whasssup guys? ok heres my prob. my uncle was going through my grandpa's house (who passed away last year) looking through his tools and stuff and he found a BIG roll of 20% window tint. my grandpa had installed it on his navigator and i remember it looking really nice SO my ? is how hard would it be to do this myself? i know it was probably a lot easier on the Navigator since all the windows are relatively flat whereas the maxe's back window is curved. also, how do i do it? if i mess up i can always do it over since i have so much... thanks!

 

Do a search on the web, I'm sure there are tons of sites.

I would say the most important thing would be to take your time, you will regret it if you don't.

Bubbles in the tint suck.

 

this has been discussed a while back and there was huge arguments about how and if you should bother.

i said it once and ill say it again, just pay the $150 and let a professional handle the job. You get a lifetime warranty with it and takes and hour to do a max....

my .o2

 

Pay the money to get it done professionally.

 

its worth the extra $$$ to get it done professionally. i did it myself on my last car and didnt look that good and was a big time pain in the a$$

 

I concur with everyone else, get a pro to do it. Alot of those old tints tend to turn purple anfter a couple of years due to sun damage. Also they might not stick to your windows well, might cause peeling and or bubbles. And if you have bubbles on a max I will personally break your windows. Have a nice day

 

I concur with everyone else, get a pro to do it. A lot of those old tints tend to turn purple after a couple of years due to sun damage. Also they might not stick to your windows well, might cause peeling and or bubbles. And if you have bubbles on a max I will personally break your windows. Have a nice day

 

you don't get any warranty or recipt when you tint is illegal

 

yes you do, they will not warranty against tickets but ALL tinters give you a liftime warranty on actual tint regardless of percentage. The only tinit thats not covered is that $hit fader tint, that peels apart after a few months.

 

not in kentucky. myself and a couple of friends have illegal tint and no warranty or anything. had to pay cash and got no recipt either. oh well, over a year and no problems and it looks great!!

 

Sucks to be in Kentucky then I got lifetime warranty, receipt, paid with CC, all that...WA STATE!

 

I'm sure you wouldn't pay near as much for a professional to do it if you brought your own tint...that way you're just paying for labor, not parts. I'd do that, you won't regret it!

Peace

 

If you've just got the material laying around, give it a try. You will gain some valuable experience for no cost. You may find you have a talent for it. If not, you will come away with some appreciation for the guys who do it for a living. From what I've been told, it's not hard to pull off the tint if it comes out bad.

Go for it!

 

Ya, give it a shot, I am probably going to tint my own windows in a few days. After doing a good job of installing a clear bra, window tinting will be really easy for me.



For all the none DIY, you know, some people take pride in doing work them selves, I know I sure do.

 

having the right tools and the material is important if you're going to do it yourself.

cheap tints don't stick well and fade quickly...so you'll end up w/ a poor looking tint job and doing it again.

if this is your 1st time at it..then i HIGHLY recommending doing the side window and not the bad window. removing tint from the back window is a huge pain w/ defroster lines.

emax..
clear mask and window tinting is night and day. i don't know if the clear mask was pre cut..but doing tint is a bit more difficult. besides keeping the windows clean you have to deal w/ the weather stripping and cutting the tint to the correct size. not a ez task.
if you over cut the clear mask you have a good chance to cut it off w/o making the material look bad. not the case w/ tint..if it's over cut it'll stick to a border and contaiminate (sp?) the tint material. very difficult to get the dust and dirt out after it's on there. basically you have to recut the tint again and start over.

soon2be..
if u want to try it and see if you like doing it..go for it. you have material to kill now. but be prepare to toss a lot of it out if you mess up. also it's very important to keep the tint film clean and free of wrinkles. a crease in the tint translate a crease on the window. if the tint is dirty/dusty there's a high risk of it sticking on your tint itself.
if you do decide to look for a installer..look for one that can get the edge of the tint close to the top as possible w/o having it curl and etc. if it's too high it'll curl in a week..if it's too low it'll look bad. takes a skilled tinter to get it right. look at the cars the tinter have done. note the color (fading), check for small bubbles and dirt under the tint. u see anything but clear scratch free tint...run.

 

Thanks for the tips Dan I have watched my friends install tint a few times and it does not look to tuff. As for my clear bra, it was pre-cut but I must disagree with the level of diffulty compared to window tinting, I think the bra is bit harder. The big difference is my front bumper has a LOT of curves all over it. Windows are more or less flat and smooth with no discrepences. Also contamination is big issue with installing a clear bra. I will give it a try in a few day's and learn first hand .

 

hmmm..i guess it was different w/ me..i had to cut out the clear mask from bulk.
the curves are not as bad to deal with when the material is warmed up a bit.
the windows are curved..believe me..heat won't soften tint like the clear mask material. well you'll see when u do it...esp the back window..try not to make more than 2 pieces for the back..anymore it'll look like poo.

 

Haha

When I installed my clear bra I started when it was 50 degrees out, when I finished it was about 30 out. It took me a long time because it was so damn cold outside, then it kept getting colder and colder. It was a big pain in the ****. BTW, I was hopeing to do one big piece in the rear, can I buy tint big enough for that? I should have stuck around when my friends were tinting the rear window .

 

yes they make tint that long..professional stuff only...(last i checked). do it one piece?...it can be done..it takes a skill to do. bubbles and "fingers" will be all over..so have fun trying to flatten it.
the colder it is..harder it is to apply the clearmask....i'm sure if it was 50-60 it would've been easier.

 

I want a real clean job done and the shop down the street does the one piece in ther rear so I guess I will just fork the $$ over . Thanks for saving me from finding out the hard way.