doctor4766

I would personally leave the film the way it is. 50% VLT film would be too dark at night IMO and the difference between your 80% film (or the 50%) may not be much as far as heat rejection goes anyway. It can be a difficult job for 1 person to install film onto a front windshield on their own, unlike the rear window where you have the back seat to kneel on. That's why I always have a second tinter to help me get the film in place for a front. It's not uncommon to pick up a few specks here and there especially if he's fitted it alone.

The door glass film should be fitted right to the edge. Yours looks like how it was done in the 1980s with those gaps.

Very unprofessional. Looks like the work-experience kid did that job.

Yes, I know exactly what you mean. I'm possibly one of the worst for this as I tend to work quickly and often forget that it's a non-tacky film that we're dealing with. Occasionally though, we come across a roll that's maybe wound a little tight and doesn't want to sit on the glass as it should. My main experience with this has been on hotter than usual glass and my fix has been to wet the film again and re-squeegee but not as hard. This will leave some liquid behind to get the adhesive activated. Works sometimes and sometimes it doesn't. Fortunately, most of the time things go smoothly with Llumar products.

I have had some issues like this with Llumar films at times but not quite as bad as that looks. Can I ask whether you allow the wet film to sit for a minute before you begin to squeegee the film out? I remember that Llumar installation instructions called for this, to begin the adhesive activation. And since most of us use a hard squeegee blade these days, it's possible that too much water is removed in the process for correct activation. Just a thought...

This reminds me of the color of some European vehicles' front windshields, the ones with a purple hue. They have a heat/UV reducing interlayer in the glass and you can really notice the color when one of these cars is approaching. The color is exacerbated if you fit a black film visor strip behind it. Perhaps these windows are laminated and have a similar film inside?

Perhaps, but didn't have one handy. I've sent the car away for now and will likely get it back on a day that there's two of us in the shop.

So, a customer brought in his new 2023 Volvo XC40 Recharge EV this morning for just the front doors to be tinted as the vehicle has privacy glass, as he was too much of a tight arse to pay for an upgrade film. I knew it wasn't going to be simple right from the get-go, as I couldn't even find a start button on the dash. I did notice though that the ignition lights had lit up though, which was weird since I hadn't pressed anything, so I put the shifter into reverse and sure enough it started to move backwards as I hit the "gas" pedal. After getting the vehicle into the shop and making my template, I cut the film for the passenger front door and hung it on the peeling board. Then I proceeded to prepare the glass, but the window wouldn't operate, even though I had just wound the window up from the driver's seat. Turns out that the weight of your body in the driver's seat operates the start switch (if you have the FOB close by) and once you step out of the car the ignition turns off again. Looks like doing one of these on your own may prove a little difficult unless you have someone else to sit in the car while you tint the glass. Any solutions welcomed

Can't say I believe fitting the film externally would make much difference as far as heat rejection goes but I did do it on one of my vehicles many years ago. Here's why: I had a '94 Toyota HiLux Surf/4Runner that I had tinted with a 20% film. Back then Toyota installed light bronze glass in a lot of their vehicles instead of green, so a 20% grey film looked quite nice on most of the windows........ except, the cargo windows, which have a reflective coating from factory on the inside. Now no film, no matter how black it is would make those windows look particularly dark, so I tinted them on the outside instead. This had a much better appearance and blended with the rest of the car. I had it on there for months without it ever peeling off. I even drove across Australia, from Perth to Brisbane and down the east coast through heat and snow at times and it held up well, until..... after a month on the road the vehicle was looking a bit crusty, so I gave it a good going over with my pressure cleaner. The scratch resistant coating started to come off and looked like crap so I peeled it off and never bothered replacing it again. So whilst this has not helped the discussion about heat rejection, it shows that it can be done. And by the way, I spent some time in Dubai a few years ago and noticed that many cars had their back window film installed on the outside.

In all fairness, it takes months if not years to become competent enough to tint a complete vehicle such that the customer is satisfied with the job and you haven't spent all day tinting for $200... As Bham said, you should get a job at a tint shop first. That way you can benefit from some training from experienced people and not be wasting your own film and time whilst learning the game. I have been tinting since 1984 when I was just 18 and I think I was confident in myself by about year 3 I'm now 55 and have made a reasonable life from this industry, working for myself for the last 20 years. It's not as easy as some would make out, but if you start with a plan and don't try to skip important steps, you too could carve out a career for yourself. Good luck Paul

More likely to be the glass than the film. After working in the autoglass industry for many years you see lots of cases of what you're describing. Film wouldn't be thick enough to be the source of the visible bending that you can see.

Hi Douglas. Most door glasses need no shrinking at all so perhaps you got lucky and the film would have sat down even without heat applied. What vehicle were you working on? Paul