thedoc46

Sorry ATC not ATX. I'll just leave it as is. As i said i have a temp gun and the numbers between 15% ATC and 15% CTX do not seem to be all that different.. Perhaps I have CTX on the backs then?  Perhaps this authorized Llumar dealer accidently put 15% ATC on the fronts instead of 15% CTX.. Perhaps there's not as much difference between the two in the real world. Who knows. 

As long as both prevent 99% of UV light, which both are supposed to do, then i'll just learn to live with what i got. 

So, a couple of days ago i changed at an authorized Llumar down this neck of the woods, the fronts from presumably was ATX 30% to CTX 15%, Anyway, i also have a temp gauge that i use for other things, and i'm not really finding any difference between the two.. Front and back.. Again this is all presuming i really have CTX on the front and ATX on the back. The dealer could of been feeling generous and put CTX on the car for the lot. Somehow doubt that, or the tint shop could of cheated and put ATX on the front, again i doubt that, besides i tipped the lady on the front desk generously, before she cut the film, thinking to myself less likely to cheat by being nice right ?.. Or most likely there's not really all that much difference at 15% between the two... I did notice in the shop the demo rig they have there to show off Llumar ceramic, is that they only use 30% tints CTX vs ATX to do a heat lamp comparison not 15%. Unless my temp gauge doesn't really gauge properly against glass ? who knows, but the car looks sweet, the tints look exactly the same front and back as far as i can tell. 

Perhaps that type of heat lamp produces better significant differences than the sun does ? i parked my car in sunlight and did my temp tests so that each window had an equal amount of sunlight shining against them.

9 minutes ago, DynamicATL said:

For the heat rejection I would go for CTX for sure.  Depending how far south you are in FL, you can just wait for the first film to fail before changing it.

Im right down in the tropics.. SW Florida. Things get stifling hot down here. Summers are crazy, and winters are cooler, but that sun is out all day every day.

1 hour ago, blackoutauto said:

best to ask the installer himself, if its a standard basic film then its most likely llumar ATC

As an experienced tinter, would you change ATC for CTX ?  taking into consideration i do live in the sunshine state. 

1 hour ago, highplains said:

Your best bet would be to find out who does their tinting and then talk to them directly. 

I have but again, the best i can get out of them is whatever the basic llumar tint is, is what we use.. They won't put me in touch directly with the company they probably outsource the tinting too, or if they actually employee someone in-house ?  Eitherway it doesn't look like i have ceramic. My local dealer uses CTX, which is nice ! It's a shame that this dealer isn't as forthcoming. 

The only reason I ask is because I live in Florida and my car is black. Brand new car. So ceramic keeps some of the heat out of the cabin and over the course of the life of my ownership would probably pay for itself in reduced AC and running fuel costs. But hate to remove what is already possibly ceramic. 

Ill try try calling the dealer again. It says on the sticker it cost $399 but these are stealerships after all. I wouldn’t put it past them to use carbon and charge more that a regular tint shop would change for ceramic

thanks, that's a bit annoying. Not knowing. I don't know if i want to go through all the pain of removing what's already there just to have a confirmed install of CTX installed.   Being that these are new cars, is there an easy way to remove the tint without spraying liquids all over the windows?  i'd hate to lose that new car smell with some god knows what chemical you guys use to remove a perfectly good tint. How do you even get the tint off ? can it be done without a spray of some kind ? What would an end user be expecting to pay to remove all four doors and tailgate on a new VW Gti.

Both my VW's recently purchased from new, had tints already applied. I know my local dealer uses Llumar CTX, but these were dealer trades, and i tried calling the dealer and got bounced around with the answer of erm don't know to probably no. In all honesty, they didn't know the difference. But i was told all VW dealers all probably use the same. 

Anyway, there surely must be a way to test if i've got a carbon or ceramic tint ? Once the tint is on, is there any sure guaranteed way to know ?