aquarian

There are indeed moisture.  The bands went away after the car was parked in the garage out of the rain for a few days.

So the saga continues.  The windows were tinted in December 2020 with FormulaONE Pinnacle Ceramic Film, and recently I just discovered that all 4 windows have this strange band that appears to be between the film and glass.  Absolutely cannot be wiped off.  Moisture?  The band is where the glass touches the weather strip.

I am the one who posted started the thread about the tinter allegedly scratched my glass.

I got this photo from the tinter's facebook page.  The guy in the photo is the one who tinted my Audi.  Look at where he places the film on the glass, which shows how my scratches were created.  When I bought the car back for him to see, he blatantly lied that he places the film 2" above the seal, instead of 1" that he does. 

21 hours ago, TintDude said:

You're very generous.

Thank you, but did you remove the shop's name in my original post?

On 1/30/2021 at 9:41 AM, TintDude said:

They know they did it. They had a chance to make it right and denied it. I'm sure you aren't the first to complain if it's been going on at least 4 years. 

 

I'd get a couple of estimates to replace the glass, just to know how much they need to pay and send them a bill.

I most likely won't go with that route, even though everyone knows that the shop is responsible.  I really don't want to replace glass on a brand new car which might potentially cause more problems like rattles or other scratches on other parts of the doors.  I just want the shop to acknowledge their mistake and apologize for it, that's all.....

On 1/29/2021 at 6:42 AM, drtint said:

Definitely installer. I would say a complete, unconscious rush job.

Edge of front door, definitely from a rush file job. Obviously from the jagged edges up and around the top.

that rear window even has a fine cut line down the side where the blade cut off the film prior to laying and shrinking. Audi and VW are known for soft glass.

Maybe there was a lot of dust and debris settled on the film when he hard carded it for shrinking. I’ve seen a window or two over the years but never every window.

I hope they make it right for you. You shouldn’t have to polishanything. That is just bad workmanship.

I have been telling everyone the same.  The scratches are from the tinter, but the shop is denying everything.  There is really nothing else I can do except try to polish out the scratches myself.

What's even more interesting is that the same tinter tinted my wife's Q7's front windows 4 years ago.  I don't inspect my wife's Q7 like I do for my own cars so I decided to bring out my inspection light and holy crap, I see the same scratches.  The back passenger windows have ZERO scratches because they were never tinted.  I emailed the owner about this and asked to see the tinter's other prior jobs but never got a reply.

57 minutes ago, MikeMN said:

I wish you would have posted the pics or had stated that the rear window had the same as the side windows at the beginning, hard too make an informed decision when not all of the information is provided, sorry to say that the tinter is at fault on this matter from what i can .

Well, to be fair, the rear window does not have deep scratches like the side windows do.  There are only hairline scratches on the rear glass...

20 minutes ago, TintDude said:

Definitely the tinter.

 

Sorry you had a bad experience, reflects poorly on the industry.

Sucks to be in this situation.  I am very OCD about my cars and this just sucks.  However, I am trying to read everything I can about glass polishing so hopefully I can make those deeper scratches less noticeable.

3 hours ago, TINTZEUS said:

Let me tell you something. In-house installer Mercedes-Benz BMW 20 years. Currently do work for several high line manufacturers. No glass is perfect.

You will not notice an imperfection in glass until it is tinted.

Deal with it all the time!

If this is a new vehicle take it back to the dealer and warranty the glass. You may have to wait 6 months to a year due to covid. 

 

Do you mind posting photos of those imperfect glass that you speak of?  I am curious to see them.  Thanks.

24 minutes ago, MikeMN said:

Did you bring that up with the company when you were there complaining about the side windows......?  

Yes I did.  They denied everything.

27 minutes ago, MikeMN said:

Pics.

Here you go.  The same type of scratches on the rear glass, but no deep ones like the side windows.

2 hours ago, TintDude said:

It is a tough one, not 100% certain either way. I wonder if there is anything on the back window.

No deep scratches on the back windows.  Only hairline ones around the area outside the dot matrix.  I can see the outline of the cut where he put his blade on the rear glass...

2 hours ago, Ryker said:

 What is the white specs all over the windows and trim? Looks like paint over spray.

 

I think we're being punked.....

No you are not being punked.  That's dust you are seeing...

2 hours ago, Whyme said:

This is a tough one . But all glass is tempered . Meaning they are not supposed to scratch easily . I can’t imagine how a Tinter could possibly have made all those scratches . Are there any micro scratches in the middle of the glass or the top of the glass? And the damage to the side of the glass is weird ! How would someone damage that . I mean I just run my razor across the sides as smooth as silk . No pressure , just smooth . All glass should be well tempered , but sometimes a piece of glass is barely tempered at all and the glass can be scratched easily . This is mostly the case on American made cars , and exotics . I’m not taking the Tinter side . If he did do that he must be a completely new Tinter 

All scratches, micro/hairline or deep are along the bottom edges of the windows....

Well, damn.

1 hour ago, Bham said:

 

   I still thinks it's from debris, but either way, I don't think a tinter did that with any hard card; even if he did shrink on the car.  

It's hard to scratch glass that bad.  

The photos only show the deeper ones.  There are numerous, multiple fine hair scratches across the complete bottom of the 4 windows which clearly indicates that it was man made.

Just went to the shop, ****, to show them the scratches.  The owner brought out the tinter who completely denied everything.  He said he's been tinting for 15 years and has never seen anything like this.  I asked if he heat shrunk the films he said yes, but he would be laying the film 2 inches above the seal, not 1 inch from what we see the length of the scratches, etc. I asked to see his hard cards/squeegees/whatever and they are completely beat up, while still denying the scratches were from tinting.  

1 hour ago, Ryker said:

Just because the car is brand new with no miles doesn't mean it was perfect. Glass could have been r&r before it even left the plant!  I seriously doubt the tinter did this.  If it was a hard card like tintdude says I think it would have destroyed the film....

The night before the tinting I applied Aquapel glass coating after meticulously cleaning all exterior glasses surfaces so I am extremely postie that the glass was perfect.....

5 hours ago, TintDude said:

In the second and third photo, you can see the scratches all start from the same level and go down. It looks like during the heat shrinking, when the film was laying on the glass about an inch from the bottom to be worked, the card they may have used had some grit or something. Maybe even a gold teflon card, those are notorious for scratching.

 

not saying this is what happened, but that's the only way I can visualize that it may have happened.

That was that I thought as well.  All of the scratches, deep or not, even tons of hairline ones, are about 1" long meaning that the film was layed about 1" above the very bottom of the glass.  There is no other way this could have occurred.  Sucks to be in this situation. 

8 minutes ago, Ryker said:

Nothing, repeat, nothing a window tinter does would make these.  Looks like the glass might have been removed and replaced it's something. 

Definitely not possible.  The glass was perfect prior to window tinting.  Again, this was a brand new car with less than 15 miles when I brought it in.

I bought my brand new Audi to a well known tinting shop in town, AB, last month and finally had the opportunity to wash/detail the car until now.  I took out my inspection light and to my shock I discovered multiple, multiple vertical/diagonal scratches along the bottom edges of all 4 side windows.  Some are deeper than the others.  I assume the scratches occurred during shrinking the films?  How did this even occur?