but rather the installer did a not so perfect job.

Of course! the reason I mentioned the quality of film is regarding the film defect, or maybe the installer caused it. If it was a 50$ I guess I would be expecting some imperfection in the film or job, is it unreasonable to expect now noticeable defects at this price points? I honestly don't know. So far I had 3 films installed on these two cars by the same installer and 2 of the films had imperfection which I can see.

AgentK · March 1, 2022

3 minutes ago, Bham said:

Yep, what TintDude said. That has nothing to do with type of film, but type of installer. Dust and fibers that contaminate installs are both inside and outside the vehicle. We try to be as perfect as we can and control our environment to benefit good installs(at least you hope that's what your installer does). But now you have to worry about left over glue on top of other normal contaminates. Hopefully the new install comes out better.

So you are saying I should ask for a redo?

Tint Slayer · March 1, 2022

1 hour ago, AgentK said:

So you are saying I should ask for a redo?

Your decision not the forums, the thing that bugs me is i think he could've fixed those when he did the install. Ultimately, you have great film but a not so great install.

Bham · March 1, 2022

1 hour ago, AgentK said:

So you are saying I should ask for a redo?

That is up to you and how bad those spots bother you. They should not cause any further problems and you have good film installed so it depends on whether it bothers you bad enough to have it redone.

AgentK · March 1, 2022

22 minutes ago, Bham said:

That is up to you and how bad those spots bother you. They should not cause any further problems and you have good film installed so it depends on whether it bothers you bad enough to have it redone.

Ok, I did some digging around and seems like it's possible to remove the air from those bubbles which will make them less noticeable. They are not a huge issue for me if they unlikely to grow and cause problems.

So let me rephrase my question a little. is it common to have some defects in the film? It looks like a smudge but my best guess is it's actually in the film, while driving and the looking through that area you can see the light deflecting a little, it's not like dirty glass because dirt just blocks light but patch is deflecting it. Since I had a similar issue on 2 of the 3 films I got installed I guess I can live with that if this kind of thing is expected and possibly will happen in a new film they can install. But if you guys tell me it's uncommon I'll go back to the tinter and either ask for a redo or a refund and get it done elsewhere because I'm wasting too much time getting these redos. is it possible the smudge is just the inconsistent adhesive and can be fixed with some heat?

Bham · March 1, 2022

@AgentK Now it sounds to me like you are having either what we call "ghosting" issues, where the film will have a "blurry" look to it where it was shrunk in the wrong manner. It also could be "ghosting" from moving dry adhesive (trying to remove and reapply during install). Moving water through glue that is already starting to cure during the install can cause marks like this also. And sometimes they don't cure out over time.

The other thing might be squeegee marks from trying to run a rubber squeegee over film that doesn't have enough water on it. If these marks can't be removed with a micro fiber then it is likely something to do with the way it is being installed.

This does not sound like a low angle haze issue.

AgentK · March 1, 2022

@Bham Ghosting sounds correct! Thanks! I don't think it's squeegee marks, I'm pretty sure I had those in the first film they installed. Is it reasonable to ask for a redo because of ghosting? Can that be fixed without redo? Sounds like I landed on the wrong tint shop.