highplains

1 hour ago, jh812 said:

Do that from the center out pushing one direction never back and forth. 

The sanding or steel wool? Or both? 

1 hour ago, wade_660 said:

That sucks. I’ve got a death trap of a rolling chair that I tint off of. I tell everyone that sits in it to sit at their own risk. It’s junk but perfect for what I do with it.

I use old office chairs, still had a couple of them break over the years but they're usually pretty decent for a long time 

26 minutes ago, Midtown Houston said:

It match oem privacy glass and shrink like normal film...

Does it have the haze of CS?

15 hours ago, Midtown Houston said:

It have landed....We gonna be the first to install this film in the nation...we been testing it out for a few month and it is awesome so far. Ceramic IR from 3M

How's the color and clarity on it? I've been pestering my rep for months and haven't been able to get much information out of them yet beyond "it's coming."

14 hours ago, ErieTint said:

Is this a step above or below Crystalline?

Below, my understanding is it's designed to fill the gap between Color Stable and Crystalline. There's a massive jump in price between those two. 

1 minute ago, OverLord said:

I'm just wondering if the sweeps pull out or not

Yep the sweeps will pull, the panel will lift off the sweep similar to the new Traverse. You need to remove the screw behind the handle, 7mm. It also helps to remove the upper trim from around the window to gain a little more clearance to the quarter window. I also trim the rubber around the quarter. Overall the quarter pushes them into "pain in the ass" territory for me but they're easy otherwise. 

certainly not compared to others out there.

Your best bet if you're concerned about the hue being noticeable would be to swing by both shops and look at a sample of each in the shade you want and see what you like the best. That should also give you the chance to see some of their work in person and either confirm or question their Yelp rating. With the rest of your criteria I believe either film will likely suit your needs well.

3 hours ago, Chitown Tinter said:

Question and thank you for showing us how to take this nightmare of a window out. Once the quarter window is out, how much more room is there actually between leaving it in?

The glass itself will pop out of the rubber gasket once removed from the door so you have 100% access to it. Makes life much easier. 

11 hours ago, Stewy said:

I tried getting a hold of expel but they wont call me back. It's wierd cuz the rep actually came to our shop trying to sell us expel film 2 months ago. I definitely wont go Lulu if it is rolled backwards. Crystalline is only a mile away from us so we are shit out of luck. @flat rock stan we carry SolarFX Fxtreme which is the ceramic line. It is actually our best seller. It is in line with Global, Im not trying to change SFX product and service is very good to us.

 

Our lineup is SFX Ultra (dye), SFX FXtreme (ceramic), and DUBir (ceramic IR ). In order from good, better, and best.

Man I had a similar experience with Xpel, I reached out once and never heard back so I let it go. Fast forward a couple months and I got fed up with 3M again and reached out again and talked with a rep. Tried several samples, liked the product and was ready to switch the shop over. The rep just fell off the face of the planet, quit responding to all communication attempts. On top of that their warehouse had screwed up a couple times in getting the samples out so I just washed my hands of it. It's a shame cause I liked the product and the prices. 

On 7/2/2019 at 9:44 AM, highplains said:

Unless it's brand new off the lot the first thing I do on any vehicle, but trucks especially, is to dampen a microfiber towel with some rubbing alcohol/water solution (20%alc) or slip solution, roll the windows down and wipe the seals out. That makes a huge difference with cutting out contamination. 

Just to show what I'm talking about, this is a '16 Sierra with just under 40k miles on it. It's been detailed and is considered "front line ready" for a dealership. At first glance it looks "clean" (I see a greasy, silicone armour all coated nightmare but that's a conversation for another day)

This is what the seals/channels look like...

After a quick wipe with a damp microfiber.

This makes a world of difference in keeping your install clean. When I first got started I was trained to flush the sides and pass a hard card/bondo card/tri-edge down the seals while flushing and call it good. I fought contamination on the sides for months until I started wiping the seals as my first step when pulling a vehicle in. Hopefully you or someone else will find this helpful. 

The Xpel for sure, I've sampled both films and the Xpel has a much better scratch coat. 

1 hour ago, Guest Dodge Dart Rear window said:

After driving car for around 3 years, the rear window has become distorted. I almost looks like the window collected frost and was beginning to meld.

But it doesn't I can see most of the defroster lines, but between them keeps that icy look.

Any one experience that?

Hard to say without pictures but from what you're describing it sounds like the film adhesive is failing and it's time to remove and replace the tint.

2 hours ago, Diablo's Tint said:

what are the gun laws like? 

They've had a bunch of restrictions passed in the several years. Not as extensive as California, Illinois, or New York but more than others.

Unless it's brand new off the lot the first thing I do on any vehicle, but trucks especially, is to dampen a microfiber towel with some rubbing alcohol/water solution (20%alc) or slip solution, roll the windows down and wipe the seals out. That makes a huge difference with cutting out contamination. 

43 minutes ago, halpertGTI said:

Also you guys are right, it’s not perfect but it’s way better than I thought possible with all the debris around. The heater lines at night take some getting used to but it’s not bubbling or anything.

 

anyone have a good guide to getting exterior window scratches out? Can I do it by hand with some of the products or will I need to buy a buffer?

Heater lines are what they are unfortunately, nothing really you can do there.

As far as exterior window scratches go if you can feel it with your finger nail there's nothing you can do. They do make glass polishes and pads that can be effective on haze, water spots and the lightest scratches but it's pretty limited. You wont get very far by hand. With the replacement cost of automotive glass vs the cost of really working over a piece with a buffer it generally doesn't make financial sense to buff and polish anything beyond the superficial.

1 hour ago, Blackwolftinting said:

Most companies sell an Opaquer pen. But that’s just for filling in really small gaps or unfilmed edges. I’ve never seen one used like this, and doubt it could be. 

It shouldn't be, I'm sure someone out there has probably done it. 

4 hours ago, Blackdout said:

So It was paint that was used to create the black border. Is there a special paint marker used for this?

If you have just a small gap Black Puffy Paint works well for that type of window so does black pinstripe tape. If you're trying to create a black border similar to factory ceramic fritt than windshield primer is the only thing that's going to come close and it's going to be a process to get it looking acceptable. 

51 minutes ago, Blackwolftinting said:

Or it may even be striping tape. Looks more like that since the line isn’t straight across. I still say white scrubby and lay the film over it with an explanation to the customer. 

I'm betting that it's either striping tape, film opaquer, black paint or windshield primer. Looks too uneven to be the factory ceramic. 

1 hour ago, no ma'am said:

Couple more y'all like ma new sign  

They forgot "window tinting" you better get your money back! 

That definitely doesn't have anything to do with the tint or washing your truck after the tint was applied. It's hard to tell from the pictures but it also looks like it could be paint overspray in which case it can be removed with a razor blade. If it is just a dulled/hazed spot I would try having it polished with where it's located before jumping to replacement of the glass.

I would make sure that whoever you have attempt it has the proper set up for polishing glass, it takes a special compound and pad.

15 minutes ago, Harveytheone said:

Can anyone help and tell me how I could get this tinted each light comes out as a dome would it need to be sprayed? 

That's one of the rare cases where having them sprayed is probably your best option. It can probably be done with film but I sincerely doubt it would be done well or in one piece. 

1 hour ago, jh812 said:

It's really a pain in the ass, took two attempts. Was going to try and pull the deck but wasn't successful. You're really just moving water around and hoping for the best. 

You have to strip like half the interior to get the deck out. Tried it on the last one I did, fucked up a speaker and knocked a defroster tab off the glass putting it back in. Fuck those cars. Leave it to GM to produce what should be the easiest rear window to tint and make it a pain in the ass.

Also when the deck does come out the design pisses you off even more because it's domed over the area, if GM had just put it in there flat or concave we would have all the room necessary 

3 hours ago, Bham said:

Just not real sure about this color    

QDP 40% front two with a 20% strip 

I did one about 6 weeks ago, the color is different for sure but it was growing on me after the tint and with all the black accents 

11 hours ago, CHUWANT said:

I know this is a long shot....2.5 years since the last activity in this topic.

 

Does anybody have P+ for sale or a reference? Is there really no comparable alternative? Just bought an '03 RX300.

 

Maybe someone even knows is a combination of some readily available X style film that, when applied to clear glass, nearly matches the look of RX300 glass once it's been additionally tinted with Y other certain film?

 

Bah... Not feeling having only the back tinted, and not looking to go with the black in the front mismatch.  

3M Black Chrome has a similar appearance too if you can find it. The Express all metal is probably going to be the easiest to find and get ahold of though.