how much of a pain would it be to do window tint? (precut) anybody done it successfully?

 

i tried it once and gave up. I personally will leave this one to the professional. it's such a PITA for me.

 

I watched the pros do the tint job, and from what I saw, it takes a lot of effort to get it done right. You need to know what you are doing, and be quick when applying the tint and make sure you have done the prep properly. Including cleaning the glass with the proper agents, measuring and applying tint on the outside of the windows first, than cutting around the windows to get the proper fitments for inside. Than you got to let them dry/expand before you place them inside and you need the right tools as well (which wouldn't be too hard to get) like window squeegies to remove the water and chemical from under the tint once applied inside. If you take forever in removing that water under the tint, you will come up with a dodgy job and it will begging to pop out.

 

not worth it IMO unless you want to do it professionally. Too much room for error, and one little mistake ruins it all. Tinting is one thing I gladly let someone else do.

 

For the cost of having this done somewhere I think its not worth it as a DIY. Just find a shop that does great work and let them handle it. I also tried it myself with a friend on his car and it came out good, but the time it took for one window was ridiculous. Then we looked at the back window and both said "forget this"

 

For the time it would take one of us, I would rather just spend the 100 bucks around here. My time is worth more than the time it would take for me to do it right myself.

 

The shop I had mine done at says that it was a more difficult to tint my windows than on most other cars. I have no problems having them do it for me because I wasn't even gonna try it on my own.

 

In the flip side of that, how hard is it to take the tint off by yourself? The PO of my GS400 put some insanely dark and illegal tint on it that I need to get rid of, since I can't even see out the windows at night.

 

It's not that difficult to remove but you have to make sure you get the tint that you can't see. Like the tint underneath the weatherstripping. You just a razor blade and some adhesive remover. Window tinters some solution that they spray right on the tint then let it sit for a bit and remove the tint.

 

Take some trashbags...Cut it to the shape of your windows..do 2 at a time... open up the other windows you are not doing...
Spray the bags with ammonia and just stick it onto your windows..leave it on there for a few hours and scrape away with a blade..Be sure to get the sticky layer and film layer of your tint.

 

You shouldn't give away such good ideas.

 

I try to do everything I can myself, because its hard to find people to trust to see the job through and do it correctly. However tint is one of those areas best left to the pros unless you feel like spending some serious labor hours redoing areas.

For Removal of my old stuff, I used a steam gun, kicked up an edge with a razor blade and pulled it evenly and slowly. All of the glue and film in 1 pull

Do not use a razor blade on your back window, the defroster lines are on the surface so you need to use steel wool and glass cleaner to get up and residual glue. I would wear a latex glove with that because it gets all gunky.


-Jackson

 

ok...i was told it would cost me 250-300 at my local shop..thats why i was wondering about it....

 

Thats a good price, as long as the quality is up to par, you would be very wise to take it there.

 

Tint work is very tedious...please let a PRO do this, plus if you have any issues later-you can always take it back. It should be guaranteed? Save yourself from f"""ing it up, otherwise you'll be like me, having to remove a BAD DIY tint job from my car's previous owner!

And if you think putting tint on is hard-try taking it off, even more tedious!