opinions please.

which is better?

which is more likely to fade/scratch ?



i have the option of getting 18% on the sides and 30% on the rear of Formula 1 for $150, lifetime warranty. Also, this warranty, he says, is good anywhere that does Formula 1 tints - meaning it could get scratched in 5 years and I could have it redone in NY or Texas or wherever.


or


i can get 20% on the sides and 35% on the rear of Llumar, with no warranty, but from a more respectable tinting place (actually recommended by an org member) for the same price.
i could 28% on the sides and 35% on the back and HAVE the lifetime warranty (because its legal), but i think that would be too light for my white car. i want darker windows to contrast the body color.



thanks

 

Are you not allowed to go darker in your state? I just had my windows done on sunday over factory tint which was in great shape. 5% back window rear, and 35% fronts. This is double tint pretty much so you cannot see in at all.

 

legal in florida is 28% front two windows, and 15% back two and rear window



are there any other brands i should be considering?

 

I live down in Miami and I have two layers of 20% all throughout the car. Needless to say they are very dark. I've had them for as long as I've had the car which is 4 years now. I've been pulled over many of times and not once has a cop ever tripped out on my tints. Even in those cities within Miami that are known for being strict.

 

I have formula 1 tint (not "tints" ). Had it for 3-4 years now and it's still in excellent condition. Only scratch anyplace is where my watch hits it (alot) when I'm ashing a cigarette with the window just cracked open. But even that is tiny!

Mine was the top-end metallic-content. So it's not very dark (legal here) but does a great job keeping the car cool.

I like the greenish color...reminds me of European cars' stock tint. This is 50% on the sides...

 

I also have Formula One tint. Got to love the warranty 28%

 

I got 15% F1 Pinnacle put on for $250 lifetime warranty here:
Rhodes Complete Auto Radio
1187 N. State Road 7
Hollywood, FL 33021
Phone: 954-989-5141

did a very good job, and honest. Run by 2 old people.

 

Odd that the Llumar film doesn't have lifetime warranty, as my Llumar Platinum Plus (semi-metallic) does. I've never heard of Formula 1, but judging by opinions here, you couldn't go wrong with either one (unless there's really no lifetime on the Llumar).

 

i checked out that place on 441 + Clintmoore that is called Boca Tint (formerly City Window Tint)

i didnt get a great vibe

they would do 15% sides and 20% rear with Llumar for 150, with a warranty on the rear two and rear windshield.




anyway i just called Rhodes. the woman seemed informed and pleasent. immona drive down there one day this week to check it out.

she told me there were three different levels of tint they offer

1) Llumar regular - $100 to $230
2) Formula 1 Metallic - $150 to $230
3) Formula 1 Porcelain - $200 to $230

after reading around i think im steering away from the Llumar....F1 seems to have better consumer feedback plus the nationwide warranty.....

so whats the difference between the F1 metallic and F1 porcelain?

she said that the porcelain is not supposed to interferre with internal antennaes or GPS systems that require a satellite feed.
since i dont have any of that, im askin you all, is there any reason for me to get the porcelain?
or should i go with the metallic F1 ?

 

I went with metallic. I noticed my radio signals weren't as strong on the BOSE, and even now with the aftermarket Pioneer HU. So if you listen to the radio a lot or have XM then it may affect you. I listen to CDs mostly lol so it doesn't bother me much at all.

The porcelain had a very slight brown tinge to it, so that's why I went with metallic also.

 

yea this is the kind of info i was lookin for.

noticing it had a brown hue after it was done would suck



and yea i also listen to cds 90% of the time

 

its ceramic tint...and F1 calls it "pinnacle" but shes talking about the same stuff. I did notice the rear radar range on my V1 improved coming from 20% llumar titanium. I dont see any brown hue to my tint...I am very happy with the tint. It is reflective but looks black at the same time...a perfect blend for my tastes.

 

I never listen to the radio either and I have an aftermarket audio system so the antenna sucks anyway.

 

i have 3 layers of tint on my car...with 2 of the layers are metallic and my radio reception is fine. only the keyless entry don't get reception as far as before =/

llumar is a good brand i have that as my 3rd layer. just make sure you get the tint that has high heat rejection because on my old car i've had dark tint but don't reject heat. right now i barely feel any heat when my windows are up...can't wait till summer to test it out haha

 

oh yeah forgot to say, i have 3 different brands. first layer is 70% v-kool all around which is kind of greenish. second layer is 50% front and 35% rear using madico onyx. 3rd layer is 50% front and 40% rear llumar platinum plus.

if you plan on getting llumar, the platinum plus series 35% tint rejects 52% of the heat and the 18% rejects 65% of the heat. that's really good. good luck with your choices.

 

I feel like you're getting told BS about Llumar films... I have a nationwide warranty with my Platinum Plus (20% says the tent shop, 18% according to Llumar's web site). :-/ And I really don't see why a tint shop wouldn't warranty ALL the windows they tint, not just the rear 3.

 

because the front two would be illegal

 

^ Still doesn't make any sense... All my windows are illegal (35% limit in TN) and they're still warrantied.

 

Warranty really depends on the shop. They are wanting to cover their asses in case someone gets pulled over for "their" tint. That's why most won't warranty illegal "below 35%" tint which is the lowest you can go in a lot of the states. A lot of the places I called would not take credit/debit if you want anything lower than 35%.

IE: The shop I went to ... which was voted best in Atlanta, has warranties on their 35% tint against a ticket and for the life of the tint. But told me that they will not guarantee that I won't get a ticket with 28% tint even though I have a lifetime guarantee on the tint itself.


Some shops on the other hand will do full windshield tint (not only the tint strip), and even warranty 5% tint. But those are rare, and sometimes their work isn't up to par.

 

^ Very true. When I paid for my tint, I had to sign a line underneath a statement to the effect of "The undersigned agrees that the tint he/she has purchased is not legal in the state of Tennessee..."

Hell, as long as they sign that disclaimer (or something to that effect), I doubt Johnny Law will go after the tint shop for tinting someone's vehicle darker than legal.

 

ok couple of more tint questions:


1) WINDOW SCRATCHING:

im concerned about the vertical lines that appear on my windows from moving them up/down.
if i wash my windows, about two-three weeks later these lines showup. im guessing its from dirt/debris caught in the window rubber things, but i dont know.

is this going to scratch my tint?

how do i clean those things? can i remove them?

how else can i avoid this?





2) REAR WINDSHIELD QUESTIONS:

a) should i tint around my 3rd taillight, or remove it and tint the whole window?
i think it would look cleaner with it fully tinted, but im not sure about the legality of it, not to mention how it would look with the red light shining out the back.

b) anyone have problems with the dot matrix on a 4th gen? what about the defrost lines?

is there something special i should be asking the tintshop to do to prep this? like put a layer of vinyl over the top before tinting?






3) LEGALITY:

so in FLA, legal is 28% front two and 15% the rest of the car. I plan on doing either 15% on the sides and 25% on the back, OR 20% on the sides and 30% on the back.

in both of those scenarios, i will be technically "illegal" at least on the front two. now im not too worried about FLA police, because i see lots of illegally tinted cars around here. i guess they are sympathetic because its the "sunshine" state.

however im concerned about the future, if i ever leave florida.

lets say im driving through georgia with my 15% tint and FL plates and a cop pulls me over. does the fact im registered in FL make it ok to have 15% tints? or do i have to adhere to each states tint % laws as i drive through them ?

the reason im asking this is becuase one of my roomates, who is from NC, said a cop made him cut his tint off with a razor on the side of the road while the cop watched. granted he was driving a car registered in NC, but i dont want something like this happening to me.

 

you worry too much about tint..especially where you live. Plenty of people I knew in HS down in SOFL had double limo with no issues. 15% is nothing when it hits the sun during the day. Don't worry about other states...FL is among the few who have such a low % allowed to be use...almost anything legal in FL is illegal elsewhere. Do you live in FL? If so, 15% is the way to go all around.

 

yea like i said im not too worried about florida. im worried about when i travel to other states, if cops there are going to give me **** for breaking THEIR state rules

 

don't live your life in fear of a cop who lives 1,000 miles away...

 

I've had Llumar Platinum Plus (titanium) in a number of vehicles I've owned and it has always had a lifetime, nationwide warranty. The warranty is only good for the tint, and you have to pay for labor if you go to any shop aside from the original installer to get it redone.

It does cloud up after a couple years, but that's what the warranty is for.

 

anyone got any advice on these window lines?

i cant be the only one who has them

 

i dont know if you go to ny too but, here cops are very strick ab8 tints i know ppl with 35% who got pulled over just for the tints but, then again i know a guy with 20% who never got pulled over for tints. yeah so i gues it depends on your luck. i had 15% tints on mine and i got pulled over after a week after i got them and my mom took em off when i went 2 work. but get 15% it wil make your car look soo much better and the driving experience is better too

 

Cloud up? What do you mean? I had 35% PP on my last car and it looked great for over 3 years...

Had it on my Maxima for over 1.5 and still looks like the day I picked it up from the shop...

 

Based on opinions in this thread, I say pick the one with the better warranty... Just make sure you don't waste you time with a shop that "can't warranty" the film because it's too dark...

You shouldn't have to worry about dirt particles in the window seal scratching the tint (but you can clean the tracks if it'll make you feel better). Cops aren't really an issue around my area, so no worries IMO there. As for the brake light in the rear window... They tinted my whole back window, and I'm sure it doesn't matter, since you'll still have 2 brakelights on the rear regardless.

 

I've had it on 2 different cars and it clouded up twice. Just my experience. On the Maxima it was about 5 years until it was pretty much unbearable. But that's why you get warrantied tint.

 

Interesting... By "could up" do you mean that it was fuzzy/hazy? I've never heard of that (beyond cheap tint bubbling/peeling and/or turning purple over time).

 

Just distorted kinda, not like a bubbled up cheap tint job. It also faded but didn't go purple.

And it wasn't totally unbearable actually, but the view out the rearview mirror was way worse than out the side mirrors.

 

went down to rhodes on sunday. lol its run by two blind people
regardless im going to get it done there this weekend

ive decided on the high end metallic forumula 1 tints, basically one step below the pinnacle.

i think its called millenium/comfort series

 

they may be blind but not dumb...I saw some local audio shop come in saying that rhodes took clients from them...that old lady put the dude in place it was great to watch. you will be happy with the tint.

 

any suggestions on the type of F1 i chose?

is there a reason to stay away from metallic?


any of you have experience with the millenium/comfort series?

 

I love my pinnacle...I have no experience with the metallic but I'm sure it's fine...

 

I prefer metallic films mainly because they will reject more heat than non-metallic, as well as keep the heat already in the car there (handy in the winter). They also resist fading moreso than non-metallic (so I've been told) and cause the blue color of the windows to be accentuated...

 

alright guys i appreciate all your help here. i do.

Im gonna get the high end metallic F1 tint.


i got one last question of opinion, mostly due to the fact that my experience with tint is very limited...


I originally had decided to get 18% on the sides and 28% on the rear. The purpose of this was namely to be able to see clearly out of my rear view mirror (ive gotten used to watching headlights at night looking for impala/crownvic shapes).
However the more i think about it, the more im worried it will look strange to have sides that are darker than the rear window. so my only other option would be 18% all around...

it would look better, but would restrict my cop vision that much more


so 18% sides/28% back

or

18% all around



all input honored



** just to make it clear, when i say "back" i mean the rear windshield. obviously the 4 side windows will be tinted the same. that is, 4 18% windows and one 28% window OR 5 18% windows....

 

18% all around no questions...

 

you have NO warranty. CPFilms (or any manufacturer) does not warranty illegally installed films. period. no matter what the shop tells you.

you are the man!! so good to hear a person outside the industry use the correct term for window film. let one dopehead with a bad weave say the word "tints" on national tv just one time, and all of a sudden, it's an everyday term.
thanks for being one of the few who don't sound like an idiot saying "tints".

why in the world would you want the sides darker than the back? that would just look stupid.

hope you are aware that Formula 1 and Llumar are both manufactured by CPFilms. but it depends on what "Llumar" film you are referring to. Llumar makes several auto films--AT Charcoal, ATR Charcoal, ATR Stealth, Platinum Plus, ATX Axxess, AT Jet, etc. all Llumar films come with a "lifetime" warranty except for AT Jet.

ATX, ATR CH, and PP, are the best films. (that's not opinion, that's fact) ATX is a nano (ceramic) film, ATR CH is a hybrid, and PP is a full metal. and all three have a no color change warranty.

Formula 1 only has one film that is a truely great film, and that's Pinnacle. any other F1 film and you might as well go with one of the 3 Llumar names i mentioned.

and sorry to tell you, but none of these films warranty against scratching. so don't let that be a deciding factor, because all CPFilms window films have the same SRC (scratch resistant coating).


no, they aren't. not by the manufacturer. if it's a shop warranty, you basically have no warranty. shop warranties are worth nothing.

think again. any shop that would have you sign anything is asking for it. both of you have now provided written, and signed documentation, admitting you broke the law.
stupid on both parties.

and as i've told my customers for the last 22 years, "if the shop is dishonest enough to break the law for a couple hundred bucks, exactly how honest do you think they'll be when it comes to fixing your film when something goes bad?"

like i said, lifetime warranty? on illegally installed film?