asdaven

As far as full windshield tint, I'm debating 70% and 80%...somebody offers a 65%, don't know the brand. I don't want it to be too obvious that the windshield is tinted. I'm considering the Llumar AIR 80 but wondering how better the specs are on a 65-70% film?

Is 70% noticeable on a overcast day like 50%? A local tinter has a 65% Ceramic which is his lightest film. I'm never heard of 65% but I guess that's basically a 70%. Don't know who makes it. 

Tried a number of windshield visor strips on my truck and haven't liked them. Also have tinted the entire windshield 50% but I got pulled over. My issue is with the visor strips is at night I feel it gets in my line of sight. I've tried even doing a straight cut one high at the AS1 line. These have been all 5% strips. The contrast between the clear window and the dark strip bothers my eyes for some reason

So thinking two things or both. Either tint the whole windshield with a 70% Ceramic tint. How obvious is a 70% tinted windshield? Is it pretty much clear or is it obvious it is tinted? 50% I didint notice much from the inside but the outside on a overcast day or overcast light it was obvious and was a Grey. That was with a dyed tint. 50% is the lightest you can usually go in that.

Second, would a 15% visor strip be worth trying? Or would it not be worth it and worthless? 15% is the next lightest I could go and wondering if the contrast between the clear windshield and strip would not bother my eyes as much? 

I have 20% on my front two roll ups and 20% over the factory tinted rears so they end up around 5%. I do want to do something with the windshield to cut down a little bit of the light  coming in just a hair because it's the only untinted glass on the vehicle. 

What the difference in color/look between Llumar Air 80 and 3M Crystalline 70? The Crystalline looks more blue than the Air 80 but some people say the Crystalline is more charcoal and the Air 80 is more blue. I also understand that the Crystalline is not ceramic?

7 hours ago, no ma'am said:

air 80 looks/works great. Don't remove inspection/registration with a razor blade and you'll be happy. 

Pretty good clarity with not too much graininess or haze?

Which films on the market have the best clarity to apply to the windshield for IR protection? Im looking for something in the 70%-80% variety. Obviously 90% is going to be the most clear but from what ive read..its really not worth the money over a 70-80% film. 

Im currently leaning towards Llumar Air Blue 80. Thats what most available near me. Just worried about the blue and the reports of low angle haze and of course light scattering at night. How does it compare to 3M Crystalline 70 in clarity?

Thanks-

Alright Ill leave it.

There was debris in the tint. They re-did it but now im noticing the driver side of the new strip an 1/8" lower than the passenger side. Its a contoured strip that was done on a plotter....but I suspect they did some hand cutting on the top part. 

Should I have it redone again or is an 1/8" within error? 

Thanks-

He says its warrentied and does it all the time without issue. He uses Global QDP....seems to be quality stuff and dries better than Llumar. 

Added 45% to the 40% on there already on top of the factory tinted glass..supposed to make it the same as 30% over the factory tinted glass. Got it to where I wanted. Now if the tint will stay stuck over the other piece of tint. The tint is the same tint as the bottom piece of tint, done by the same guy, and the first layer is less than a year old.

On 8/10/2017 at 4:15 PM, Anonymous4x4 said:

I had my truck tinted last month. I chose 15% but it's just not dark enough for me (from the outside looking in, it's plenty dark looking out of). You can still see in the front windows and even the back window. The only windows you can't see in are the back door windows. When my truck is backed in my driveway and I'm outside looking at the back of my truck, I can still see my neighbor's house across the street through my back window almost as good as I could before it was tinted (it was factory colored glass). My back window measures 6% on the tint meter so I know they tinted it. It's just at certain angles or even looking straight through it on a sunny Florida day, you can see right through it.

 

So, I know I should've just chose 5% to start with but I'm not sure what to do now. In a way, I think it's kinda stupid to have perfectly good tint removed and replaced with new tint and I hate to spend another couple hundred but I'm willing to. Is this even worth it? Would it even be that much darker? 

 

My tint guy suggested tinting the windshield 50% for $150 but I'm thinking that may not help that much? 

 

He didn't like my idea of adding a layer of tint, he said that would make my back window like a pitch black wall, which I can understand.

 

Maybe i should just leave it as is. It's not too bad, it's pretty dark when it's cloudy and at night. Anyway, any and all replies are appreciated. Thanks.

Do you have factory privacy tint on the rear. Maybe just go darker on the back window like 5% if you got a backup camera and at your own risk do 50% on the windshield. Most places your not even allowed clear IR film on the windshield. If you got dot matrix...it ll be obvious which is why I recently had to strip mine.

A 5% AS1 line sunstrip on the windshield would help darker things up also. You can do one over the 50% if you get that done.

I personally wouldnt go any darker on the front windows . Darken the vehicle elsewhere like the rear window. If it's an SUV, most states dont regulate the rear windows.

Personally, I would just 5% the rear window if you have a backup camera. I could still see through the through the truck with 50% on the windshield. The windshield will make your front sides look slightly darker if you get it done though. I got 30% on mine and it made them look 20%.

I'm in the same boat. I did my rear windows all the same shade  and it seems the back window looks lighter than the rear sides. I think you can do just the back window a shade down and it'll look fine. 

1 hour ago, jh812 said:

This was just discussed in another thread, maybe that'll help you.

 

 

I know. But I'm talking about adding another layer over what I have now of something light like 45%.....so factory tint+35%+?.

Want to make the back window darker on my truck. Tinter said he can add another layer over the current layer rather than peel it. Says theres no reason to peel the current layer.

I have a pickup truck and it's a solid back window and no rear defroster. I currently have 40% over the factory 20%. It is too light. 20% over the back was too dark. I want to bring the 40% down to 25-30% over the factory 20%. He says adding a layer of 45% will get it there. 

I think it maybe fine. I was just wondering about the edge of the tint adhering to the dots and starting to peel down the road versus adhering to the grey material beyond it.

As you can see in the grey/black area...you can see light through it. There is an area in the factory center visor (with the dots)...there is a row of dots the tint just barely covers but not completely. Dont know if its gonna be noticable or not.

Thanks-

Had a windshield strip done on my truck and wondering if I should ask to get it redone. They plotted the strip with a digital plotter since I asked for a "straight" one. When they showed it to me, it was too low. So, I guess to "raise" it, they had to recut the top profile....since the bottom edge cant be hand cut since it's a curve to lay flat.

So, they only cut to the edge of the dot matrix. They is a grey area beyond the dot matrix that light is able to shine through and tint isnt covering that. 

With all the rain here,  it hasn't been sunny to see if this is really noticeable. My other concern is can the edge of the tint rest on the dot matrix like this or should it have been tinted beyond the dot matrix? Just wondering if it will stay stuck there.

So what do you think? 

I had my done. They just notched around the top of the mirror mount unless your doing one really low below the mirror mount. 

40 minutes ago, highplains said:

The reasonable assumption would be that it's measuring the clear area of the windshield at the strips furthest point, in your example it would be that 5.5" measurement. You would need to look up the exact wording of the statute for your individual state to see if it outlines where and how to measure. Most likely you'll find that it isn't clearly laid out and in the event of a citation you could argue it in court and potentially get it dismissed due to the ambiguity of the law as long as you're hitting a legal measurement in some fashion. 

So starting at the edge of the dot matrix at the top? Just wondering in general where they measure from.

So when they say 5" from the top of the windshield in the laws regarding the Windshield As1 line strips, where at the top do you measure from? I have a new F150 and the roof is tiered in the middle at the top of the glass. I'm also running a contoured strip (straight).

So is the measurement of 5" taken from the outside of the vehicle or the inside? And does the non clear part of the windshield count behind the molding? It's only a 3" strip in the center from the inside and 5.5" on the edges due to the tiered roofline.

8 hours ago, jh812 said:

That's the safest bet.

My original reason for tinting the windshield was to knock down glare and I dont think Air 80 does much with that. The IR blocking is nice but not my main concern. 50% tint helps but what I'm gonna do is do what I said with the glare strip  then go back and tint the back window darker. I find I get more glare coming from behind than head on actually. My front sides need to be darker too due to the glare from the side mirrors but I dont want to go any darker there. Being a truck/SUV though, the back window can be like 5% if I like.

Plus to get the full benefits of the ceramic front window tint...I'd have to tint the entire vehicle ceramic which the current tint is not. And if I'm dishing that amount of money, might as well get the vehicle ceramic coated, PPF, etc.

I think I'm just going to pass on getting the entire windshield done and just remove the 50% and replace with just the strip. 

Had 50% on the windshield but got pulled over for it. Got a warning for it. Dont have to pull it but I think I am. He said the dot matrix border gave it away plus it has a rainbow effect to it in some light.

Now if I pull it and have Air 80 applied, how noticable will it be? I'm concerned about the blue color of the Air 80 and it creating a border around the dot matrix even though its lighter. Also concerned about the same rainbow effect that the 50% had on the outside. Without sunglasses on. How clear is the Air 80? Is it grainy? 

The last option would be to pull the 50% and just go with a 5% AS1 line visor which is allowed here. The Air Blue is Not legal.

I have a 2017 F150 and the dot matrix on the windshield does not play kindly with tint. 

Thanks-

19 hours ago, no ma'am said:

pull the film, quit focusing on the numbers and just have em roll out a piece on the window on the outside/uncut.  pick from there. 

Then it'll be a waste of money if it makes little difference.

I was told by a guy that does tint that it would make little difference between 35/40% down to 30%.

20% over the factory 20% did not allow me to see out back at night and 35% over the factory 20% still allows glare from headlights behind me. So maybe theres no happy medium here....one or the other I guess.

I wish I couldve seen samples of different shades of film over the factory privacy glass from the get go. I've had a hard time finding examples online of different shades of tint over privacy glass like people have done examples over clear glass.

9 hours ago, jh812 said:

40 over 40 will yours the same as 20 fyi

So 40 over 40 over the 20 factory comes out the same as 20% over factory tint? 5%?

Then what does 30% over factory tint come out to?....my tinter says doing his lightest film 45% over the 35-40% on there already will net the same as a single piece of 30% film over the back or at least somewhere in the 25-30% range over the factory tint.

Dont know if 30% from 35-40% over factory 20% will make at least a 5% difference? If its gonna make a 1% difference or something like that, then it's not even worth it.

Thanks-

Update: The 35% my tinter used which is on the back window currently is more like a 40% (38-39%) I think the idea to net a legal 35% when applied to the front windows. His 30% on the other hand is actually a 30%. So going to 30% would be 10% darker over the rear. 

And I suspect once you start approaching those low VLT numbers....5 and 10% start to make a MUCH bigger difference.

30 minutes ago, jh812 said:

I would suspect another layer would being it to about what 20 would do but that's just a guess. Like Dave said since the doors are now lighter which is where we do most of our looking out at changing lanes and such the 20 on the back should be find. After all the main goal is to reduce the glare from headlights at night correct? 

Very true. But it was also hard seeing to back up at night....however I have since added a backup camera which works well. All three blacked out made the backseat noticeably darker than the rest of the truck....maybe just blacking out the rear window will be okay.

I have 50% on the windshield but it is pretty clear and lets in a lot of light.

Thanks-