Bham

The two places to make the most money tinting windows are Texas and South Florida. You must have PLENTY of experience and be able to work on high end, expensive vehicles.  

Yes!!!  The signs around town will help. 100%  
 
I was already established at a location with a partnership deal along side an auto accessories shop.  That partnership fell apart and I had to move to a different location and start over 100% on my own.  My new location was not very visible from the road and down off a side road.  This meant I had to put out signs and I had to go out and hand out business cards and pound the pavement to tell everyone where my new location was.   Of course FB adds on local pages that would allow me to do so helped, but mainly going around handing out cards and putting out signs on busy corners was the biggest thing. If your area will allow signs without taking them up after you put them out, I would definitely get some easy coroplast yard signs and stick them everywhere they will let you.  Go to every car show or craft event or whatever type of public gathering that will let you hand out cards.  These things will help more than you know. 
 
also I edited your post and tagged Dano for you.   

I'm just taking a guess, but; seeing as how that is all you said,,,   wanna elaborate a little more on the mistake you made?   

Yes!!!  The signs around town will help. 100%  
 
I was already established at a location with a partnership deal along side an auto accessories shop.  That partnership fell apart and I had to move to a different location and start over 100% on my own.  My new location was not very visible from the road and down off a side road.  This meant I had to put out signs and I had to go out and hand out business cards and pound the pavement to tell everyone where my new location was.   Of course FB adds on local pages that would allow me to do so helped, but mainly going around handing out cards and putting out signs on busy corners was the biggest thing. If your area will allow signs without taking them up after you put them out, I would definitely get some easy coroplast yard signs and stick them everywhere they will let you.  Go to every car show or craft event or whatever type of public gathering that will let you hand out cards.  These things will help more than you know. 
 
also I edited your post and tagged Dano for you.   

Yes!!!  The signs around town will help. 100%  
 
I was already established at a location with a partnership deal along side an auto accessories shop.  That partnership fell apart and I had to move to a different location and start over 100% on my own.  My new location was not very visible from the road and down off a side road.  This meant I had to put out signs and I had to go out and hand out business cards and pound the pavement to tell everyone where my new location was.   Of course FB adds on local pages that would allow me to do so helped, but mainly going around handing out cards and putting out signs on busy corners was the biggest thing. If your area will allow signs without taking them up after you put them out, I would definitely get some easy coroplast yard signs and stick them everywhere they will let you.  Go to every car show or craft event or whatever type of public gathering that will let you hand out cards.  These things will help more than you know. 
 
also I edited your post and tagged Dano for you.   

You're smarter than you give yourself credit for.

I thought I put a blurb about fish seeing themselves in the tank glass, however, I should have gone into it more so. Thanks for catching it and backing this discussion up.

Interested in this scenario but here is my  from the "not so smart" section.   I see problems with the enclosures being made of glass.  I feel the reflective properties of glass itself combined with the reflective properties of water, both of these combined are going to be a problem with this experiment.  I just feel like the multiple pieces of glass that will have to be used are going to create multiple reflection issues. i.e. - the way a fish tank looks at the corners.
 
Also the fact that film will change the environment much like putting film on a sunroom and killing all the plants in the room.  Film is going to change the environmental conditions to where they are incorrect.  
 
Water temp I would think would also be a factor in this experiment and is going to be difficult to get correct without some sort of heat lamp or water heater option.  Using light to have one side brighter than the other is going to also hinder keeping the same temp in all areas of the test.  
 
Fish generally group according to size and safety. Size being key because we all know big fish eat little fish so the grouping will need to be very consistent in that aspect. They also use the cover and currents to determine where they feel safest. 
 
All in all I just think this test will be rather inconclusive because of the difficulties of recreating the "proper" situations for said testing and man made tanks with minimal environmental similarities will be the reason for it.  
 
Again, just my two cents.  

Interested in this scenario but here is my  from the "not so smart" section.   I see problems with the enclosures being made of glass.  I feel the reflective properties of glass itself combined with the reflective properties of water, both of these combined are going to be a problem with this experiment.  I just feel like the multiple pieces of glass that will have to be used are going to create multiple reflection issues. i.e. - the way a fish tank looks at the corners.
 
Also the fact that film will change the environment much like putting film on a sunroom and killing all the plants in the room.  Film is going to change the environmental conditions to where they are incorrect.  
 
Water temp I would think would also be a factor in this experiment and is going to be difficult to get correct without some sort of heat lamp or water heater option.  Using light to have one side brighter than the other is going to also hinder keeping the same temp in all areas of the test.  
 
Fish generally group according to size and safety. Size being key because we all know big fish eat little fish so the grouping will need to be very consistent in that aspect. They also use the cover and currents to determine where they feel safest. 
 
All in all I just think this test will be rather inconclusive because of the difficulties of recreating the "proper" situations for said testing and man made tanks with minimal environmental similarities will be the reason for it.  
 
Again, just my two cents.  

That is a great answer @DynamicATL    

If it's been installed for some time, then most likely, the issue is your eyesight, especially if you're over 40. Your close vision is the most affected (hence people needing readers), but also with glare, etc. So you still could have great vision in ideal circumstances (doctor's office) but not in more severe driving conditions. If you recently added the tint, the reduction of visibility might be the issue. Even though 70% is pretty clear, you are still losing an additional 30% of visibility.
 
I wear contacts, my fiancee wears glasses but she has overall better vision than me. She only does 90% on the windshield since she felt 70% impacted her night driving way too much. I do 35-40% on the windshield and have perfect clarity even at night. Unless it is pouring down, I typically do not use my wipers.
 
One thing that will help you is adding Yellow LEDs to your fog lamps. Yellow cuts through the rain and fog better than any whiter light. Below is our shop vehicle with only fog lights on.
 

LLumar DR series, if still available, is practically a dead ringer in look and performance to Night Vision for less.
 
Global DR Ceramic is another that leans to the smoke look rather than LLumar and 3M's Night vision. 35% VLT would suffice.

And to you and yours.

You may already know the following.
 
If the grooves are from long time use go with the above recommendations, otherwise, you might consider re-calibrating blade pressure, check for damaged blade point, clean the blade tip with a sweep or two using a tooth brush, and or replace blade if damage to tip is noted.
 
When repositioning the strip (flipping or replacing), ensure there are no high / low spots. Those strips should last a long time without carving occurring when pressure is dialed in with a precision balancing act between cutting usable material only and not cutting cleanly.

About the only thing you can do is pull it out of the channel and flip it over. That is if the other side is in good shape. This usually works one time. After that you will just need to order a new strip.  

About the only thing you can do is pull it out of the channel and flip it over. That is if the other side is in good shape. This usually works one time. After that you will just need to order a new strip.  

Merry Christmas to all of my TintDude family.  I hope everyone had a great day with family and friends.  
  

Merry Christmas to all of my TintDude family.  I hope everyone had a great day with family and friends.  
  

Merry Christmas y’all! 

I hope everyone has a nice Christmas and a happy new year!

Inquiring minds want know = other than price, why are you not happy with Global??  
 
Your title asks about the top manufacturers. Well you are not happy with one of them and the only other two choices would be Llumar or 3M.  Anything else you go with is still more than likely one of these 3.  At least you better hope it is.  

The coating can be removed by "dry scraping" with stainless single edge razor blades, but it is very time consuming and tedious. The coating comes off like a super fine powder. If done correctly there is no damage to the glass and you can tint it just fine after a thorough cleaning.  

I scraped the drivers door clean after making the mistake of scratching the coating but I did not scrape the passenger side.  After tinting you could not tell the difference between the two.  

The hardest thing to tint on these is the windshield.  Other than that,,, eezy-peezy.   
 
 

When are you going to work on something nice?   

The hardest thing to tint on these is the windshield.  Other than that,,, eezy-peezy.   
 
 

Is the 23 Honda Civic Hatchback the same headaches with the spoiler as the earlier ones?  I looked at pics on line and it doesn't look like it is the same as the ones that was giving everyone fits