Is 3M Crystalline the best tint out there?

[azzurribaggio]

I've got a car that sits ourdoors all year round and would like to protect my interior.

I've heard 3M Crystalline is the best tint out there for this purpose?

 

Also are there any tint out there where you don't get the light refraction affect at night with the rear window?

Edited September 12, 2022 by Roach
Spelling fix

[highplains]

For your stated purpose almost any film from a quality manufacturer will accomplish what you're after which is blocking the UV that's going to fade/break down your interior materials. Crystalline is a great film that offers higher IR rejection, but it certainly comes at a premium. As far as the light refraction with the rear window goes it's unavoidable unless you want to remove your defroster grid, that said some films are better than others in that department but there are a number of variables that come into play.

[Tintguy1980]

I've had Crystalline 40 on my front driver and passenger glass for 7 years now, it's always parked outside sun-exposed, and it is holding up pretty dammed impressive here at the South side of Virginia (as if it were installed recently).

[azzurribaggio]

On 6/30/2022 at 11:21 AM, Tintguy1980 said:

I've had Crystalline 40 on my front driver and passenger glass for 7 years now, it's always parked outside sun-exposed, and it is holding up pretty dammed impressive here at the South side of Virginia (as if it were installed recently).

 

So I went and got CR90 on the windshield and CR70 everywhere else.

When I went into the shop I noticed something called 3M Ceramic IR film but didn't ask about it and regret that. Since my goal was to keep my interior as cool as possible and protect it from the sun since it sits outside 100% of the time should I have gone with 3M Ceramic IR film?

When I went to pickup the car from the shop yesterday it still felt like an oven inside, mind you the temperature got to 100 degrees that day.

Here is how it looks.

 

[Bham]

The easy answer is that your car will still get hot sitting in the sun and will still feel hot inside after doing so.  You can't stop convection and conduction of heat around the rest of the car.  i.e. - the plastics, the metal, the outside of the all the glass. All this heat will transfer to the inside of the car.  

 

The purpose of ceramic and IR films is for what you feel on your skin.  This is the reason it works so well, because our skin feels more of the IR heat spectrum and this is what is being blocked.  It is a feel thing not a heat thing.  If you didn't have skin, the basic film that blocks UV would be just fine.  

 

Also, clear films no matter how good they say they are, are not very good on the performance side for heat rejection.  There is nothing there so you can't expect it do anything.  It's clear. 

Edited September 8, 2022 by Bham

[azzurribaggio]

19 minutes ago, Bham said:

The easy answer is that your car will still get hot sitting in the sun and will still feel hot inside after doing so.  You can't stop convection and conduction of heat around the rest of the car.  i.e. - the plastics, the metal, the outside of the all the glass. All this heat will transfer to the inside of the car.  

 

The purpose of ceramic and IR films is for what you feel on your skin.  This is the reason it works so well, because our skin feels more of the IR heat spectrum and this is what is being blocked.  It is a feel thing not a heat thing.  If you didn't have skin, the basic film that blocks UV would be just fine.  

 

Also, clear films no matter how good they say they are, are not very good on the performance side for heat rejection.  There is nothing there so you can't expect it do anything.  It's clear. 

 

@Bham

Thank you very much for that insight and knowledge.

 

So between 3M Crystalline and 3M Ceramic IR which one should I have chosen based on my end goal (kind of a mute point but just for my future knowledge)?

So me choosing CR70 probably only helps a little as far as heat rejection when I am in the car versus if I went with CR60 or CR50, correct?

[Bham]

Again, simply put,,, the darker the film - the better it will perform.  Add in other performance features like ceramics and whatever the IR rejection gunk is, those things plus a dark film will be the best for performance from the heat.  The only other way to get better performance than that is with a reflective (mirrored) film.  

[Tintguy1980]

On 9/8/2022 at 12:44 PM, azzurribaggio said:

 

@Bham

Thank you very much for that insight and knowledge.

 

So between 3M Crystalline and 3M Ceramic IR which one should I have chosen based on my end goal (kind of a mute point but just for my future knowledge)?

So me choosing CR70 probably only helps a little as far as heat rejection when I am in the car versus if I went with CR60 or CR50, correct?

The difference between a ceramic film and crystalline is the fact that crystalline reflects near infrared whereby a ceramic film strictly absorbs near infrared. Personally, I'd pick crystalline over any ceramic on the market.

 

Window film, no matter how well it performs, on car glass only works to keep the interior cooler when the car is in motion. Sitting in the sun all day, well, window film loses to the sun. It certainly does help in slowing the build up of heat in the car when parked, but it will still take your breath away after a full day exposure time.