eddievegas

Hello All,

I had my windows tinted this week in my '98 LS 400 and it left me with something less than the warm and fuzzies. Here are the details:

Owner said two hours to install. When I came back at 2 hours, he said 2.5 hours and "these LS 400's are tough to tint due to the rear defroster/antenna." It finally was done at just under 5 hours. The installer (different from the owner) was telling me at hour three that getting a good fit for the tint around the rear defroster/antenna was tough. He said something like, it just takes patience and working with a razor blade to get a good fit since cutting the defroster/antenna won't hurt. I thought to myself, that doesn't sound right, but said nothing.

The owner at hour 4+ was telling me my car will be done soon and that the installer wants a good fit, but has to be careful cuz he doesn't want to slice the defroster. Bells and whistles went off, but I said nothing.

Anyway, my question is: How do I test that the defroster is working correctly given that I might use the defroster 2-4 times a year?

Also, if the antenna was sliced, will that effect radio reception?

Thanks for reading this long post.

Eddie

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

just look REALLY closely at it, and see if there are any breaks...

19psi

well, it is true that the LS's are very hard to tint. to test the defrost, get a volt/ohm meter and check for continuity between the terminals on each side of the defroster and check for resistance. if all is good, then you'll have xx ohms, if something was cut, then you'll have "ofl" or whatever your particular meter says as the open circuit display.
and if your radio reception is worse than before, then that's a pretty good indication of a cut somewhere.

dashan

Spay (continuously) some water on the window, and test it.

Neofate

iTrader: (1)

Drive up to Canada.

No kidding.. seriously visually inspect it,.. all that is required. Our defroster lines are very thick on the LS's.. Tinters hate them for that, because it is all but impossible to get the air out around the lines. And yes the rear is hard to work on our cars -- But 4-5 hours is insane. I had mine done in 2 and a half and I was talking to the guy the whole time, and we were joking about various stuff.

He spent probably 30 minutes on the rear, and the rest of the windows were a 10minute maximum deal. Longest thing was waiting on the plotter to cut out the shapes, and changing out the strip on front.

Also if he cut the de-froster they are responsible for the fix. Although you just have to ensure a continuous circuit, which isn't that hard to do.

Lastly, radio reception goes down generally with tint anyhow.. Especially AM reception. So I would make sure the defrost is damaged before judging it due to radio reception.

Hope its allright.

eddievegas

Thanks for everyone's replies. I'll get this figured out over the next few days.

Eddie

P.S. Neofate: Thanks for the idea, but since we just left Mass. last year for AZ, I'll find another way for now as I've had my fill of snow for the rest of my days.

shern

iTrader: (6)

Have hot sweaty secks in the back seat like in high school!

Honestly, you'll need the defroster like 5 days out of the entire year in AZ. I wouldn't sweat it.

tbilisi79

If you have sex with two girls at one time in the car with windows closed, they will fog up pretty soon, and thats my man is when you press the Defrost button to see if all of the defroster lines work!!!!

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

I can attest to this

cliffud

iTrader: (3)

on a cold night, turn the rear defroster on and touch the window with your hand, it should warm up.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

thats going to be hard to do with the window covered in tint....