Tint Slayer

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On 4/2/2019 at 5:14 PM, Guest Another tint shop said:

Anyone else feel like Avery is ruining the Hanita Tek line ?  

What's going on with it? I had tried a sample a while back and like it, but i was worried about what @TomTint mentioned happening.

I use Scott paper towels, i believe it's the most basic paper product out of them all.

But Bounty, Brawny, Scott i'd say are the top 3 off the shelf products. 

None of them are truly lint free, and i believe the cleaning process should assume the paper or cloth towel is leaving some small amount of debris behind for you to rinse and squeegee away just before install. 

Call somewhere and ask how much to tint one of those trucks, times that by a min of 6 and that's about how much they're saving by paying you $25/hr.

At the very least throw a hail mary and say you need more like $45-50 hr based on all you mentioned. Especially if you're gonna walk away from it for the $25, maybe tell them 45, but maybe settle for $35 if that's still do-able for you. Always ask for more, that 10 seconds of awkward conversation can dictate a lot of future income.

roll the window down a couple inches, grab the top of glass and try move it left to right to see if it has play, see how it looks then

It looks noticeably different to me, not what i'd want on my 2018. That would bug the crap out of me. It doesn't match, color doesn't match and neither does the clarity, you are not a satisfied customer. Have him remove it and get your money back, go to another shop that uses a different film and show them these pics and tell them your concerns. I keep 1 foot squares of film i put on the glass so people can see it in the sunlight before installing.  Be aware you likely won't get a perfect match in hue.

My gf has the new CrossTrek and it's similar, you may be happiest without tint if you're wanting that light of a shade, if this is about UV i think the factory glass blocks 90% UVA and 99% UVB , UVB being the damaging topical sunburn skin cancer causing part of UV, and UVA being what damages deep down. I'm not the expert on UV, maybe someone else can clarify if i'm off. As a customer i'd rather you be happy without tint than dissatisfied with that pink looking crap.   

i hear good things about Llumar, but i also hear enough complaints about the company and product to not be interested in it. My 2 cents and my opinion.

2 hours ago, pbalentine said:

Been tucking more when i can lately. Saves time and the install is just as clean. Kind of missed the challenge of tucking too. IMO theres more skill in tucking than bottom loading. Also, been top loading with seal out for some rear rollups, which is easier for me than bottom loading.  

You going to check out the EZ-tint thing? Because you need another tool lol.

Oldie but a goodie and most asked. My opinion follows:

For a spraymaster size bottle, which is about a quart/liter.

Using Joy Non Ultra (i also use Dawn Simply Clean, real slippery chit)

8 mls per quart/liter for sides

12 mls per quart/liter for back glass (i need a little more slip for my install. i'm not super fast)

i use multiple bottles, also have another bottle for cleaning only using Dawn 4X Platinum.

Reasoning being the slip has the weakest cleaning (acidic) content, but still has all the good slip.

The rule of thumb with slip is one ounce per gallon, it's more like a starting point for you to find depending on factors like the film your using etc.

An ounce is about 30 mls, so a quart would use a quarter of that being 7.5 mls. So start with 8 mls per quart. It seems to work.

Yes i overthink things to death.

2 minutes ago, Blackwolftinting said:

Invest in a scrubber(a long handle with Velcro to attach a white scrubby pad). Use to that scrub the entire BG very well. Use a paper towel or rag to wipe both sides of the c-pillar, to make sure any dirt is off. Properly squeegee the bg once it’s scrubbed, DO NOT HIT THE TOP OF THE HEADLINER. Get a side swiper (or something like it) to get the bottom edge squeegeed off on your final pass. Final spray on the BG should flush the entire bottom, and the sides from top to bottom. Avoid spraying about 1”-2” from the top of the bg. Then you lay the film in. Hope that helps. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I use the Scotch-brite shower and tub scrubber like that, i put a white scrubby right over the blue scrubby that's on it so i can re-use the handle. Good leverage and don't have that awkward reach. 

Another option is try be drier when you clean, like clean and dry all the edges without going too deep and kicking up junk and/or getting it wet too deep in, you don't need to soak it when you clean, just when you install. If you cleaned and you're too wet in the area way beyond the dot matrix it can sometimes mix the crap in or absorb in with your slip when you move the film into place like try not move the ends of the film too much when adjusting and make sure the sides are dry after cleaning, sometimes there's dirty foam in there too that gets soaked and seeps out when you get it all wet again with slip. Try when you clean the back window to not drench it when cleaning and be as dry as you can, this way the slip doesn't mix in with the junk beyond where you clean and install.

On 4/6/2019 at 6:32 PM, OverLord said:

I've used it more than i ever used my gasket wizards and I've had them 15 years 

Right? It always felt like the GW could've been enhanced at some point of it's long existence.

The EZ-tint i use often, i very rarely take a panel off. My view is the less you take apart and disrupt the better, bottom load and 2 stage both have their extra time for either panel work or extra time for tucking bs, with this i do neither. I'm liking it.

16 hours ago, ErieTint said:

 

I want to get one. Just don't want to spend the $80+ and shelf it...

I bitched about the price when it came out, i paid $70. Call Xpel, they'll register you and i believe that gives you the price of the Xpel customers. 

17 hours ago, ErieTint said:

 

They do make a mini version. It may not be to market yet but I have seen videos of it on FB from Dean Mitchell, he is their pattern guru.

Oh shweeeet i had suggested that to Dean when it came out and i bought the EZ-tint (i've been off FB for months), he probably had it in the works, that dude is on top of chit and if he's part of the project, like this tool and his tint patterns on DAP, you'fe going to get a quality item.

44 minutes ago, pbalentine said:

Im going to start tucking more on the easy ones. Ive even been pulling just the front and tucking the back if i can. I have been mainly pulling stuff on the easy ones to get better at removing stuff and from just getting bored. Now I can get most panels or seals off in about 15 seconds to 2 minutes probably. Just comes down to  choosing which method is quicker, cleaner and less aggravating. 

If i can't just pull back the top and pull the seal out easily, i use the Xpel EZ-Tint tool to bottom load. I used to use the Gasket Wizard every now and then but one day i tried this, another new tool, and actually liked it instead of just being distracted by it (you know the deal with that lol). They should make a small, mini or short 6" version with more bend for tuckers because the notch on the ends open the vertical rubber pretty decent when needed.   

On 4/2/2019 at 12:34 AM, InstallationsByPrince said:

Super new to tinting. Most jobs have those small little air bubbles. From what I read you shouldn’t roll the windows down for two days after the job? Tbh I’m so new to this that I’m not sure. Also I did my 12 journey as my first car using crappy local gila.. the bubbles went away within I’d say five days to a week. In colder weather. So untimately what should I look to do to ensure a good bonding process with my work ? I now use Solar Gard. My

jobs look better but I do often catch those little bubbles and small creases coming through. I just want to avoid this all event if there are extra steps to take... want to offfer a good service. 

Best to post pics, there's a lot of answers to one question without a pic.

On 4/2/2019 at 3:15 PM, Sunbreakers said:

The 80% Ice Kool is definitely a LLumar Air 80 cousin. Looks blue like the llumar..thicker..but very similar...Strangely I find it to be a little less "sticky" than the the QDP but am told its my imagination. It is definitely a little more blue than the llumar. 

 

I think the QDP 70% is great to have available and looks good once installed without being able to really notice the coloration...just like the blue 80% films...but for some reason people are discouraged more so it seems. 

 

How do the other ice cool grey VLT's look? they all blue-ish down to the 40% or are any truly grey?

I feel like i'm way to hung up on hue sometimes. I've held up 2 pieces of films (greenish and bronzeish hue) to people and asked which they like better and every one tells me whichever makes me more money. I think we care more than they do.

hahahahahaha "FLORIDA MAN..."

On 4/2/2019 at 9:36 PM, Roach said:

And why did he paste the part about the world's fastest window cleaner??

 

 

And why did they use the word "parenthetically" instead of just using parenthesis? 

35 minutes ago, dan_kohan said:

I used to pull seals out and remove panels on pretty much everything, now I offer the customer to do the installation one or two ways, top load or bottom load. They are gonna pay me more for any removal and reinstall but get a way higher quality job with less prone to peeling. If they want to be cheap then so be it. I tuck it and out the door it goes. No warranty for peeling from the bottom and if there's a little extra dirt in the installation or creases from doing the tucking method then you get what you pay for. time is money, if anything peels from the bottom I charge a fee for doing it the way I wanted to do it the first time. No more free bee's around here.

Cool idea for making the bottom load an upsell.

10 hours ago, Sunbreakers said:

"... I then went to the Orange Crush just to not use a blue max ...."

 

Makes me think of how many tool purchases i make just to mix it up a little, even when a tool is working decent.

Kinda odd the original poster being the owner of Fusion tools and creator of the Orange Crush would ask that. 

what is it about 2 staging that makes it more likely to produce fingers?

@TintNerdz213 I feel scrubbing back glass with the straight 409 helps clean better to make the film stick a little better, then the Dawn 4x and scrub again, then i make sure it's all dry after cleaning. i use one of those 3M tub and tile handled scrubbers for leverage when scrubbing, i just slap a white scrubby over the existing blue scrubber so i can re-use the handle, certain back glass i use 3M 000 synthetic steel wool instead of white scrubby. i always use the 000 synthetic steel wool and 409 to scrub the dot matrix. I use the Joy Non Ultra and Dawn Simple clean for slip because they're the gentlest dish liquid meaning less chance of adhesive abuse and that Dawn Simple Clean is amazing slip, i wouldn't use Dawn 4x for slip because of it's higher acidic cleaner content, but most pro glass cleaners use it for window cleaning, it works well for side glass, i don't use 409 on side glass.I'm not sure what exactly that i do is good or bad, i know it works for me.

I use Joy Non-Ultra or Dawn Simple Clean for my slip, and Dawn 4x to clean windows, i also use Formula 409 on back glass then Dawn 4x. I also use different knives for different cuts. I'm sure someone can do an install with one of everything but i tend to overthink the chit out of everything. 

i agree on the bulldozer. Also, the softness of the rubber on the end of the bulldozer pushes the film between the raised dot matrix dots a little better than a harder squeegee, or wrap a paper towel around a hard card and squeegee it so you get down between the dots good and dry it good.