highplains

It's not going to go away on it's own. As far as living with it or getting it redone that's something you'll need to decide for yourself. If it were me and that's the only defect then I'd probably give them the opportunity to touch it up, maybe make it less noticeable and then live with it. There's always a risk of getting some type of contamination, they're never perfect. Now if there are other defects in that window that would potentially sway me the other direction. 

Are you wearing polarized glasses by chance?

5 hours ago, Bham said:

 

   Yep, like a '76 Valiant 4 door  

That'd be a fun one with the reverse curve to the rear window. We had two of the 2drs when I was a kid

On 8/1/2020 at 4:31 PM, Bham said:

‘93 New Yorker 

 

 

That's a random one. I did this 97ish S90 a few weeks ago 

Definitely had some quote requests on some odd older rides recently. 

I know @Tint Eastwood and @jh812 are both in NC, not sure if they're within reasonable distance to Raleigh though. Perhaps they can give you another recommendation if they're not able to get you taken care of. 

Ouch!

Yeah I think I'd be taking him up on the removal and refund personally 

I've got an FC series plotter so I'm not sure if the adjustments are going to correlate 1:1 but with my most recent blade & strip replacement I dialed the cutting pressure back by 6 steps, so it was at 21 before now it's at 15. You'll need to play with it and fine tune it for your individual film and plotter, it's better to err on the side of caution and dial it too far back first and step it back up as needed.

I'm going to say you're being excessively ocd. The quarter window having a single speck that small is no big deal, and yes I would call that a speck not a chunk. As far as the top gap is concerned, if there's going to be any gap I strive to make it as even as possible but a sixteenth isn't going to be a deal breaker in my opinion. Generally the only way you're going to get better than that is by bumping the pattern up a bit and shaving the excess, which I do in those instances where the pattern is off significantly but even then you can end up with some inconsistencies due to the bevels on the glass not being perfect. 

Sounds like you're on the right track, replace the strip and blade and go from there. Don't forget to dial back the cutting pressure with the new blade or you'll cut through the film and liner and score your fresh cutting strip.

6 hours ago, MitchmanS13 said:

Thank you both! Good info because I have a few buddies wanting me to do it to their same car.. heat shrinking this back window is currently my biggest problem now. So much curve on the ends... 

some of those 80's and 90's rides are nightmares to tint, the coupes especially 

I've seen it done a couple ways. I've seen people cut a relief strip out of the film before applying it so there's clearance for the defroster connections and I've also seen people mask off and paint the glass from the strips to the outer edge of the glass and then only tint between them. No matter what, it's not going to be fun. 

Short answer yes that's acceptable. In the vast majority of cases that's done for legal reasons, others for ease of installation or preference. Not being familiar with the laws in your area I can't tell you what the particular case with your vehicle is and that would be a question best answered by your installer. In my area a third brake light cutout isn't required and as such I don't typically utilize one unless requested to by my customer. 

You're not going to be able to buy genuine 3M or Suntek online. You can buy a precut direct from Xpel but I don't know if they ship international, you'd have to check. 

There was a nice one floating around autogeek a few years ago that was put out by either Mike Phillips or Renny Doyle, can't remember which. Like Ryker said, if you're going to use one you need to be incredibly thorough and go over it with the customer or it could come back to bite you in the ass if you miss something. 

I always re-center the film before cutting the top if I'm hand cutting.

8 hours ago, florida tinter said:

pretty easy tint  the doors......but.....rear glass covers engine compartment   customer did not want that tinted but I was wondering if anyone should do it?

the heat from the engine gets the inside of the glass HOT !  not good for film in my opinion.

 

Good question. I wonder is it actually glass or is it a polycarbonate? 

The glass used in GMs seems to be softer and particularly susceptible to this. I keep some glass polish on hand, it does a good job of clearing up the haze from it. It won't take out any deeper scratches but it does a great job of restoring the clarity. @no ma'am and @Bham are right, it's nothing you did only more noticeable with the tint on. 

The only one of your questions I can truly speak to is your second one. A 15% or 20% film applied over the factory privacy glass(almost always meters dead on 20% in my experience) in that application is going to net about 5%. Whether or not that's "too dark" is largely dependent on the individual making that judgment for themselves, if you're hoping to maintain decent visibility out of the rear windows at night I'd recommend going over them with a lighter film. A 35% will typically net in the 8-10% range and a 50% will get you closer to 15%. As far as your number 3 concern, I haven't done any full windshields but I've done plenty of sun strips on them and I've only ever had one that acted up and it was an older model that was fine after it dried out for a couple hours. That was also before I really started taking precautions to deal with the excess application solution. 

I've sampled all three of those suntek lines and while they weren't for me I will say I liked the CXP the best of the three. My biggest complaint with suntek, which echoes most others ive seen, is that it scratched way too easy during installation but im also really heavy handed. As a consumer you're probably not going to notice the difference and the quality of the installation  should be more of the deciding factor. 

Check with industrial chemical suppliers,  I was able to get a gallon from the jobber that supplies our body shop. It was 99% though so it needs diluted. 

20 hours ago, DynamicATL said:

I can give some advice but would probably be wrong. 🤣 I do the complete front clip on my vehicles with wrapped edges plus the side mirrors and door cups. I honestly don't see the point in doing partial installs.

Partials cover your primary impact areas at a lower price point than completes. Depends a lot on your customer and the particular vehicle in question, as many years as I've been doing PPF in my area I can still probably count on one hand the number of serious inquiries I've gotten for completes, certainly wouldn't have to take off my shoes. That said there isn't a large portion of the population driving premium vehicles here either. 

@MikeMN I'd do the leading edge of the hood at the bare minimum. If it were mine I'd personally do the hood & fenders, bumper, mirrors and the door edges & handle pockets. Like @alberts316 said it's a fairly easy one to do.

You should be able to get a 50 foot roll from express. They're definitely the best bang for the buck that's going to be available to you as a consumer, I've used them in the past and wouldn't hesitate to use them again in the future. 

I've used it to good effect and wouldn't hesitate to use it again.