The ULTIMATE Tinting Guide
 

Well for all of you guys looking to go get your windows tinted you have come to the right thread.

What is window tint?
Automobile window tinting, by its nature, reduces the visible light transmittance through a car's windows

What do the percentages mean?
The percentages that window tint comes in is how much light is allowed to be let in by the window. For example, a 50% window tint will allow 50% of light inside the car, whereas a 5% tint will only allow 5% of the light from outside in. When you go to look for which window tint you want keep in mind that the lower the percentage the darker it is.

How low can I go?
It depends on state to state. Look here: Window Tint Laws By State. What you have to keep in mind is that the lower you go the harder it is to see in the car AND the harder it is to see outside of the car. My car has 15% tint on it and at night it can be hard to see outside of my windows. My friend has 3% tint and you can just straight up forget looking out your windows at night.

Should I do the windshield?
That is up to you. It is illegal in most if not all states. When tinting the windshield I would stay in the 40% and up range. Tinting the windshield will greatly affect the darkness of your inside tint as well because less light is in the car. Driving at night with windshield tint is not that hard at all if you have HID's. With normal halogens it might be a little trouble but nothing too bad.

What kind of tint should I get?
When you go looking for tint you can get a bunch of different colors and types. There are blue tints, green tints, and yellow tints. You can also go with a charcoal like tint or just straight up black. Metallic tint is a tint that looks almost like a mirror instead of being black. This tint makes it harder for the person on the outside to see inside your car.

Where should I go?
I would recommend that you post up this question in the regional forums. The reason being there are TONS of tint shops, some good, some bad. I would make sure I get a lifetime warranty for color change and bubbling.

My tint has bubbles!! What do I do?
When you first get your tint applied you will see bubbles for the first 3-4 days. Make sure you DON'T roll down your windows for those days. The bubbles will eventually dry. If they do not then I would take it back to the tint shop immediately and demand it be re-done. If bubbling occurs later on and you do not have a warranty for it you might as well take it off and get it done somewhere that offers a lifetime warranty.

What do you recommend?
Well I would say that if you are just looking for UV protection and a little dark look to your windows go with 50%. If you want to stay legal but have it still look dark and not really have to deal with police I would go with 35%. If you want to match your back windows of your SUV from the factory I would suggest a 20% tint. If you really want some privacy I would go with 15% or lower. If you just straight up don't want people to see you I would go with my combo...15% on the windows and 35% on the windshield. You could go darker on the windows though.


Hope you enjoyed!

Thanks,
Elliott

nice writeup

Thanks, I hope it helps some people. Would have helped me when I got my car tinted.

very good writeup. Thanks

Nice.

Definately needed for newbies posting on the IS forums... :D

:thumbup: could someone sticky this post?

How do I clean it?

It's recommended that you don't try to clean it with any solution for the first week of the tint installation. You can use a dry or slightly damp towel to take off smudges if you really want to. After the tint settles in, you should use a quality microfiber towel and some window glass cleaner that is not ammonia based, and that is said to be 'tint-safe'.

Safe products are:
Stoner's Invisible Glass
Plexus Plastic Cleaner, Protectant & Polish
DP Krystal Vision Glass Cleaner
Meguiar's NXT Generation Glass Cleaner
3M Glass Cleaner
Wurth Glass Cleaner

Added that! Thanks man.

Thanks! I will be getting tint for the first time soon.

It will really set your car off Mike.

Thanx for the great info. I will keep this in mind in the very near future.:thumbup:

A very good post. You've included and answered the typical questions someone who wants tints would ask. Glad that this is a sticky now.

A couple of details about the tint and the cars in general.
Lexus uses large defrosts in most of the models. The older LS, IS and ES are the worst. This can cause areas that were heated to show fingers or what most people would call bubbles. This is normal and it seems a lot of shops will let it dry and have you come in so they can squeegee it out at a later time unless they have the car all day. I think this is the preffered method since you have little chance in distorting the film like you can with heating them on the spot.
On the new IS it is best to pull the front door panels to get a clean job. Make sure you are dealing with someone that has done this before. If not you run the risk of needing your door locks reprogrammed and may even get a air bag light. Its best to hang the panel and not remove it. Disconnecting the plugs is were the problem comes in. The new GS can be done either way.

If you are a AM radio listener than you would be better off with a extruded (dye) film to eliminate reception loss on the back window. There are good and bad dyed films. The better ones are Llumar AT, SunTek Carbon, and the 3M CS. There are a few others but these seem the most popular. Ceramic film is also an option as well but the price is much higher. You do get much better heat rejection though.

The sputtered films - Llumar Platinum Plus, Solar Guard Quantum, SunTek Infinity, and Sun Guard Endurance ect. will take longer to dry out. In the summer months it can take up to 2 weeks and up to 3 in the winter months. This film will pucker up as it dries. Will look like dimples on a golf ball. Its normal and will go away. The sun is the best thing for drying film.

I tried clicking on the state guide it its not working....I need to know the laws for Florida