madtech34

So just to wrap up this thread, there was really no change to the clarity of the film from about a week following the install of the ASWF tint. I really couldn't live with the low quality of that film, especially on the windshield. The blurriness when the sun was at lower angles and then the ghosting of lights at night was too much. I went to a shop which installs Llumar and Autobahn (Huper Optik) products. I had stopped by this shop earlier to get a second opinion after I had noticed the issues with the initial install. Yesterday, they installed a 70% VLT ceramic i3 film, which was a hard pill to swallow in terms of price plus the cost to remove the ASWF film. However, what a huge difference in terms of quality/clarity even with just one day of curing (there is still some moisture which needs to evaporate). There is virtually no low-angle haze I can discern, unlike the ASWF film, and no issues with lights at night. I guess to some extent you get what you pay for. Lesson learned in the end after being out an extra $350 for the american shitty window film.

So just to answer a couple questions and address a few of the comments floating around: I would agree with what I described as a very fine scale orange peel would be considered grainy as Dano mentioned above Glass is factory glass on a vehicle about half a year old (forgot to answer this question before). It is an acoustic glass on my vehicle. The film in question is an ASWF excel irp 70%...yeah, I know. Probably should have done my homework beforehand. So just a bit upset since it seems like I will not be able to resolve with the installer (only recourse I potentially have is to start posting negative reviews). I just thought this guy knows what he is doing since all of his reviews were very positive, he takes his time with the installs to reduce as much moisture as possible and ensure edges are all clean, and isn't a newbie in the business (at least a decade if not longer). So not exactly sure why he would be pushing subpar products with his experience. Maybe to keep costs lower to attract business...I don't know. So basically I am going to have eat the cost of the initial install, pay a different shop about an hour of labor to remove the bad film, and pay again to have something decent put on, like a Huper Optik, Llumar, or Global product.

The best way I can describe it is that the film looks like it has a very fine scale texture, something like a fine scale orange peel and even some areas of what looks like textured lines all parallel to one another. I cannot tell if it is the film itself, the adhesive, etc. So just to give some added information, just went to another shop to get an opinion on it since I haven't gotten an answer from the installer. This shop only deals with Llumar and Huper Optik films. The guy I spoke with saw the issue and essentially made a face when I told him what film was installed. And then gave me some quotes for 1) removal and then 2) what is would cost to do the whole front windshield with a 70% film.

I am starting to think to think there is a problem with the film which was installed on my windshield. Maybe it is my imagination, but the issue may have even gotten a bit worse. I am almost at the 3 week mark since the install. Could be a problem with the adhesive from that roll of film, could have been too much soap in the slip solution, etc. I don't think the installer was completely at fault since all of the edges are essentially invisible, he definitely took his time and there were literally no bubbles right after the install. I wish my phone could capture how bad and distracting the issue is (at least to me). It is definitely worse in the morning when the sun is at a lower angle and then later on in the day, mostly due to the reflections from the cars. At night, all the car headlights/taillights appear blurry in the distance. Here are some pictures which roughly show the issues I have, and note that the added glare/halos aren't due to it being wet outside. You can really see the halos and ghosting on the taillights in one picture, especially on the Jeep and on the Ford with the Utah plate. The 2nd pic doesn't show the headlight issue but it was the best I could do with my phone. You can see on the cars furthest in the distance (the last three cars) the flaring which is caused by the film; I generally see about six added flares from any headlight.

Yeah, that is what I am thinking. I don't expect that it would need as much time in my climate, considering we are consistently hitting 90+ degree days right now at about 5000 ft of elevation. But I am guessing 2 weeks still isn't long enough under those conditions.

What was the climate/humidity at the time of the install? And just to note again, the blurriness issue I am having and LAH are separate. I can tell what the LAH is on my windshield and it does not impact clarity as much as the blurriness which is from something else. Mobiledynamics, wasn't sure if you had clarity/haze separately or if you mean that the haze impacted your clarity and then went away. And I also stopped wearing polarized sunglasses in this vehicle because of the windshield reflective HUD. I had to just go to a normal pair of Oakleys instead without polarized lenses.

Hi all, I wanted to see if I could get some people's opinion, and possibly from some actual installers who do many of these, regarding full windshield tinting since this is the first vehicle I have had done. I just don't have the knowledge/experience to tell if I am just overly sensitive/observant or if there is actually a problem with the install of the film. I have not gotten a response from the installer on my concern as of yet. He has some of the highest ratings in my area and seems like he a kind of a perfectionist (took at least 2.5 hr just to do the windshield). The quick details: the film in question is a 70% nano ceramic covering the entire front windshield of a 2023 Kia Telluride (vehicle is about half a year old). I also have had the front driver and passenger side windows done with the same installer but with a different brand ceramic film to match the privacy glass on the rear windows. And just to note, I do not have any issues with the quality/clarity of the driver and passenger side films as compared to the windshield. I am about two weeks out from the windshield install and the car has been outside on some days with temps reaching close to 100 degrees (also have some altitude at my location). The curing went through the normal first few days in my opinion with the installation moisture clearing up fairly quickly. Also, I know that the issue I have with the film isn't low angle haze. I can see a slight haze at certain times during the day and don't have an issue with it. The main issue I have with the film is a small but noticeable general blurriness over the entire windshield. It does not seem to be concentrated in any specific areas. The entire film seems to very cleanly installed with really no noticeable edges and quite perfect alignment with the dot matrix on the edges. This blurriness by no means prevents me from driving safely, but it is distracting since I know the clarity my eyes are accustomed to for objects at distance. This slight blurriness/distortion also causes some halos/flaring of DRLs/taillamps during the day and more discernably at night. I am doubting this issue is going to be improved upon any more considering the temperatures the film has been exposed to. I kind of suspect that the distortion may be caused somewhat by the adhesive on the windshield but I just don't know for sure. Some of these same issue are described in this other thread (https://www.tintdude.com/forums/topic/91547-creases-distortions-normal-in-windshield-tint/) and I do have a small defect, which one poster described as a zipper mark, somewhere off to left side of my vision. It isn't distracting since it is quite small (probably about 0.25") and not related to the main blurriness issue. Anyone have any thoughts on this? I do know there is a small possibility that just waiting longer will clear up the issue, but I can't imagine any more moisture is coming out through the film with the high temperatures and very little humidity in our area. I want to give the installer the benefit of the doubt that he did a good job considering his almost 100% positive reviews.