shadytints

older cars can be more challenging.   dirt dots spread thru entire window is from air or water.   if the prob is only old vehicles,  probably the car.   I mist the interior of older ones to de-dustify them including headliner.  crawling in and out stirs up the dust.   less water is better on the old ones

I use a off road racing light bar.   45 bucks for a 36 inch 180 watt 18,000 lumen on amazon.  tied it to a mechanic under hood bar so I can clip it across the A,B or C pillars

top load and tape the felt gaskets.  I use a little extra slip to easily get them in and torch the inside to set it in place.  The shank is my tool of choice to tuck the film into the bottom.

older vehicles or ones known to have problems with film sticking to the matrix,  strong prep solution like pro bond works great.  A thick cloth to make sure you get the residue out from between the dots when you apply.   I wrap my pro-handle with a perfect cloth or kaywos 4 layers.   squeegee alone will not get all the water out  between the dots.   I also use my torch on the inside if needed to speed it up on problem vehicles.

torch is safer then heat guns.  this vid would be quicker switching to map gas and a TS8000 tip.   wider and hotter flame lets you back the torch up more while shrinking more.  2 or 4000 tips tend to burn film more,  leave those for the plumbers.

might attempt some new vids soon,  walking better now,  can handle couple hours out of bed.  couple years catch up on house and yard work talking a bit of my time.

always franky the bg's,  got into rolling the windshields which took some practice.   as an old fart, hard to get into some of the front seats easy compared to the back seat.  was a mobile guy,  no peel boards and some of the big trucks and big shields were hard to franky without getting creases pulling off the vehicle or positioning on the windshield.  If you have problems with debris in the patterns, depending on where they are,  solutions can be figured out.   longer sticky stuff is exposed, the more chance you have for trash floating in.   heres an old clip on my franky on steroids

the bubbles can be from many different issues from prep to water or airborne.

Prep.   side windows I use stainless razor blades with a small plastic holder.  stainless you can use for days or even weeks and won't rust.  they let you "hear" the dirt or imperfections on the glass as you listen.  glass is not smooth and can have unoticed scratches or pits that will show when the film dries.  Bg's I use a white or blue scrubby pad,  the more aggressive ones can scratch the glass.  always squeegee sideways border to border overlapping to insure all debris is removed.  flush the sides where you can not squeegee  and rinse bottom of BG.  squeegeeing bottom of BG can make dirt fly up off rear deck.

Solution.  if the water is bad the debris would be in all windows,  small fuel filter for lawn mower or filtered water cures this.

airborne.  mist interior of vehicle to keep dust down on dirty cars,  dirt will come up off seats or from headliner as you crawl in and out.  wet floor to keep dust from flying up as you walk around vehicle,  if the car is dirty mist exterior as well.  I don't wash cars  LOL,  will rinse my solution off when i am done.   Garages and shops can be dirty and dusty.  I have been in some where it looked like it was snowing from all the dust flying around.  I purchased a few 20x20 box fans for $20 each.  I bought 20x20 HP4 furnace filters to put on the intake side.  I run the fan or fans while I cut and shrink,  turn them off to hang the film.  was really amazing how fast they cleaned the air and how fast the filters clogged up in the nasty shops.

Attire.   Under armour or other lint free shirts help and keep you cooler and drier,  in the winter I put them over my normal shirt.  BDU's are water resistant and fairly lint free.  I used to buy 6 pair of jeans every 6 months,  BDU's last for years from local army surplus.  water prood shoes with no metal eyelets like merrell's cost a bit more but last and save your feet

Looking for experienced automotive tinter.

steady work, good commission.

reliable transportation to service multiple accounts required.

contact

shadytints@comcast.net

Rob Forbes  facebook

would love to sling film again,  still having minor disagreements with back and legs  LOL  never made pouches,  latest one I had was the dirty pouch.

pro-bond for prep eliminates peanuts or a strong prep solution

I have learned more from my students then i have from my teachers LOL  I just waste oxygen on the planet and not sure if I will ever go back to work.  If there was a get together within a couple hours of me,  would love to attend and even vid the various talents to broaden my knowledge.  I have considered a class 3 RV and cruise the country visiting tint shops,  just have to overcome the minor disagreement I am having with my right leg first  LOL  eventually I will teach it to obey and do what me brain asks,  gas,  brake and such

baby powder has worked great for me,  just takes a bit to adapt and understand the benefits.

cleans up easy,  if you can see it, you are using to much

buy little bottles,  goes bad quick in humid areas,  heat with the humidity is attracted to cold objects (condensation)

does not let film stick to glass,  shows fingers that soap and dryer sheets don't

lets you overshrink to inside curve which is tighter then outside curve preventing fingers,  google formula for length of a arc or please tell this old fart how to type the pie symbol LOL

film shrinks,  glass is the heatsink stopping the film from shrinking further.  film acts as a heat shield while shrinking only transferring heat to glass when shrunk.  proper torch techniques shrinks faster and keeps glass and moldings cooler then heat guns.  heat guns can be bad and still make heat (understanding thermocouple regulators) .  anyone care to debate why torches are safer then heat guns?

if you snap the top a little, you can use your torch or heat gun to seal the top thus preventing fingers and peeling without dropping deep into the sweep.

if the sweep is lower on the inside then the outside,  I just tint to the inside sweep for cosmetic purposes.  newer f-series,  I drop it as far as a 22 inch roll will let me.  If the inside sweep is higher then the outer,  I drop the film  enough to hide the edge from being seen from the outside.

easy to tint,  just hard to tint clean  LOL

the old seats and headliner I always mist,  dust storm as you crawl inside.  the old crusty rubber BG gasket will never be clean,  why I cut again on inside to make sure it is a perfect fit.   now lets talk about GRAVITY.  If you squeegee water up,  it must come back down and will bring trash.  why I avoid the sides and top 1 inch and take water down.  hard card with something absorbent to soak up water on top and sides.  I have wedged the bottom out on some for water drainage,  if by chance a finger pops up on bottom, it will suck up trash.  extra soap, min mist to hang.  the front vents I wedge the inside rubber to remove the decade and rusty residue.  the vent rubber is U shaped and the glass is pounded into the metal frame.  gives room to hide light gaps.  light mist again and try to take slip out the exposed edge.  wrap a ez or tri-edge to get edges and avoid debris from getting sucked back in.

2 hours ago, quality tintz said:

 Rubber sealed old f 150 rear window trash  was on top? Solid one piece not slider..

the rubber rear gaskets, I cut the film on the outside with a basic wedge cut.  scrub the inside with a white or blue scrub pad.   I dry fit the window to make sure it lays flat, trim where necessary.   light mist of slip and hang.   I avoid the top and sides one inch and take all water down squeegee and use chamois or something absorbant on the bottom to suck up the solution.  cloth over squeegee to do sides and top being careful not to let slip back under film.  

where do you get dirt spots?  older cars require some extra precautions.

mistings seats and headliner help prevent dust flying up as you get in and out of vehicle.

I use 1 1/2 inch painters tape on felt gaskets,  old ones are impossible to clean

rubber gaskets I use a tri-edge with a cloth over and scrub till clean

mist upper gasket to prevent debris falling and use minimal water to avoid dirt trails

take slip over top of window or down to prevent debris from coming in from sides

10 hours ago, quality tintz said:

Have you used solar fx? whats that brand in videos you were using do they have a nice 15 percent???

Have not tried solar FX as far as I know.  the film in my vids has been changed and no longer available.  Been laid up well over a year now,  not sure what I would use if I could tint again.

3 hours ago, Tint Slayer said:

Why did you switch to shrinking the top instead of bottom?

I switched to top snapping instead of bottom shrinking because I could see singers below the gasket on ones where the inner gasket was higher then the outer (15 malibu, bmw, 300, lincon town)   by snapping the top and sealing with a heat gun or torch leaves the bottom edge virgin and have to stretch it a bit preventing any fingers or peeling.   think of it like the backwards curve windows,  regal, old camaro and t-bird,  you stretch it to get it on and no chance of fingering.   vids on my channel if you want to see.

The question I want to ask is why do we have to go below the sweeps at all?  sirrus sticker, xm and factory stickers never peel.  30 years tinting, glass replacement and installing door locks and power windows.  dirt, grease and maybe rust proofing is just under the sweep,  slim chance to sticking there.  years ago i tinted a car where the sweep was 3/8 higher then outside trim.  I noticed finger all along the bottom on the outside and could not see them on the inside.  the sweep held them down.   I switched to shrinking the top of the window instead of the bottom and found I had to occasionally heat small finger out of the top now.  only tint to the sweep for cosmetic purpose only and never have any peeling problems.  every film is different,  some stick to the top right away and others can be a pain in the a**.   something to check when deciding to switch films,  had a nightmare of problems with one brand,  redos take to much time and cost to much money

I bought a roof mount spot/fog light bar on amazon for $49.  36 inch 180 watt 18,000 lumen and attached it to a mechanic's underhood light bracket.  Limo over factory?  no problem.

clip across a or b pillars and lights up the whole car or suv.  Use alligator clips on a jump box to power it,  15 amp draw will blow most cig or acc ports 

they make a special compound just for polishing glass.  can not remember the name, call any glass shop and they can tell ya.   takes out small scratches and polish edges on cut glass for tables

older cars I blast the gaskets to remove the trash,  new cars require less cleaning typically.  as a top loader, old cars are more prone to dirt trails on the flipline from water and debris running back in.  As a slip I like Ultra-bond straight for fast set and better bond strength.  summer I add a drop of J&J for extra work time in high temp and humidity.

wet it, blade it and wet again.  squeegee border to border and wet film not window on small ones.   small windows as you spray can spray the dust off the panel into your window.  when you peel,  make sure everything around it is misted and no water running into pattern.  as you squeegee send water down so that gravity thing does not bring dirt in with slip.  can peel quarters off rear door or BG to reduce exposure time and dusty cars get misted so I dont kick dust up getting in and out

practice practice practice!  I screw up trying to show and explain how and why I do what I do.   like basketball,  your style has to become second nature to get speed and quality.  I never have filed, top edge should match perfect if cut right.   as you cut the top edge,  you have to maintain the same angle across the entire cut.  I tend to move my upper body as I cut tops,  not just my arm.  tempered doors have a round top,  any change in angles of your olfa will make your pattern not match. 

have not worked in a year,  so have not tried myself.  one of my students said worked great.  Vesco wheel acid for detailers,  little on steel wool and try not to drip.  i will ask if he ever spilled and if it left a mark,  my guess if it did he rinsed it off.