Bham

Welcome to the forum. Nice car. My question would be what are you trying to achieve out of tinting your vehicle in 90% all the way around? Are you looking for protection for the interior? Heat rejection for comfort?

There are many vehicles that I pass on because Water and electronics don't mix. When we tint windows we use water that gets in places and on electronics that it really shouldn't. Sometimes this causes issues. It is a risk we both take(installer and customer). Usually there are no issues and everything is just fine. In some cases there are slight issues that go away. In that short period of time it did not cause corrosion. It might have messed up something due to the water shorting something out. A lot of times it goes back to working fine after it dries completely.

Sorry but yes, that is heat gun damage and a razor knife cut. Somebody doesn't know how to snap a door glass properly. That was probably done while shrinking on the car before install, as I think those are frameless windows. But that is heat gun damage for sure, I've done the same thing on a different vehicle before. I know that damage first hand. Good news is that plastic piece is relatively easy to replace. You're just gonna have to deal with either them replacing it or you having to.

This is bothersome to me. A shop that can't hand cut film and can only install plotter cut film That's not a real tint shop. Absolutely pitiful that they couldn't do that vehicle. Definitely find a different shop.

Bro, that's a ton of money sitting there for some sets of doors on SUV's for people that don't really like tint, but are still hot. Run some sort of "heat special for people who don't want tint" and do doors at a (still good) discounted ceramic price. Old people will also go for this. If you sell it right, you can make plenty of money on a roll you don't think you will use. Don't throw away that money. Just sell that a little differently and keep that money. just my two cents.

Here's the real thing!! The thing that most people who think they can "sell" or think they have what it takes to run this type of business don't think about or consider. This is not a product that sells itself. You can't take it home and do it yourself. That has been well proven, but.... Every tint shop out there is held up by the INSTALLER, not the front counter. The front counter and salesmen have little to do with the success of a good tint shop. Anybody can sell tint to someone, but if the installer can't get it on the vehicle properly, there will never be any sales. Everything will be refunded or discounted to the point the shop will go under without someone installing proper work. The person or people behind the wall doing the work are who will determine whether your shop is a success or not. Truth 100%

I don't know how he's measuring or what area, say internal temps or glass surface temps, but I really think he's missing a variable somewhere that is making him think it works better on the outside. I think we all know it shouldn't be the case, but something in this situation is missing. Maybe if I get to talk to him again I can find out more but I wanted to see what everyone else smarter than me thought.

Okay all you smart people, help. I wish we had Smarty2shoes back. Let me start by saying I don't have all the information on how this person is measuring heat, but here's the situation. Customer calls and says that he's wanting some limo tint for the outside of his RV. I tell him that it won't last that way and he says he knows that, he is trying to replace what he has already put on. I ask him why he doesn't just put in on the inside and he says that it works better on the outside. He says he had it on the inside, took it off and put it on the outside. He says that it is 12° to 15° cooler when done this way rather than putting on the inside. Now I'm not the smartest person about tint and maybe this is a thermal dynamic situation that I don't understand, but this seems wrong to me. Even if he's using a surface temperature type devise(laser) it shouldn't be this way, especially with normal automotive film. Any ideas on how or why this person is thinking that the film is working better on the outside?

With all do respect, It sound like you have never tried installing film. Please, save your money and maybe practice before trying to make this something profitable. You will end up broke before you know it. If you do try installing and think you have the feel for it, get a job at a shop first. You just aren't ready to try to make a business out of this yet.

Suck that it happened, but relatively easy to fix. Just in case you are wondering = that was the installer shrinking the film on the car and they got too much heat and too aggressive with a hard card on the hot rubber while shrinking.

I will say this, That particular model does have a lot of shrinking necessary on the doors. I really don't think it can be helped unless your installer takes what would be "unnecessary steps" just to tint a door glass. He would have to take the type of steps necessary for a rear glass just to keep from ghosting. This is going to be the case with most films. Most of the time ghosting isn't really that noticeable unless you already notice it and can't keep from noticing it because you know it's there. If you will try to ignore it, like you do a chip on the windshield,, you should be fine. I can't tell level of your OCD but hopefully it's low and you can get past it.

If you can fully determine it’s not on the outside of the glass, then I’m gonna have to go with yes. That looks like and sounds like it is where the film was shrunk and left the “ghosting” in the shrink area.

@atikovi I’m just gonna say this. Your post is at the same time offensive to us but also a great example. Yes. You are cheap. No. You have not done that properly. YES!! You have hurt or destroyed your defroster. Every tinter worth his salt knows if you are using a razor blade, at all, on a defroster, you are going to slip and mess up a line. Or two. Or three etc. if you had just paid the $200 you would still have a functional defroster, but whatever. You probably have the steadiest hands on the planet and never slip when trying to remove that hard ass embedded tint that had welded itself to the glass. Experienced labor is well with its money sometimes but,,, oh well. Live and learn. Cheers.

I say this as nice as I can. I really mean no disrespect. And if I'm wrong, then I'm sorry up front, BUT, this question makes me think you have no idea what you are doing and that you need to do a little more studying on how to do residential/ commercial film. Either that or you are really, really new to the film game period. juss sayin First off, do you realize how many different types of film there are for that type of business. Not to mention different roll sizes for each type of film? That is an amazing number once you figure it out. Second off, you don't even need film on hand. Not many people (except for smaller jobs) need you do to do the install when you first see the job. In most cases, you look, quote, bid, measure, etc. the job first and then order the proper film for said job, then install said job. These are just a couple of simple things you should know before ordering anything. So slow down before you order a bunch of film you don't need. Again, if I'm wrong I'm sorry, but you don't sound like you are ready to start ordering film. In my opinion.

I want to add to @Dano awesome response. Good idea on the fishing trip swap. Yes, ceramic would be the way to go, but I have to add. Window tint is not designed to stand up to the elementary factors you are going to put it through. Open air water exposure, either salt or freshwater, is going to destroy the exposed coating(the scratch coat) and reduce its life by 1/2 to 3/4 depending on how much you are on the water. Salt of course is going to cause damage faster than fresh but this is something you need to be aware off. Performance might not be on the level you are expecting also but it will help. I'm not saying it won't be beneficial but it's not quite the same as a car or building with all the differences in elements involved. Nice boat.

That is one question I have always had also. I think there is some type of expensive meter that determines performance (TSER) of films and I've always wondered how much the performance degrades like the shading does.

I agree with the de-lamination part. I don't see why this would be any different than automotive film doing the same thing. Film is made in layers, often multiple layers to get peak performance. The fact that it took this long is a testament to that film type. It lasted that long before failing. WOW!

Not if it wasn’t a problem before. It didn’t just become a problem with tint slime with new film. Problem would have been there already.

That looks like you are dragging glue? (trying to move a spot that is already dry) Might try upping the amount of slip so that the glue doesn't try to cure so fast.

Nice little '68 today.

The way I look at it, why would you buy a film from an accessories company (and expect it to last) when you can buy film from someone who only deals in film ? Even if I didn't know anything about film this just seems like a bad idea. Scorpion, DUB, and I'm sure there are more are just alarm and electronics, or rims and accessories companies that just decided to pick up window tint (as cheaply as they can) just cause it fits with the other stuff they sell. It's kinda like expecting shoes from Wal-mart to be the same as shoes from Academy Sports or an actual shoe store. Yeah, they are similar but the quality and longevity just isn't the same. When on the other hand, Llumar, 3M, Global, etc,, are strictly film companies and that is what they specialize in. Not rims or car alarms. These would be my first choices for a reliable film. That plus a little decent research and you should be able to decide on a film line. Offering only ceramic is a big risk especially seeing as how good the HP dyed films from reputable companies perform and last these days. Not offering an entry level dyed film that goes along with your ceramic line is just giving up easy money in my opinion.

Llumar has the same practices with controlling the amount of shops in the area that have their product. Both Llumar and Xpel have the right to control their product any way they want to. If they don't want to offer their product to you, they don't have to and no one can force them to allow you to attend classes or carry their product. They have control and can do with it as they see fit. Sorry. edited to say that most decent distributors have this sort of practice. Or at least say they do. Some of them stretch their standards and sell to shops a little closer together than what they say they don't allow. Anyway, this is to try and not flood the area with all of the same product. Competition brings more business and if there is only one product in town, the demand will go down and their will be no customers.

@WearTheFoxHat @MikeMN Can either of you help them out ??

@AgentK No I wasn't saying that you were angry or unreasonable in any way. Since I have had plenty of people come at me sideways with your same situation, I was just giving some input on how to deal with the shop. Nothing intended or implied. Sorry if I came across wrong.

Don't be unreasonable and try to be understanding. Deal with them in a good way and hopefully they will do the same for you. Don't go in there angry and demanding, you won't get your way that way. They have already been working with you to make you happy. The only other thing I can suggest is if the installer is using a torch, you might ask them to use a heat gun instead. This might decrease the chance of ghosting. Maybe.