[stromer]

One of my window tints has a bad scratch in it. I have no idea where it came from but it catches my eye whenever I look at my car and is driving me crazy. So basically I need to redo that window. It is the rear driver side. I was wondering what those do it yourself kits are like. First of all, there must be different levels of quality amoung the brands. And second they must take some patience to apply. Has anybody done this? Any special tips? I figure if it doesn't work I'll just have them redone by a pro like they were originally.

 

[DougR]

You need to have a really steady hand and eye for detail, plus a ton of patience. You basically have this large roll of film that you need to keep wet, then manage to get lined up on the window, plus then size with a knife. basically you need 8 arms. Flat side windows are a piece of cake, but curved windows and large windows are a total PITA. IMO for what it costs to get it done by a pro it is worth it. There is nothing worse than bubbly tint, plus DIY has a tendency to fade and look purple.

 

[sethsev7n]

Most tints are covered under a lifetime warrenty. Check and see if yours is and what shop put it in, they might replace it for you.

 

[stromer]

I did plan to check with the shop first.

I like to think I'd be able to do it. I watched the guy who did it originally and it looked possible. Like I said, you can get the film on ebay for relative cheap (have to check the quality) so I'd like to just try it and see what happens.

 

[Thurs10cmd]

a friend of mine works at a tint shop and he explained how his shop does tints. it is very tedious and time consuming, but it is possible to do it yourself. the best tint you can prolly get he told me is 3M, so check ebay to see if anyone is selling rolls of that, his shop buys a roll for around $250 i believe.

 

[stromer]

That is probably a 36"x100' roll though. The smaller ones are 24"x10'.

 

[JABM]

In my experience, it is difficult to find tint yourself that is of the quality level used in a reputable shop. When I did find sources for good tint, the quantity that one needed to purchase in order to make the tint affordable per square foot was huge. If you wanted to buy the amount for one car, the price was stupidly high. I've also done some tinting myself in the past and at least for myself, it was very tedious and I rarely could produce a finished product that I found asseptable.
Honestly, I think that it is more cost/time effective to go to a good shop and let the pros handle it. You don't have to try to source quality tint, you don't have to spend your valuable time wrestling with the job, and you don't have the headaches of the whole thing. I like to do most things myself, but I found it much more worthwhile to just let the pro's handle the tint.

Just my .02

 

[Tboy]

I have done DIY before with good results. The trick I think is to make a template of the window with paper. Just get about 10-15 sheets of printer paper, and push it up into the crevices while the window is rolled up. Start putting more and more up untill you have a good template. You can cut this template out nicely on a good table indoors and it is much easier to work with once you take it out to the car. I have attached a pic of one of the template I made for my old Cavalier, but I don't have a pic of the results.

As far as tint goes though, far superior to other tint is the kind that is baked on! I had my Mazda done for 160. They removed the glass out of the four doors, applied the tint and baked it on, and reinstalled the glass. They don't do the rear window though but the sides are absolutely crystal clear! SO Fabulous!

I have some left over tint and am thinking about doing the Saab with it. As for curved hatch windows, you can buy tint that comes in a six inch roll that is easier to put on the curved windows. You put it on, and let it overlap a tiny bit, then make a cut right in the center of the overlap to leave yourself with a perfect joint!

Tboy

 

[stromer]

There are definatly many methods for applying the tint. I googled "diy window tint" and came up with three or four that way. One of these is the template method you stated above.

The way i was going to do it was to put the big sheet on the outside of the window. You of course clean and wet the outside of the window first, then trim around the window leaving about an inch exta all the way around the tine. Then you peel it off the window and pull off the backing. Next you line it up on the inside of the window. Making sure the window is very wet you can then start to remove all the air bubbles with a flat, blunt object. Then finally you can just trim all the adjex with a very sharp razor blade.

This is abviously a very concise method, but you get the idea.