good tint? DIY? pay?

so we're getting a new family hauler next week... '91 volvo 945ti...

with all that glass and a black interior living in FL = not so good in my experience...

the last volvo wagon we had had "limo tint" (not sure of % its what was on when I got it) which was a love hate relationship... it looked GOOD... and during the hot summer it was great even without a/c... crack windows and the sunroof and roll along fairly comfortably... but at night it was hard to see out of... required cracking windows at intersections to get a good view of traffic...

so this is a multi part question... how dark should I go? I know legal is 28% for front side windows and 15%...

2nd... I want good stuff... I've seen what good tint looks like after a few years and I've seen what crap tint looks like after 5 years... what brand would be recommended... I want to say both my shelby charger and the volvo I had used llumar tint... the old volvo still looks good after sitting out in the sun for 6 or 7 years

and lastly... is this something I could do myself?... i recall reading DIY threads but can't see to find them...

this is a car I plan on owning for a good long time... so i'm willing to splurge for stuff that will last... but if I could DIY with good tint and have it look good the $$$ saved on labor would be nice.

thanks again guys mark

Well for starters, I personally think you oughta pay the guy you bought it from double (at least) what you paid.

Now that the self serving part is over, I agree. It's something I had wanted to do, as did JD. It does have the nifty 'crotch vent' though, which helps the driver tremendously.

Tint first, then a really good exhaust system. After that put a bigger intercooler and crank the boost and run 13s. With the family in it.

-Brian

I used to autocross against a couple who made a living doing tint and vinyl graphics. I had them tint my Miata several years ago, Llumar tint, I believe around 30%. Looks completely natural, easy to see out of, even at night. It's seen several years of outdoor living, still looks as good as the day it was applied.

I don't know if you can even get stuff like Llumar without being an installer. And from watching my friends apply the tint, it was obvious that their skill was the difference between a good job and a crappy job. Never mind things like dust and debris, their experience with sliding it under window gaskets, trimming it so it wouldn't split when you rolled the window up, etc etc was beyond what I could do. Plus they had a machine that custom-cut the film to fit the windows. Neat!

I know I got a discount from their regular retail rates, but it was sufficiently cheap that I'd have been happy to pay full price. Took them out to dinner instead.

Having done it before, I would pay someone else to do it. It's one of those things it's real easy to screw up. I had my work vans done for $100 each. I can't crawl around in a hot car for hours for that.

Definitely go somewhere to have it done, should cost around $110-150 for the whole car, using a high quality tint brand such as llumar.

Around 30% should be what you're looking for, easy to see out of at night, and still remains cool in the summer.

This is my civic with 40%, it works well in NY, but you'd definitely want to go 30% or less in FL: http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y143/pj350/IMG_1090.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y143/pj350/IMG_1091.jpg

ask local guys as to what shop is a good reputable shop for your area, limo tint is 5% i have that on my back window in my miata and had it on my civic as well i loved it.

well I guess when the GRM guys say to pass on a job... lol... thanks guys... i'll have to call around and check into the various

that 40% looks pretty good... so ya %30 should do the trick me thinks...

thanks guys :) mark

When I lived in Memphis, I found a place that was close to me that did a super job on my new '89 Civic. After 6 years, the only problem was that a tiny corner of one of the rear side windows started to peel away...not sure why, as it was rarely lowered. After that, I took every vehicle I bought back to the same place, they wound up doing about 5 or 6 cars in 20 years....and no problems with any of them.

A good, reputable(sp?) is well worth it, just like when you buy a car from a dealer. In other words, try to get a recommendation from friends and check the shop closely....before they start. Window prep is VERY important.

donalson wrote: well I guess when the GRM guys say to pass on a job... lol... thanks guys... i'll have to call around and check into the various that 40% looks pretty good... so ya %30 should do the trick me thinks... thanks guys :) mark

that tint will be about the tint of the privacy tint on most oem veichles. i can show you a picture of my miata tinted if you want to get a idea of what 5 on a rear window and 20 on side window would look like pm me on this though.

3M has a new film out that is pretty cool, even the 90% clear stuff still blocks a huge amount of energy. It's non-metallic too, so no additional radio interference.

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Window_Film/Solutions/Markets-Products/Automotive/Crystalline_Automotive_Films/

I have no idea what it costs, never used it, just thought it was cool.

I've always had quality 3M tint on my cars, done by the local guy that does tint for all of the luxury dealerships. It's spendy, but he offers a lifetime warranty against everything, does a great job, etc etc.

I think Karl said 3M tortures butterflies. This is as bad as kicking puppies. Just sayin, may be better choices?

My car had illegal tint when I got it, and I have been stopped by Johnny law twice to pay them for it. The second time, I got my front windows redone. It was $85 and took him maybe 30 minutes to strip the old tint and redo the windows. Considering how infrequently I purchase cars (I'm still on number one), learning how to tint would be a skill that I would forget by the time I had to use it again. I have seen enough bad, presumably DIY tint jobs out there to be skeptical of my ability to do it right and actually coming out ahead financially.

I'd recommend keeping it subtle, don't go too dark.... I recall really only having two or three options when I got my contour done and I picked the lightest of the options, I don't remember but I don't think the guy did the windshield. I have a black volvo 940 wagon and I too am going to get the tint work done at the same place, the prices I've seen in this thread seem cheap, including windshield I was told my cost would be about 200 bucks. Here is what my contour looked like, Ill probably go a little darker on the brick...

Love that Contour!

wow.. you live in a place where they can do the windshield? Here in NJ you can only tint the windows that behind the driver. The windsheild and the front side windows cannot be tinted at all... kind of kills it for me to do any tinting at all.

this was my old volvo... loved the dark tint look... but a little dark for every day use

and the tintless 945ti

I would say go with 15% . i have it on my miata and have no problem seeing out of it . With all the glass on the volvo it would look really good

Here is my tint. Pretty sure it is illegal but I love it. I am pretty sure it is a professional job.

Definitely not legal in Alabama.

mad_machine wrote: wow.. you live in a place where they can do the windshield? Here in NJ you can only tint the windows that behind the driver. The windsheild and the front side windows cannot be tinted at all... kind of kills it for me to do any tinting at all.

I don't remember the percentages of darkness, but in Kentucky, you can tint the windshield but only so much.

Neighbor does a few in his spare time, 30% on the Elantra

Mark, I forgot to ask you. You can see a :: aheam :: politically motivated bumper sticker there in the pic - I can remove it if you're not interested in telling people how "you" voted in the 2008 election. I also have to send JD back his vanity front plate. Hope you don't mind.