window tinting

Karl Shultz · **Posted:** Thu Mar 19, 2009 3:34 pm

Anyone who's got aftermarket tint - make sure you don't use glass cleaner with ammonia in it. Invisible Glass is ammonia-free and works very, very well. Last time I was at Target, I saw it for less than $4/can.

Aaron Buckley wrote:

Maybe I'm an idiot, but I've never been into tint on any cars. Does it really help with interior heat that much?

I always thought it was to look cool

- AB

Aaron, It does make a pretty big difference, especially if you own a car with a dark interior. The S2000, with its black leather and black vinyl top, got impossibly hot in the summer months. With the tint, it's down to "very hot." It also seems to help the notoriously weak A/C keep up.

Wes Eargle · **Joined:** Mon Oct 27, 2003 9:47 am **Posts:** 3683

I'd pay somebody to tint a car before tackling it myself. That sounds almost as painful as changing a Miata top without removing the rollbar. That was a weekend full of fun ...

Matt McGrain · **Posted:** Thu Mar 19, 2009 4:21 pm

Wes Eargle wrote:

I'd pay somebody to tint a car before tackling it myself. That sounds almost as painful as changing a Miata top without removing the rollbar. That was a weekend full of fun ...

I'm with you Wes.

I can only imagine doing installing tint would be x1000 more frustrating than, say, installing drywall. Arrrg!

George Bright · **Posted:** Thu Mar 19, 2009 4:33 pm

Vincent Keene wrote:

I have a little experience in this area having done some myself and seen it done MANY times by a friend who ran her own shop.

1. 20% is NOT legal Matt, and I can't believe a professional shop these days would even do it. I have plenty of experience first hand with 'the man' on this when I had my '86 Camaro...with 8% tint all around! 35% is the darkest that is legal in NC and lots of inspection places do use a light meter (on the side windows at least) to check. Technically the law only applies to the driver and passenger front seat windows, so the back doors and rear glass can be limo black...which can make the others appear darker, but be warned this can result in more harrasment by the man.

Vincent,
You are wrong on the back windows part. In a sedan the 35% applies to all windows.

If it is a truck, SUV, Van, or Station wagon then the windows behind the front doors can be black.

I know this because I was a State Inspector.

Michael Westerfield · **Posted:** Thu Mar 19, 2009 7:57 pm

I have been pulled over by a cary cop before, and he produced a window tint checker on the spot. He tried to write me a ticket because he thought my prelude was illegal. I tried to show him my state inspection first were I had passed, but he wouldn't listen. He checked it anyways and I passed. I loved watching him walk away rejected.

Aaron Buckley · **Posted:** Thu Mar 19, 2009 8:19 pm

Michael Westerfield wrote:

I have been pulled over by a cary cop before, and he produced a window tint checker on the spot. He tried to write me a ticket because he thought my prelude was illegal. I tried to show him my state inspection first were I had passed, but he wouldn't listen. He checked it anyways and I passed. I loved watching him walk away rejected.

Knowing Michael, he would have been more satisfied if the dude fell walking back to his car and broke his leg. Then Michael could laugh at him

- AB

Stephen Westerfield · **Posted:** Thu Mar 19, 2009 8:54 pm

Aaron Buckley wrote:

Michael Westerfield wrote:

I have been pulled over by a cary cop before, and he produced a window tint checker on the spot. He tried to write me a ticket because he thought my prelude was illegal. I tried to show him my state inspection first were I had passed, but he wouldn't listen. He checked it anyways and I passed. I loved watching him walk away rejected.

Knowing Michael, he would have been more satisfied if the dude fell walking back to his car and broke his leg. Then Michael could laugh at him

- AB

Wrong Westerfield. I'm the one that <3's cops!

Arthur McDonald · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 1:54 am **Posts:** 2052

Michael Westerfield wrote:

RodneyWright wrote:

Arthur McDonald wrote:

Rodney, do you put a sunscreen in the windshield when you leave the car parked outside? That really helps keep the heat down in my car, which has a black interior.

I always aim the car into the sun at work and used a screen on the bmw. Haven't bought one for the mustang yet. What do you recommed? I'd like to have one that's more custom fit rather than a generic one.

Rodney, I picked up one made by heatshield and it fits perfectly. I think it was 30-40$.

Rodney, mine is one of those silver fabric ones with the springy metal frame. I bought it at Walmart.. maybe 6 years ago, when I traded in my SHO for the Maxima that I traded for the Mustang GT. It happened to fit very neatly in the Mustang, so I kept using it. Also, it folds down to about 1" diameter circle, so I can stow in the rear passenger footwell.

Karl Shultz · **Posted:** Thu Mar 19, 2009 10:41 pm

Re: Sunshades: check your parts department. Leith Honda had a closeout on fitted S2000 sunshades last year. Fits perfect, and I bought it for $6. Win!

Matt McGrain · **Posted:** Thu Mar 19, 2009 11:31 pm

Karl Shultz wrote:

Re: Sunshades: check your parts department. Leith Honda had a closeout on fitted S2000 sunshades last year. Fits perfect, and I bought it for $6. Win!

While we're on the topic, if someone wants a nifty sunshade you can have mine. I can't use it with a Nuvi and V1 stuck to the window...

All I ask in exchange is a six pack of whatever.

PM me for dibs...

Karl Shultz · **Posted:** Wed Sep 07, 2011 4:46 pm

Has anyone got recommendations for a tint place in the Durham/Chapel Hill area? I'd like to keep the E320's interior as close to perfect as I can, and the car is parked outside at work. Thanks!

Karl Shultz · **Posted:** Thu Feb 09, 2012 11:02 am

Matt McGrain found me "the guy" in the area. His name is John Marcum, and he owns Shade Sound and Security. He can do mobile, but mostly works out of a storage facility in Raleigh, near the beltline. He took great care of my 1994 Mercedes. The tint work is awesome, with impossibly small edges and no imperfections that I've seen. As important is the care he took with the rest of this car. It is old, and the plastics are very fragile. He didn't break anything, and even better, he fixed some little things I didn't even know were wrong, like a missing moisture barrier from when a window regulator was replaced years ago.

Here is his current Craigslist ad - that link will likely expire at some point, so search Craigslist, under Automotive Services, for "Shade Sound." Easy to find.

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/aos/2809027021.html
(919) 414-2537

I hope to make it to the meeting tonight, so if anyone wants to see the work, I'll be in the Merc.

Andrew Jonell · **Joined:** Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:43 pm **Posts:** 1350

How reasonable are his rates? (Never had anything tinted, thinking about it for my new car)

Matt McGrain · **Posted:** Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:23 am

Whew, you had me scared there on FB that something went wrong.

I'm really happy it turned out great despite the 3rd brake light trim being a little fragile from the sun (kinda guessing on this one?) and John alway struck me as one of those types that does projects on others' vehicles like they were his own. I've been considering having him put 35% on the S2000's two windows this spring, although I'm getting the crazy idea that I might tackle it myself. Someone talk me out of it quick! :roll:

I think he's worked on four of my cars and I've referred him to 3-4 others.

Karl Shultz · **Posted:** Tue Feb 14, 2012 1:34 am

Andrew Jonell wrote:

How reasonable are his rates? (Never had anything tinted, thinking about it for my new car)

I paid $235 for the Mercedes. It's a four door sedan, with two windows on the back doors. The car's rear window is notoriously tricky to tint, because it takes some unusual bends at either side, quite sharply. And then there's the plastic, all of which is very very fragile now with age.

Matt McGrain wrote:

Whew, you had me scared there on FB that something went wrong.

I'm really happy it turned out great despite the 3rd brake light trim being a little fragile from the sun (kinda guessing on this one?) and John alway struck me as one of those types that does projects on others' vehicles like they were his own. I've been considering having him put 35% on the S2000's two windows this spring, although I'm getting the crazy idea that I might tackle it myself. Someone talk me out of it quick! :roll:

I think he's worked on four of my cars and I've referred him to 3-4 others.

I considered doing the Merc myself, to be totally honest. I found that for nice film, though, I'd be looking at probably $100 for the whole car. I'd almost certainly ruin at least one piece of film, too, so I'd have to order more. It didn't seem cost effective for me to try and DIY it when John can do it correctly for $235.

The third brake light I knew would be an issue, since I'd had it apart before. This was actually the trim on the C-pillars. There's a piece of fabric that Merc used to either pretty something up, or to act as an anti-rattle mechanism. Anyway, the glue holding that little piece of fabric had expired years ago, I had just never seen it. On first glance, when I didn't know what I was seeing, it looked like big cuts in the vinyl, and John even agreed that it would be easy to make that mistake. But it wasn't. In the end, I took the car back to him and he removed the now-useless cloth.

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