learn me window tinting windows out of the truck

so, i decided to try my hand at window tinting. my 64 has almost flat glass all the way around. its out of the truck and sitting on the bench.

ive watched the pros do it a few times, and the youtube videos. it really doesnt seem all that hard.

i will probably wind up doing two cars. total it would cost me 275 to have both cars done by the pro's. so for around 50 for the tint for both cars.

id be doing the glass thats already pulled from the truck before reinstall. this includes the glued in back window. what do i do about tint on this? wait till i reinstall and then tint, or tint to the edge and put the glue on the tint? also, same kind of principle goes on the wing window glass.

the other car is more of a debate, mostly because its all pillarless glass, and a total mother to even get to the back windows for a decent cleaning, let alone tinting. i guess that one depends on how the first one goes.

anyway, according to the online guides, i need all sorts of specialized tools. the guys ive watched use a plastic bondo spreader, couple of jewlers files, a razor blade, a spray bottle of something, and a cheap squegee looking thing.

so, what says the hive on DIY first time window tinting? what do i ACTUALLY need to get, any tips, etc?

thanks guys. i trust y'alls info a lot more than most websites.

michael

You can try with the basic equipment and I've made an attempt with a friends car. It didn't end up with many bubbles, but it didn't look good.

Flat windows would be a good first try if you decide to.

I'd suggest paying a pro to do it.

Being that the glass is out and flat you are removing 90% of the needed skill that pro tinters have.

When it comes to modern cars with the black matrix around the outside of heavily curved non lip sealed glass then you are getting into the art of heat shrinking and multi piece fits where it gets complicated.

My buddy owns a tint shop and I have spent hundreds of hours watching him work. I wouldn't hesitate to do the 64 myself but would seriously reconsider when it comes to modern cars.

The big thing is BUY HIGH QUALITY FILM!!!

The crap you buy at parts stores and big box places is terrible. Invest in the expensive stuff. Not sure who is considered quality anymore. Whenever a manufacturer shifts production it goes up and down. Tint shops tend to switch vendors every few years to ensure they are getting the best available.

Personally I feel tint looks out of place on cars older than 80's era stuff.

I'd say attempt a DIY on the truck first, see how that goes.

I think some people can do it and some cant. My friend did his own windows and it looked great.

I did a couple of the flat square-ish windows on a van I had and it just came out OK. I tried to do the front windows (which are still basic flat shapes) and failed miserably. I guess I couldnt figure out how to tint up to the top edges of the roll down windows, then roll them up to tint down to the weatherstripping, without the window seals just berkeleying up the edge of the tint and wrinkling it and pulling it off the window. I later attempted to tint the window on a Miata hardtop. Curved but I figured could lay the top on the carpet in the living room for super easy access. I couldnt do it.

Looking forward to also reading some tips from people who know what they are doing. At this point I am convinced I will never attempt to tint a window again.

Sidenote: they make static cling tint. I limo tinted my MPV temporarily for a camping weekend. The tint looks like E36 M3 but it was worth it for blocking the sun while sleeping on a futon inside the van. Thinking about just doing the rear window of my truck with that stuff.

The pro near me just uses a razor, heat gun, squeegie, and windex. The trick to getting the bubbles out is to squeegie the berkeley out of it before it dries.

The local pro is affordable and offers a warranty, so I haven't done much more than help him when doing my cars.

How good are you at getting the screen guard on your smart phone without bubbles?

Seems to me I've tried it. Just can't remember when or on what. And as I recall, the results were awful.

I've tried to apply tinting myself, a few times. Flat or single-curves were ok, but forget about compound curves, like a back window. Mrs. RMD wants her new Dart tinted. I'm not touching it. I'll pay to have it done.

I tinted 5 or 6 cars back in the day, too poor to afford real tint. Some turned out really well (86 GTI where I pulled the windows), some turned out really bad (F150 so bad I ragequit after doing the rear window.

Cleanliness is next to Godliness. Thats all I have to say.

The last vehicle I did was my 96 Ram, all the side windows and the rear slider. It looked OK but was obviously a home-spun job. I took my 02 F250 in to a local shop (Blackout in Milwaukee, for those that care) and for $120, have perfectly done front windows to 20% to match the rears and a sun strip down to the mirror on the windshield. Best money I ever spent. I would have been into it in DIY stuff $50 (the front windows on a superduty F250 are HUUUGE) and it would have turned out like crap. Going forward, all my cars will be professionally tinted.

wow. its saying something when the forum full of guys building insane stuff in dirt driveways says to pay the man.

that should tell me something.

thanks for the feedback. time to call the tint guy.

I've called around to have a few cars tinted with quality film and a warranty it might be location but its reasonably priced... I recently bought an accord with some good tint on it... it's nearing 10 years old and still looks great, I bought a volvo that hand llumar tint on it... 5 or so years later when I sent it to the junkyard the tint looked as good as the day I got it...

on the other hand I've had cars with crap tint, nice purple looking stuff that had bubbles and ripples thoughout it etc...

after seeing a few of these threads come up I don't ever see me trying my hand at ting, I'll happily spend the extra to let someone deal with it, knowing that I've got good tint for the rest of the time I'll own the car... just my take.

I've done tint in the past. I sucked at it each and every time, though I did begin to suck less.

I'm planning to tint the back window in The Crusty Chevy, but I'm going to Pay The Man.

So I just had to be certain that I would suck at this. For fourteen bucks I picked up the needed supplies and did the back glass of the elky. It looks good on the sawhorses. Well see what it looks like when it dries and i can get it in the sun.

Really wasn't that bad!

Which means it will probably look like crap after it dries.

My buddy owns a tint shop and I have spent hundreds of hours watching him work ? bring beer clean his shop make sure front parking lot lQQks good scrub his toilet buy him paper towels ? WTF take kare of your buddy he will take kare of you . am i missing something

I may try the do it yourself kit on the Cutlass. The driver window in the Charger got a scratch in the tint so I need to have that fixed at some point.

Just pay a pro. Karl did my Trooper, and after watching him work there's no way I would try it myself.