Concern with tinting my windows ???
 

I found a local place with a great reputation which will do all my windows (the back 3 limo black, front sides and visor medium smoke) for $225.

However, all around the edges of all of my windows, and a sizable patch on the windshield behind my rear view, has that painted "dot pattern"..... I'm assuming that all 07' Accent's have this.... and maybe other new car models and brands as well.

So, my concern is, how well does tinting lay down over this dot pattern ? The guy at the tint place says that it can produce a border around the windows which is kind of silvery.... or in other words, a narrow strip around the window, between the dot pattern and the tint, where the tint is not sealed tight against the glass.

Anybody experience this with tinting their Accent windows ? How bad does this look ? This tinting guy said that it shouldn't look too bad, but that no matter who tinted my car, they would all run into this same issue.

Hmmmm.....

Somewhat concerned,
Fish

PS, How about tinting over the defrost lines in my rear window ? Will this raise the tint also ?

RE: Concern with tinting my windows ???
 

Don't worry about it; it will lay down. The tint will actually overlap all the way to the plastic trim inside the car which is well into the area where the dots end and the window is fully blacked out around the edge.

I got mine done in October. I was a little worried about that too, but it seems fine. If you look at cars with tinted windows, you will find this is VERY common.

One last tip: Do NOT use ammonia-based window clearner on your tinted windows; it will make the tint fade. Instead, use Stoner's Invisible Glass ($4 at auto parts stores) or Sprayway Glass Cleaner ($2 in the household cleaners section of Wal-Mart):

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...cture021-2.jpg

RE: Concern with tinting my windows ???
 

Right on. Thank you Doohickie, for helping to ease my concerns. I mean, I just have to get it tinted, either way, but of course I want it to look as good as possible.

Can't wait :-)

Peace,
Fish

RE: Concern with tinting my windows ???
 

Okay, so here's the scoop......

I had my windows tinted today. So far it looks great ! .......except...... that funky dot matrix garbage around the edges that I was so concerned about :-(

The guy that did it, told me to wait a few days until the tint dries, and then he would go back over it with a heat gun and squeegi, and could orobably get rid of most of that strip of air pockets created by the dot matrix lifting the tint.

.......but none the less, I worried about this for the next few hours. Even if he could fix it now, what about 6 months from now ? 1 year ? 2 years ? I worried, that is, until I got back in front of my PC and did some research.
Turns out that this is a very common problem, and their are fixes. In fact, you can even fix a window which went on perfect, but a year, or two, or three years later, is starting to lift at the edges, whether it is from the non-adherance to the dot matrix, or not !

Here's one product I found > http://www.dotmatrixwindowtinting.com/rear_windows.html

Their was another adhesive I found, just for the purpose also (that had a more proffessional name.... like 3M R17 .... just an example, probably wasn't even 3M, but you get the point) unfortunately, now I lost that one.

Anyway, I'm confident, that one way or another, with or without an adhesive, I will get rid of all of that trapped air, and then my tinting will be bombastic.
As it is though, it's maybe like 60% worth it, 40% not.

Will post an update, when I fix this issue, and how.....

Peace,
Fish

RE: Concern with tinting my windows ???
 

Honestly I wouldn't worry about it. It happens on virtually every car with aftermarket tint. If it starts to peel, then take it back to the tint shop and let them fix it (they should do this even a year or two or more down the road... but save your receipt to prove it was their work.

I know how ya feel though; when I first got mine done, every little imperfect drove me nuts. But I decided that only a major issue (like peeling)was worth taking it back to the tint shop, and if I wasn't going to take it back for the little things, I learned to ignore them. It's kind of a "pick your battles" thing.

RE: Concern with tinting my windows ???
 

Hello Doohickie. I'm not sure if you realize how noticeable, and unatractive this problem is ! I'm talking about a dark tinted window, with a2 inch black trim border, with half inch wide "silvery" strips, between the two,that are intermittent(like a 2" strip of silver, then 5 inches are okay, then an 8" strip of silver, then 3" okay, then 5" of silver, etc) Let me put it this way, from 75% of the different angles you might view it from, this problem is litterally noticeable from 50 feet away !!! NOT a small imperfection by any means.

So anyway, as I had said, the tint guy says that after it dries, he can heat it, and stick it down firmly all the way around. I sure hope so...... But if he can't, I'm either going to fix it myself, or completely ruin it while trying.

It's just a bigger problem than I can live with. I think anybody who could see this in person would agree.

BTW, I called the place that makes the Magoop product this morning. I was surprised that the guy (instead of just making a quick $20 off of me) told me that this product was not made for my specific issue ? :-( He kept saying that I couldn't get under the narrow edge of the tint ? Huh ? Why not ?
He went on to say that this product was for large areas of dot matrix.... like 4 inches wide, across the top of some rear windows. Okay..... so if it will hold down 4 inches of tint over dot matrix, why not 1/2" ???

Anyway, I'll tell you, if my tint guy can't make it stick, I'm going to get a tube of this stuff and try it myself !!!

Peace,
Fish

RE: Concern with tinting my windows ???
 

You'll ruin your tint job. Let the tint shop handle it.

RE: Concern with tinting my windows ???
 

Ya' know Doohickie, I'm not always the most self confident guy on the planet, when it comes to certain DYP projects..... However, I really think I could pull this one off.

That said, "Of course I will let the tint guy do what ever he can"...... but if he hits a wall and tells me, "That's it. That's as good as we are going to get it"..... and if I am still not happy, then to heck with it ! I'm going for it ! If I screw it up, and have to rip it all off, so what, if I wasn't happy with it anyway......

We will see.

Peace,
Fish

RE: Concern with tinting my windows ???
 

Oh, I didn't mean to imply any lack of ability. But when I got my car tinted, I watched the guy, and he did about a thousand little subtle things that made the job easier and/or better quality and can remember thinking, "Wow... I never would have thought of that."

Sorry if I sounded a little high handed.

RE: Concern with tinting my windows ???
 

No problem. As far as the tinting job in general, I totally hear you ! In fact, when the guy was tinting my car, he was actually training another guy, and so I got to listen in to a whole bunch of "those little things I wouldn't have known about" either.

But I'm just talking about lifting, and ceiling back down the very edge, under the dot matrix portion..... But again, we will see. I plan to take it back to him to try to fix those edges Monday.

Peace,
Fish