Gary_tintington

I'll be putting the order in soon. Want to make sure 25 will be legal. Thanks for the feedback. 

Have any of you guys metered this film after install?  My rep swears up and down that the 25% meters at 25%vlt after install.

Why is 25 the most popular shade? Where are you guys? 

Nice, thanks

Interesting. I remember Huper ceramic being shiny like 3m ceramic. 

I know that. You said you could feel the radiant heat more with huper though, which is reflective, compared to qdp ceramic? If you meant their ceramic? Which I assume is not reflective. Is that right? 

Ah, ok. I thought you guys were going on about just qdp. Then yeah if their ceramic is the same then it's hard to find anything better

On a side note; I think that window film performance has reached it's peak. I hear about Stratos having the same radiant heat from heavy absorption like Tom is describing with Huper and it makes sense. I feel like Crystalline has always been on top, 60% tser 97% super magic IR rejection yadda yadda. But it's a hard sell when we also have solar fx ceramic which has the same real world feel pretty much, in a regular looking film in normal vlts (66%tser in limo) without the $600 price tag. 

From what I see online the tser range for qdp is 36%- 30%vlt to 42%- 6%vlt. That's not very impressive. I know you guys rave about global, especially qdp. Is it longevity price and ease of install that you like about it? Numbers like that are are entry level and leave people unsatisfied at least here in Texas. Tom have you compared it to other ceramics? We carry solar fx ceramic and people love its performance. The real world feel is very close to Crystalline and better than Ctx. Not talking trash about global. Really just wondering? 

ANY kind of customer awareness campaign or advertising would seem like a no brainer for either company. Seriously what's the logic? 

Well said. I've talked to a couple of our glass companies and the cost of the new glass standard is the only thing slowing widespread use. Both 3m and Llumar have seemed to double down on security film as well.  I would agree with the ten year mark too. As far as automotive, 3m is making moves to come through with a non reflective looking ceramic finally but I haven't  heard of llumar doing anything. 

Tom, why do you think the flat market is dying out? I know llumar even stopped making 48"rolls for certain vista films. Their standard llumar flat selection really does suck. 

Very cool. Thanks for the input guys! 

Awesome thanks for the video! Do find yourself getting multiple roll sizes and vlts of crystalline or will 40% sell to most? 

Thanks for the reply. I was hoping you'd chime in Dynamic. Regarding the increased install difficulty, is it just longer shrink time and getting used to the thickness? Are there problems with touch ups, pressing down debris under the film, fingers, glue smears, peeling, ghosting under heat? 

I'm considering changing our entire auto lineup to 3m. We would carry Obsidian, Color Stable, and Crystalline. I'd say we're currently an 80/20 shop with flat glass being the majority so an increase in auto film cost wouldn't be really significant right now. This is an effort to bring in more auto customers strictly based on brand recognition. The shop is in an upper middle class region of Austin right down the street from a 3m campus (maybe will work even more in our favor). The Austin crowd isn't necessarily overly concerned with brand names in my experience, compared to a city like Houston or Dallas. For the 3m dealers out there; did you notice a marked increase in business because of 3m? What's your installer feedback with the above mentioned films? 

I agree with the approach of pushing your shop above any brands. It is you, not them making it happen after all. If any of our customers want a name brand, it's either CTX or Crystalline that they ask for; it is a very small percentage of business. 

Suntek CIR I would skip because of haze, lack of track record, and their unwillingness to fix past scratching issues. 

I personally didn't like the look/tone of xpel.

CTX is a thinner feeling film.  It looks and performs great. It's been solid for years. 

Totally agree with them all feeling the same, performance wise in real world scenarios. 

You shouldn't be worried about metalized film and interference. It's a non-issue. 

V-kool 40 is 65% tser (heat rejection) interior install(10yr. Commercial warranty will beat any exterior warranty). Llumar dr35 is 56% tser will be way less expensive than both vkool and prestige. 

Both Llumar and V-kool will be awesome for nighttime visibility. 

Also no failing issues we've seen or heard of from Solar FX. We also their Vintage line. 

This was a while back but if I remember right I didn't like the amount of haze in the geoshield sample I recieved. We've been using Solar FX FXtreme since this thread and it's bad azz. Easily my favorite ceramic compared to any other ceramics (or other top line film constructs)around. The films that I see regularly and have laid in the past include CTX, Pinnacle, crystalline, Huper, Suntek xp, Solar Gard ultra. Taking in consideration, customer feedback, performance, installer friendliness, color tone, clarity, lack of low angle haze and price. 

We're also in Tx. The law also says that a clear untinted uv film is allowed that is not amber, red or blue. It says that if a film is applied it has to also have a vlt of 70. I know some factory windshields have a lower vlt than others, and when filmis applied some may slip under the limit. We install air 80 all the time. I think it's hard to find a solid answer because of what's considered "clear". Not to mention a slight blue hue is really subjective. If anyone can make this crystal, please do. 

Anyone know of a close match for Huper's fusion 10? We don't need it to match performance, just the look of it. Color, light reflection etc.

Waiting to hear from my rep. Let you guys know! 

We do, and have done that for straight up race stripes. What about more custom options? Not necessarily out of this world custom, but you know...a little bit of flare. We did these recently that our customer furnished.