Sunbreakers

@no ma'am I am just curious and gotta ask....do you ever lose any driver bits?  LOL!!

@no ma'am I am just curious and gotta ask....do you ever lose any driver bits?  LOL!!

If you want one who is experienced, does good work, and dependable he already has a job. You have to train them to have them and even then..... Good luck with your search. If you find more than one send him south. LOL!!
 

@pbalentine Yessir....happy to help you any way I can. This method works for all the new Lexus and FCA products...charger, challenger, etc... as well as most new GM. Another tip.... Make sure you check the tightness of the clip when you snap them back in. Sometimes they get loose and the door panel merely "sits" on the clip without really being anchored. I pull it back and take a hook tool or a snap on radiator hose tool and spread the clip apart a bit. Snap it back on and you are good to go..

I would be careful about taking everything Ralph does and says to heart...He is what my grandmother would have called a "snake oil salesman." You would do much better if you stick to all of the fine folks here on this site. As a collective we have the experience and knowledge to help you, and we don't have to make a snappy video to do it. 

@Bham It was good to get to stop for a visit today. Told you I would try to make it more frequent .  I wish I had read your post above before I stopped by. I would have told you in person what I will type to you now.
In life I have learned that for every one or two good decisions you make there is bound to be a bad one. Not hiring you back in the 90's was a terrible decision on my part and an oversight that I should not have allowed to happen. I wasn't willing to give you a chance, didn't think you had the drive for it, and I let other folks influence my decisions when I should have at least given you an opportunity. You have proved me wrong many times...you have certainly been driven and you have achieved my achievements...your own shop. That one mistake of mine not only was very obviously my loss, but it also alienated us from each other and put a strain on our friendship maybe even still today. In front of all of these good, professional folks here on this forum, Jason,  I want you to know I am very sorry. I hope others here can learn from my mistake and always be willing to take a chance on others. I am very proud of you for what you have achieved. 
 
Charley 

My little suburb was quiet and boring place. Two guys came in from FL. with flashy cars and opened a tint shop down the street from my parents. Always had cool cars there and working on them. I started hanging out with them. Later they gave me a job. After about a month or so they told me "you may be good at many things, but you will never make it as a window tinter." I left and started buying film through a friend of mine's dad's business doing cars anywhere I could. 3 years later I bought the shop of the guy who sent me away. Two years later I opened two more stores in FL. Parents convinced me that tint was not where it was at....although I was making good money by then so I sold my shops and went back to school still tinting with one employee. Graduated with a master's degree and tried to give up tinting for good, but the phone never stopped ringing. Now I have been at it ever since. This February will be 32 years. Glad I never gave up.  

Growing up my dad tinted and ran a shop for years but never would show me the ropes because he said never tint you are better than this. Well he moved on from tint as he got older and i always would bring up the idea lets open a shop because i love cars and working around them. Again he turned me down lol . So i had a great career as a petroleum engineer but was never home so the idea of opening a shop just kept sounding better and better to stay in town and close to my family. Dad got sick and passed away from leukemia, that caused a lot of issues so long story short i needed to have a job in town to take care of my mother and my own family better. Got a bright idea looked up at the heavens and said dad im gonna do it, so make sure you watch over me haha . Quit my badass job, paid some money for a tinting class to teach me how to tint. Took the 4 day class ordered a crap ton of film way more than i needed and started tinting on a leap of faith. Got a few dealerships on board within the first month and have been tinting non stop since for the past year or so. Shop is doing great and love what i do! The class helped me get going but all the cars i have tinted over the past year has really been the best learning experience, every day i learn something new. I am a problem solver by nature so it has been a fun ride learning this trade and solving my own issues while tinting. This forum has been a huge help and thanks to everyone that has brought value to this forum and continually is trying to innovate our industry!  Also its baddass that im tinting and feel dad is here with me everyday, another reason why i chose tinting was just to embrace all those memories we made as a kid hanging out at the shop with him lol! he started in the 80's in a storefront directly across the street from where my shop is now. Crazy

@Bham It was good to get to stop for a visit today. Told you I would try to make it more frequent .  I wish I had read your post above before I stopped by. I would have told you in person what I will type to you now.
In life I have learned that for every one or two good decisions you make there is bound to be a bad one. Not hiring you back in the 90's was a terrible decision on my part and an oversight that I should not have allowed to happen. I wasn't willing to give you a chance, didn't think you had the drive for it, and I let other folks influence my decisions when I should have at least given you an opportunity. You have proved me wrong many times...you have certainly been driven and you have achieved my achievements...your own shop. That one mistake of mine not only was very obviously my loss, but it also alienated us from each other and put a strain on our friendship maybe even still today. In front of all of these good, professional folks here on this forum, Jason,  I want you to know I am very sorry. I hope others here can learn from my mistake and always be willing to take a chance on others. I am very proud of you for what you have achieved. 
 
Charley 

My little suburb was quiet and boring place. Two guys came in from FL. with flashy cars and opened a tint shop down the street from my parents. Always had cool cars there and working on them. I started hanging out with them. Later they gave me a job. After about a month or so they told me "you may be good at many things, but you will never make it as a window tinter." I left and started buying film through a friend of mine's dad's business doing cars anywhere I could. 3 years later I bought the shop of the guy who sent me away. Two years later I opened two more stores in FL. Parents convinced me that tint was not where it was at....although I was making good money by then so I sold my shops and went back to school still tinting with one employee. Graduated with a master's degree and tried to give up tinting for good, but the phone never stopped ringing. Now I have been at it ever since. This February will be 32 years. Glad I never gave up.  

@quality tintz in the past I have always recommended signwarehouse dot com and they have done well. The best deal you can find for mainstream printer is a vinyl express Q series...usually a Q42 or Q64. They are a generic Graphtec and usually cheaper. However, one of the other guys here tried to buy one last month or so and they had gone way up and were really not an advantage price wise over the graphtec fc8600. The girl I have always used cited the China tariffs as the reason they had gone up but Graphtec is a Japanese company so go figure. I tried the cheaper stepper stepper motor plotters made in china that some folks had recommended and it was a nightmare...didn't work, force was uneven, cuts were horrible and blades went dull like every day or week. My Vinyl express I bought three years ago I am still using original blade..not sure how as it has cut a ton of film. 
Hope some of this helps. 
 

Thanks...took about a year to build each one. They definitely make the work easier. The Freightliner I like to use for commercial/residential work. I can park it for as long as the job takes and use as my office and work inside and keep customers off me if I want to take a break . 

How about this?
This is my mobile set up in a Freightliner 20´step van. 42" plotter fits no problem...48" and above would be pushing it. The last picture is one of my setup in my Ram Promaster van. Same brand plotter. Both of these are the Vinyl Express Q42 which are sold by SignWarehouse.com and are generic rebadged Graphtec FC8600. Same manuals and bladeholders. I have a contact I bought four machines from and she gives good discounts to referrals. A couple of folks off this site have bought from her. PM me if you need her info. Only issue I have run into with being mobile and using plotters is you need to make sure your machine....any plotter.....is level. If you have to park on a hill or slope..it sometimes causes it not to cut correctly. Tint happens occasionally but PPF seems much more prone to issue if not level. 

Thanks, @Tint Slayer for your kind words. I feel it is always important to have humility so we can be better folks. Those who think they are any sort of "God" to me means they are stagnant and will never learn to improve with new techniques and approaches.  I appreciate this place where we all can share our mistakes and successes and have others learn from them. 

@Bham It was good to get to stop for a visit today. Told you I would try to make it more frequent .  I wish I had read your post above before I stopped by. I would have told you in person what I will type to you now.
In life I have learned that for every one or two good decisions you make there is bound to be a bad one. Not hiring you back in the 90's was a terrible decision on my part and an oversight that I should not have allowed to happen. I wasn't willing to give you a chance, didn't think you had the drive for it, and I let other folks influence my decisions when I should have at least given you an opportunity. You have proved me wrong many times...you have certainly been driven and you have achieved my achievements...your own shop. That one mistake of mine not only was very obviously my loss, but it also alienated us from each other and put a strain on our friendship maybe even still today. In front of all of these good, professional folks here on this forum, Jason,  I want you to know I am very sorry. I hope others here can learn from my mistake and always be willing to take a chance on others. I am very proud of you for what you have achieved. 
 
Charley 

@Bham It was good to get to stop for a visit today. Told you I would try to make it more frequent .  I wish I had read your post above before I stopped by. I would have told you in person what I will type to you now.
In life I have learned that for every one or two good decisions you make there is bound to be a bad one. Not hiring you back in the 90's was a terrible decision on my part and an oversight that I should not have allowed to happen. I wasn't willing to give you a chance, didn't think you had the drive for it, and I let other folks influence my decisions when I should have at least given you an opportunity. You have proved me wrong many times...you have certainly been driven and you have achieved my achievements...your own shop. That one mistake of mine not only was very obviously my loss, but it also alienated us from each other and put a strain on our friendship maybe even still today. In front of all of these good, professional folks here on this forum, Jason,  I want you to know I am very sorry. I hope others here can learn from my mistake and always be willing to take a chance on others. I am very proud of you for what you have achieved. 
 
Charley 

You can always snap them on your peel board. One thing that helps fingering  is bumping the edges with a paper towel. They never drain the slip solution well. 

@Bham It was good to get to stop for a visit today. Told you I would try to make it more frequent .  I wish I had read your post above before I stopped by. I would have told you in person what I will type to you now.
In life I have learned that for every one or two good decisions you make there is bound to be a bad one. Not hiring you back in the 90's was a terrible decision on my part and an oversight that I should not have allowed to happen. I wasn't willing to give you a chance, didn't think you had the drive for it, and I let other folks influence my decisions when I should have at least given you an opportunity. You have proved me wrong many times...you have certainly been driven and you have achieved my achievements...your own shop. That one mistake of mine not only was very obviously my loss, but it also alienated us from each other and put a strain on our friendship maybe even still today. In front of all of these good, professional folks here on this forum, Jason,  I want you to know I am very sorry. I hope others here can learn from my mistake and always be willing to take a chance on others. I am very proud of you for what you have achieved. 
 
Charley 

@Bham It was good to get to stop for a visit today. Told you I would try to make it more frequent .  I wish I had read your post above before I stopped by. I would have told you in person what I will type to you now.
In life I have learned that for every one or two good decisions you make there is bound to be a bad one. Not hiring you back in the 90's was a terrible decision on my part and an oversight that I should not have allowed to happen. I wasn't willing to give you a chance, didn't think you had the drive for it, and I let other folks influence my decisions when I should have at least given you an opportunity. You have proved me wrong many times...you have certainly been driven and you have achieved my achievements...your own shop. That one mistake of mine not only was very obviously my loss, but it also alienated us from each other and put a strain on our friendship maybe even still today. In front of all of these good, professional folks here on this forum, Jason,  I want you to know I am very sorry. I hope others here can learn from my mistake and always be willing to take a chance on others. I am very proud of you for what you have achieved. 
 
Charley 

@Bham It was good to get to stop for a visit today. Told you I would try to make it more frequent .  I wish I had read your post above before I stopped by. I would have told you in person what I will type to you now.
In life I have learned that for every one or two good decisions you make there is bound to be a bad one. Not hiring you back in the 90's was a terrible decision on my part and an oversight that I should not have allowed to happen. I wasn't willing to give you a chance, didn't think you had the drive for it, and I let other folks influence my decisions when I should have at least given you an opportunity. You have proved me wrong many times...you have certainly been driven and you have achieved my achievements...your own shop. That one mistake of mine not only was very obviously my loss, but it also alienated us from each other and put a strain on our friendship maybe even still today. In front of all of these good, professional folks here on this forum, Jason,  I want you to know I am very sorry. I hope others here can learn from my mistake and always be willing to take a chance on others. I am very proud of you for what you have achieved. 
 
Charley 

@Bham It was good to get to stop for a visit today. Told you I would try to make it more frequent .  I wish I had read your post above before I stopped by. I would have told you in person what I will type to you now.
In life I have learned that for every one or two good decisions you make there is bound to be a bad one. Not hiring you back in the 90's was a terrible decision on my part and an oversight that I should not have allowed to happen. I wasn't willing to give you a chance, didn't think you had the drive for it, and I let other folks influence my decisions when I should have at least given you an opportunity. You have proved me wrong many times...you have certainly been driven and you have achieved my achievements...your own shop. That one mistake of mine not only was very obviously my loss, but it also alienated us from each other and put a strain on our friendship maybe even still today. In front of all of these good, professional folks here on this forum, Jason,  I want you to know I am very sorry. I hope others here can learn from my mistake and always be willing to take a chance on others. I am very proud of you for what you have achieved. 
 
Charley 

@Bham It was good to get to stop for a visit today. Told you I would try to make it more frequent .  I wish I had read your post above before I stopped by. I would have told you in person what I will type to you now.
In life I have learned that for every one or two good decisions you make there is bound to be a bad one. Not hiring you back in the 90's was a terrible decision on my part and an oversight that I should not have allowed to happen. I wasn't willing to give you a chance, didn't think you had the drive for it, and I let other folks influence my decisions when I should have at least given you an opportunity. You have proved me wrong many times...you have certainly been driven and you have achieved my achievements...your own shop. That one mistake of mine not only was very obviously my loss, but it also alienated us from each other and put a strain on our friendship maybe even still today. In front of all of these good, professional folks here on this forum, Jason,  I want you to know I am very sorry. I hope others here can learn from my mistake and always be willing to take a chance on others. I am very proud of you for what you have achieved. 
 
Charley 

@Bham It was good to get to stop for a visit today. Told you I would try to make it more frequent .  I wish I had read your post above before I stopped by. I would have told you in person what I will type to you now.
In life I have learned that for every one or two good decisions you make there is bound to be a bad one. Not hiring you back in the 90's was a terrible decision on my part and an oversight that I should not have allowed to happen. I wasn't willing to give you a chance, didn't think you had the drive for it, and I let other folks influence my decisions when I should have at least given you an opportunity. You have proved me wrong many times...you have certainly been driven and you have achieved my achievements...your own shop. That one mistake of mine not only was very obviously my loss, but it also alienated us from each other and put a strain on our friendship maybe even still today. In front of all of these good, professional folks here on this forum, Jason,  I want you to know I am very sorry. I hope others here can learn from my mistake and always be willing to take a chance on others. I am very proud of you for what you have achieved. 
 
Charley 

My little suburb was quiet and boring place. Two guys came in from FL. with flashy cars and opened a tint shop down the street from my parents. Always had cool cars there and working on them. I started hanging out with them. Later they gave me a job. After about a month or so they told me "you may be good at many things, but you will never make it as a window tinter." I left and started buying film through a friend of mine's dad's business doing cars anywhere I could. 3 years later I bought the shop of the guy who sent me away. Two years later I opened two more stores in FL. Parents convinced me that tint was not where it was at....although I was making good money by then so I sold my shops and went back to school still tinting with one employee. Graduated with a master's degree and tried to give up tinting for good, but the phone never stopped ringing. Now I have been at it ever since. This February will be 32 years. Glad I never gave up.  

You can always snap them on your peel board. One thing that helps fingering  is bumping the edges with a paper towel. They never drain the slip solution well.