My dad got his windows tinted today (my birthday/fathers day present to him) and when he got home it looked pretty good afar. Upon detailed inspection the interior had a sort of bluish-gray apparence on the dash. It might have been the sky, but it hasn't looked like that before. The windows were tinted with Llumar. The shop only went by stages of tent (ie, med., light, etc.) not percentages which sounded odd to me, so I told him to tell them to put whatever 20% is. I hadn't noticed this in pictures of cars that had the same ammount percent (I doubt it matters what percent) but the front windows look much lighter than the rears. My thought was that it was because the windshield isn't tinted, while the rear is. They were not told to mix percentages so as far as I know they didn't, but thats only part of the story. While continuing observing the work I noticed what looked like bubbles of some sort. Now I noticed obvious tiny air bubbles on the right of the rear windshield, but what I am talking about looked larger, but much harder to see. Also on the right-rear window there was something that looked distorted when looked through from the inside, it wasn't the whole window, only a small area. When asked if they take off the door panels to get the tint far down they said yes. When I looked, I could see the line a few CM away from the weather striping and I could even see a part in the corner where the tint didnt cover the window...it was small, but I'm not paying for half-*** labor ($165+ tax). My last complaint also came from the rear window, on the defroster and the dots on the window around the edges, certainly towards the top. As for the defroster/radio wires on the window, I could see very, very thin lines where the tint did not meet with the edge of the wire. And on the dots around the edges around the window (where it turns from the window to a sort of black edging around the windows) I could see there too it hadn't contacted completly. I also noticed dust. Should I just get my money back and go elsewhere or make them completly redo it while watching closely?

Thanks in advance.

 

Most of this is normal:
20% is very dark. Most states don't allow tint this dark. Also, most states have different tints allowed for front versus back windows. That is why your front windows aren't as dark. Cops have to be able to see at least silhouettes as they approach a car. That is why states regulate tint. Well, that and they are motivated by stereotypes.
Bubbles and some distoration are normal at first. It takes time to dry. That is why the shop also should have told you not to roll down your windows for a certain period of time. Give it a week or 2. It will probably look better.
I've heard lots of people complain about the dots. Let it dry and see how it looks then. The same with the defroster lines. If it looks bad after it dries, make them fix it.
Nobody cover 100% of the window. However, with the window rolled up, you shouldn't see any bare spots. I would make them redo that window.
Most importantly, be nice to them. They may or may not be quality craftsman, but either way if you are a d*ck to them, they will tell you come up with creative ways to suggest that you tint your a$$ hole.

 

the tint will take some time to cure and you should not roll the windows down for a certain amount of time. i paid 180 for mine but it came with a lifetime warranty. i recently had the rear replaced under the warranty after a few months short of 2 years. ive always heard of using percentages to describe tint but maybe they are trying to get around the legality of real dark tint but not discussing the percentage, im not sure on that. i would wait at least 2 weeks to see how it cures and then if you still have issues take it back. if you dont have a lifetime warranty then call them and voice your concern. its impossible to get tint flawless but a good shop can cut down on the imperfections.

 

ummm.....you shouldnt see bubbles at any time at all. even if its wet or was just done, the bubbles will not go away. also the front do look lighter then the back and that is due to the windshield not being tinted, but if it is significant i would ask the shop if they used diff percent. the shop should not make their own decision as far as putting lighter tint on the front due to cops. its not their decision. and if you are not satisfied with service, just go back and tell them, dont b*tch them out though. I got mine done, and im really happy they look identical to the way they looked after they were put on, so the way they look now will not get any better, might even get worse.


-IgS

 

i agree what you said except that i had plenty of bubbles that dissapeared. the only place they were not very evident was the rear and that was the only place that was replaced.

 

Thanks a lot to the quick responses. I hadn't planned to ***** them out myself, but my dad? He gets ****y easily, and has little to no patience. As far as waiting 2 weeks, I will do just that. They did mention not to roll down the windows for at least 3 days. Other than the bubbles and the dust hopefully it should go away with time as you guys mentioned. Thanks a lot, again.

It was a 2 year warranty by the way, something that I would rather have lifetime since the car will be handed down to me in a little more than a year.

 

I've had tint done on 3 different cars. Each time, it came out beautifully but had bubbles and blurry spots for about 4 days before it cured.
Maybe different shops use different processes. *shrug*
As far as the tint difference, that is most definitely the law here. Licensed shops are required to put a sticker on your door jam when they do the tint stating what % is on each window. The shop can actually be fined for putting on illegally dark tint. That is not to say it doesn't happen, you just have to know somebody and they leave the sticker off your door jam. That way you get the ticket and not the shop.
If I remember correctly, the darkest legal on the front windows was 10% lighter than the darkest on the back windows. If you go into a shop here and say you want the darkest legal all around, the front WILL be lighter than the back.
The point behind that is so a trooper can make sure your are not about to blow his head off as he approaches your car.

 

My car also was tinted with the Llumar. I can't speak to the bubbling, but as far as knowing what they put on, I would imagine it would be on the receipt. My receipt had the product number on it, so I was able to go to the Llumar site and look up the product #. Of course, some times there won't be a receipt. Around here, a number of places will do your windows darker than legal, but then they don't give a receipt and they don't put the sticker on the door jamb. They don't want the tint job being tied back to them so they don't get fined.

 

Amazing... The haze will be there, the overspray of the soap will be about the car, the watery bubbling type texture will be there and it will all go away.. You all need to learn how it all works. Only type of bubbles that will not go away are the small dirt ones which happen when the glass is dirty or defective.

The tint will not stick over teh dot matrix section. Sorry, they can't really do much about that. Any spacing around the defroster lines basically means they rushed and didn't press the tint down hard enough. I currently have 0% spacing between the tint and lines on my but it took me a darned hour to get that back window right.. a shop that rushes it in 40 will certainly not get it perfect.

It's hard to imagine which corner it didn't cover, but are you talking about the sides or bottom corner of the roll down window? If it's the sides, some tint shops do not tuck the tint in the side gaskets but cut it down next to it. It's how they do it! Ask and look before you agree to have the job done. Now if they didn't get the tint under the bottom gasket and they claimed they pulled panels, take it back for a complete redo. But short of that, i really don't see (heck no photos either) anything that wrong with the job. Of course if you nitpick there will be something wrong with anything.