IXLRS

Well, good news, after my first week on the road on my new IS350 SGM/Sport/Navi/ML I hooked up with Robert at “Trust The Best” to tint my beast. Robert has been tinting forever (20 years) and was referred to me from a friend as well as others on the net. Everyone say’s he is one of the best tint installers out there and does real good work. Robert said he could install any brand of tint but he had a few of his personal fav’s so went ahead and discussed a few options before he started my job. He work a lot with Madico tint and like’s it over most other brands. During my initial conversations he recommended the Madico Charcool non-metallic tint. He pointed out that the Charcool tint is a hybrid tint because it‘s neither ceramic or metallic but rather a carbon film.

Anyway, I meet up with Robert and one of the things I asked him was if it is necessary to remove the door panel to do a “perfect” job and he said no, no problem.

We went over tint products before he began. I wanted the right color tint to go with SGM/blk. The existing windows have a green-ish cast and the sunroof has a blue-ish cast. I like the tint cast looking through the sunroof, so something along those lines would be good for me.(only lighter). Robert mentioned that some tints lean towards the gray/brown/green tone’s others towards the charcoal/blk/blue cast. I found out that the Charcool tint had more of a charcoal/green tone base and when you put it on the window it ends up introducing even more green into the picture. The Madico Onyx tint has more of a “smoke” /black color with more of a blue cast. It was easy to the diff when we put the films against a white background.

I decided that the 55% tint was too light and the 35% should be OK. The Charcool 35 looked darker against a white background than the Onyx 35. I’m not sure why since the Onyx has a VLT rating of 32% vs Charcool of 35%. I want a subtle look (if there is such a thing with 35 tint)

For me the Onyx color worked better on SGM then the Charcool tint but the Onyx is a metallic tint. Robert assured me that local am reception would not be affected, only possibly if I’m driving across the country and my miss some of the local reception. He also didn’t think it would have any impact on the Navi.

So I went ahead and gave the go ahead to install the Onyx 35 on all the windows (except the windshield). My job took about 4 hours to finish.

When I first saw my IS with tint it seemed lighter than I expected. I really like how it turned out. I can still see inside (good), and looking out it doesn’t seem too dark. I haven’t driven at night yet so I don’t know about that yet.

I enjoy having tint on my car. I’ve never had it done before and can see why others choose to have it done. I was nice not to have the sun beating down on me constantly and made my ride that much more comfortable.

Here’s how she turned out.

IXLRS

STIG

very nice!!! SGM looks smoking hot!

where are you located? i might have missed it while reading it. i also had 35% tint in the front and got pulled over the next day. but then I am in berkeley,california, so what can i say.

imaputz

iTrader: (2)

nice nice nice! i like it.... good job!

BShears

VERY NICE

I haven't seen many SGM. I have a SGM 250 AWD on order and am considering tinting. It's good to see exactly what it'll look like!

Badman Forever

that's fresh! i know of a local guy hunting for a grey 350 also.. can't wait to check it out.

ZOOBS350

looks greaaaaaatt...its not too dark or too light...it's a perfect match

i especially don't like seeing sgm with dark charcoal tint at 15% to limo tint...bad contrast

like i said before..perfect match

IXLRS

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

exact same color/color, options i wanted, you suck

NotFatBoy

We have the same car (I also have PA) but I dont have any tint on my car... I really need to get on that.... looks good man!

acsan

Did the installer mention any difficulties or challenges he had while installing the film? I'm getting mine done this Thursday, and when I brought the car over the other day, the guy mentioned that the area by the front windows with the speaker was going to be tricky.

Did any of you guys hear or experience the same? He's thinking that because of that, they may have to take the door panels off completely.

pocky

iTrader: (12)

Looking real good! I'm still having a tough decision on what type of tint I should go with. Ah well.

Can you take some pics on a very overcast day without any sun? When you get the chance that is.

IXLRS

I read other threads about the possibility of having to remove the door panels. I asked Richard to go to a lexus dealership and see for himself what he's getting into. When I dropped the car off he said the front speakers posed no problem for him, and would not affect the finished result. I think it depends on the skill and patience of the person doing the tinting. I think mine turned out flawless, time will tell.

NotFatBoy

that's an interesting request

IXLRS

Sure, we have many overcast day's in Seattle