Tint question...

[bad63lac]

OK, does anyone know if there is a difference in the quality of certain tint films? All the tint shops around my area simply carry one cheapie brand in the various %'ages.


Here's the story behind my question...


My wife has an '08 Caddy CTS. We got it when they first came out in Sept of '07. At the time, it was EXTREMELY hard (for the first 6 months) to find a Black/Black one on a lot. You basically had to special order and wait for months. You could get other colors on the lot but no Blacks (too popular). Could not even find a single one in the country.

Anyway, we finally decided we would compromise on the interior color, so we went to a dealer about an hour away to buy a Black/Tan one.

When we got there, there was a Black/Black CTS sitting there on the lot. When I asked the salesman about it, he said it was a "demo" that was going to be driven by the dealership owner. Had not been driven yet and only had 10 miles on it.

After some convincing, they sold us the car.



The only problem was that it had tint on the windows. Due to some laws, they couldnt let us drive off with it like that for liability reasons (even though we planned to tint it).

So they took the 4 windows' tint off but were taking forever and we left with the car before they remove the rear windshield.


It had 5% on it. We took it to a place to get 5% put on the 4 side windows to match the rear. From the outside it looks the same, however, from the inside it looks totally different. It's been pissing me off for a year.


The 5% on the windows is really dark. At night, I litterally need to put the windows down to back out of our driveway and avoid scraping the wheels on the driveway edgers.

The odd thing is, the 5% on the rear (from the original tint) is really bright at night. It is easier to see out of than the 20% tint I have on my 'Burban.



So........................



Are certain brands of tint higher quality and easier to see out of?

I suppose I could try to find out where it was originally tinted and get it re-done there but it's been a year and the saleman will probably think I'm an idiot. :skep:

 

[Nnaboy]

It could be similar to what I noticed. I've had 5% on previous cars but when I did it on the Tahoe it was dark as hell, thouugh now I'm used to it. What could of happened is that they could have put a 5% film on your back window to add on to factory to make a darker than 5% overall effect. Then you could have went to the tint shop where the put 15%/20%/25% on your windows to make an overall 5% effect without actual using a 5% limo tint film.
Keep in mind 5% and darker films look very similar in nature from outside but look substantially darker from inside and look dark on cloudy non-sunny days!

 

[73shark]

Could find someone in your local police that has a transmissivity tester to measure it.

Just curious, isn't it kind of dangerous if it's so dark that you can't see out at nite? Might pull out in front of someone.

 

[bad63lac]

Yeah, well that's the thing... I've never been a fan of "limo" tint (5%).

When I've had tint it was always 20% (like our stock rear glass) or 35% (even lighter).


But again, on the Caddy, the rear is definitely 5% and so are the sides (wife decided she wanted it dark). The 5% on the rear (from the unknown tint shop) is easier to see through than our stock rear 20% glass. It's crazy. It's definitely 5% too. Cant see anything from the outside in. The 5% that my tint guy put on the sides is much harder to see through from the inside-out. I'll take some pics next time its sunny. Totally noticible in the day time too. (from the inside).

I want to get rid of the 5% on the sides and possibly replace w/ the same brand of tint that was used on the rear. My guess is that its some premium stuff which is made specifically to be able to see better from the inside out.


I guess I'll just have to call the Caddy dealer and be like "hey, remember me from over a year ago?.... where'd you guys get that tint done?"

 

[bad63lac]

It could be similar to what I noticed. I've had 5% on previous cars but when I did it on the Tahoe it was dark as hell, thouugh now I'm used to it. What could of happened is that they could have put a 5% film on your back window to add on to factory to make a darker than 5% overall effect. Then you could have went to the tint shop where the put 15%/20%/25% on your windows to make an overall 5% effect without actual using a 5% limo tint film.
Keep in mind 5% and darker films look very similar in nature from outside but look substantially darker from inside and look dark on cloudy non-sunny days!

Its on my wife's caddy. No factory tint.

Rear has 5%. (from unknown tint shop/brand of tint)
Sides are a single piece of 5% (watched my tint guy put it on)

During both day/night time, the rear 5% looks totally different than the sides when you look from the inside > out.


It literally looks like its 35% when looking from the inside. Again, its lighter than our stock tinted glass which is 20%.

From the outside, its pitch black limo tint. Cant see in. :skep:

 

[Nnaboy]

Thats weird I thought most cars come with privacy glass tint!
Then its probably just the grade of the tint, do you notice a brown/green hue from the tint or a black/blue hue?
The reason I ask is because black/blue hued films ten to be darker from the interior/exterior.
Another thing it could be is whether or not its a metallized film or dyed film. Metallized films are darker and last long....some special dyed films are long lasting too.
Llumar, SolarGuard and 3M make the premium films too

 

[Stargazer]

The 5% on the rear (from the unknown tint shop) is easier to see through than our stock rear 20% glass. It's crazy. It's definitely 5% too. Cant see anything from the outside in. The 5% that my tint guy put on the sides is much harder to see through from the inside-out. I'll take some pics next time its sunny. Totally noticible in the day time too. (from the inside).

Unless you use a light meter on the inside of the vehicle, there is no way to measure what the exact percentage the tint is by looking at it from the outside and saying you "can't see anything from the outside in."

The percentage rating is how much light passes through the film, NOT how reflective it is from the outside. Your eyes are probably one of mother nature's best light meters and if you say that from the inside, the rear glass passes more light through than the other tint your guy put on, then the tint on the rear glass is NOT the same percentage as what your tint guy put on. It HAS to be a lighter tint (higher percentage) because it is allowing more light to pass through. Whoever told you that the rear glass was 5% was simply wrong.

At the same time, tint film is created in batches, and because of manufacturing variances, tint film from another batch may be +/- from the label. I think that margin of error is normal. I would assume a no-name, cheapo tint may have more variances than an expensive ISO-quality tint. At the same time, I would want all the tint for a vehicle to be cut from the same roll to reduce the chance of one window looking different than another.

There are many kinds of tint: dye, metallic, ceramic and each will have different reflective properties and will look different from the outside. But that "look" from the outside has nothing to do with its light blocking/heat rejection properties.

One last point, some manufacturers don't follow the usual 5%, 20%, 35%, 50% intervals. The brand of ceramic tint I got last time went something like 7%, 25%, 70%. I would think that a professional tint installer would know all this and would have recommended to remove the old tint and reinstalling all new just to avoid the problem of having one window look different than the others.

 

[bad63lac]

The percentage rating is how much light passes through the film, NOT how reflective it is from the outside. Your eyes are probably one of mother nature's best light meters and if you say that from the inside, the rear glass passes more light through than the other tint your guy put on, then the tint on the rear glass is NOT the same percentage as what your tint guy put on. It HAS to be a lighter tint (higher percentage) because it is allowing more light to pass through. Whoever told you that the rear glass was 5% was simply wrong.

So riddle me this...

The "unknown" tint shade on the rear of my wife's car (I still believe it to be 5%) why is it that I cannot see a single thing through it from the outside (ie.. it's "limo" tint)

However...

From the inside it is almost crystal clear?

It passes more light than my 20% tint.
It passes more light than my factory tinted rears.


From the inside, it looks comparable to 35% tint (amount of light passing to inside).


Again, from the outside you cannot see a single thing through it.

Obviously this is not the case with factory, 20 or 35% which all allow you to see through it.



This is why I am asking if it is some sort of special tint. To drill the point home one more time... From outside, pitch black! From inside, looks like most 35% tint. How?

 

[bad63lac]

Has anyone ever seen 35% tint that is completely pitch black from the outside and does not allow you to see into it?

Because from the inside that's what it looks like... 35%.

 

[Nnaboy]

Thats impossible.
Any 5% tint will not be as visiblle as any 35% tint from the interior.
It could be a 15% on your wife's car which is similar to 15% in its darkness but lets more visibility from the interior!
Your best bet is to stop a local cop and ask them to check it for you, I've done it before and he gladly helped me!

 

[Bear]

Okay, yes it is possible to have something look pitch black from the exterior while maximizing the view out. There are various ways to take window film and tint it. Different materials give it a different look, and not ALL film is the same, there are layers of acrylic adhesive (sticks to glass), tinting material (metal, ceramic, carbon, etc.), clear polyester backing (where the UV rays are filtered out) and an abrasion resistant coating (helps protect film from scratches). Different companies use different qualities of these products and that sets them apart. Llumar, Vista, Johnson, Madico, V-Kool and others are not of the same quality as 3M films are, and should never be used in comparisons. 3M films are by nature more expensive, longer lasting, crisper looking, fade, bubbling and scratch resistant than any film out there. If the Cadillac dealership paid for 3M film and you got a different brand film put up on the rest, even though on paper they are rated the same, they will look worlds apart. 3M has a "Crystalline" line of car films that are dark from the outside looking in and when you sit in the car looking out, it is relatively bright, crisp and clear image out. If you took it to any tint shop, chances are they were just trying to get business in and out the door, not everyone would take the time to tell you that the film already there may be different than the one you are purchasing. Also, if it was on the back windshield, chances are they didn't even want to touch it because of the rear defrost, taking film off of that window usually ends up taking longer than profitable and may even end up in ruining the rear defrost. I guess I took the long way of saying that not all films are the same and if you put up two films from different manufacturers side by side on a piece of glass, you will see a difference even though they are rated for the same light emission.

 

[LVYUKYUK]

:10s:


Good Post Bear! Thank you!

 

[bad63lac]

cool... thx.

 

[Bear]

:10s:


Good Post Bear! Thank you!

Thank you LVYUKYUK.

 

[Nnaboy]

Bear its been a while a saw you online because I remember you buying the Baer Brake kit?
I remembr you having problems with it, how is it now?

 

[Bear]

Bear its been a while a saw you online because I remember you buying the Baer Brake kit?
I remembr you having problems with it, how is it now?

I'm sorry to go off topic on this thread, but all is good, had to bleed it properly and get it torqued down to Baer specs as opposed to GM specs. I will try this weekend to get some pics up and open my thread for it.

 

[Nnaboy]

Yeah I did kindof veer it off-topic but this thread pretty much is over with after your posts!

 

[Bear]

Yeah I did kindof veer it off-topic but this thread pretty much is over with after your posts!

Haha, I have learned a thing or two about tint. Thanks though dude. Let me just visit OT a bit again, the brakes are SWEET!!! I can stop quicker than my friends Mustang.