i had high hopes this morning when i decided to tint my windows on my 99 civic ex, i end the day feeling depressed and stupid...lmao

this was the most epic failure in my life. i have 3 cuts on my hands, a trail of blood from my garage to the bathroom, random pieces of tint laying around the garage and driveway, a scratched window, and still no tints on the car.

i gave up after "paper cutting" my hands on the tint film 3 times, getting hair and dirt in between the film and glass despite cleaning it REPEATEDLY, and the solution starting to freeze while i was squeegeeing the bubbles out...it got cold all of a sudden.

just thought id share my experience, but i refuse to pay $200 to get this done at a shop so ill keep trying till i get it

has any1 done this succesfully? how do u keep from sh*t flying around in the air from landing on the glass while u transfer the tint on?

 

you really need to do this in a garage or a really calm day. Ive been tinting windows for 10 years. dont use the "application" liquid that comes in the kit. just use four or five drops of baby shampoo in a spray bottle filled with clean water. make sure you cut your patterns first before you peel the backing. some windows require the tint to be "shrunk" with heat before its applied. theres a lot of tricks to coming out with a clean application.

 

yeah i was doing it in my garage. before anythin gi sprayed down my interior to keep from stuff floating up and sticking. id clean the glass, spray it down and then peel the backing while spraying down the exposed adhesive. then id put it on the glass pretty quickly and still id get small hairs and tiny specks. i got fed up with the contamination. i bought 2 packs of the gila tint and ended up throwing it all out cuz id mess every piece up

 

its really easy if you take the glass out of the car and lay the windows on a table. its more work but 10x easier.

 

yeah im considering doing that. is it ok if the film rides inside the guide rubber?

 

ive tried and failed miserably, thats why applying tint is a trade. try youtube

 

x2 youtube is your friend

 

you get what you pay for works both ways playa

 

i cut it out pretty well and followed insturctions i got off youtube, the problem that i had was contamination of little pieces of hair and other stuff that made bubbles. well that and accidentally cutting into the rubber gasket will cutting the vertical lines.

it was literally impossible to get the glass it perfectly clean. id squeegee it, spray it down, peel and spray the film, then as soon as id put the film on the inside glass there was conatmination. once i peeled part of it off again and cleaned off the piece of hair or watever, it would get dirty in another spot. and this is all after i sprayed down the interior to keep sh*t from floating around.

i dunno maybe my hair was rubbing against the headliner and coming off. i think im gonna take the 2 front windows out (its a coupe)and do it indoors, and ill do the quarter windows on the car but ill be a little more lenient on contamination, you dont rlly look out hte quarter windows anyways.

the worst part of getting a piece of hair stuck was that once i squegeed over it, it actually made an indentation of itself in the film. so even if i took the piece of hair out, the indentation was still visible.

now i see why ppl pay other ppl to do this...lol

it looked so easy in the videos tho...haha

are you suppose to tuck the sides of the front window tint under the gasket? or cut it so the sides of the tint film dont touch the gaskets on the sides of the window?

if i pull the windows out of the car and trim the film by using the edges as guides, then obviously the film will be riding on the inside of the gasket. is this ok?

 

ive attempted this also. turned out horriable.

 

I also tinted some windows on my em1 yesterday... came out flawless!

1. Spray outside window
2. unroll tint on said wet window to "hold it to it"
3. spray tint and squeegee it as much as possible to get the correct form
4. make cuts
5. take snap blade and get blade in between tint and while pulling back the clear film, DOUSE it in soapy water...
6. Spray inside of window and quickly transition the tint to the inside.
7. Slide it into place and squeegee a "plus" sign to get it started.
8. Wrap hard card with paper towel and squeegee away...
9. As you push the water out from behind the film, the paper towel will absorb water at the edges to eliminate "fingers" and protect the film from scratches or "kinks" during application.

Here's a word of advise. Don't use gila. That **** will be purple in a month. Go to a tint shop and get llumar or 3m off the roll.

 

also application should be done in warm weather... inside a garage, or outdoors when it's 60+ degrees. You dont have to get ALL the bubbles out, because as the sun hits it, the moisture will eventually evaporate and the tint will shrink to the form of the window.

 

Another thing, I found your issue... You're removing the clear film and then spraying it,leaving the sticky adhesive open to contaminates. Spray AS YOU PEEL!!! and SOAK that bastard.

 

Apparently I can't edit my posts, so im not post whoreing... lol.. Yes, the tint is suppose to tuck under the gasket... The hardest part you will come across is making the cuts near the side mirrors...

 

yeah actually i was spraying while i was peling it...lol still came out like **** i think ill get a better brand and just take my windows out. ive taken the drivers side glass out so many times i can prolly do it in 5 mins now haha....the rear window is going to be a bitch and a half tho

 

You will need a heat gun to shrink the tint to the form of the back window...

 

yeah i bought a cheap one specifically for this.

do you have any advice for making the cuts on the front windows? i kept on accidentally cutting in to the gasket and riding up over it. then i had to go back and try to clean up the cut.

 

after you make some "rough" cuts, roll the window down a tad bit to get an even cut along the top of the window...

 

oh the top was easy, the sides are the problem. my knife keeps getting caught on the rubber and i try to go back to make it look better, only to mess it up more lol

 

Sounds like spending the $200 would be a lot easier to me. Considering the amount of tint you keep destroying and parts of your car like seals and such. Just go get it done by a pro. They also usually offer a lifetime warranty. At least where I went did. If it ever peels or fades they cover it.

 

the best way to avoid this is to make your cuts (good or bad) and shift the window tint (so you can tuck the bad cut behind the seal) then make your other side cut, then top and bottom. Think of it this way. Your back quarter panel window has the black edges around the window and is not seen through. make your cut on the left side of the window and shift the tint to the right to the visible edge (the edges are exact anyway). This way you have a perfect cut. then cut the top edge and shift the tint down (now your top edge is perfect). I don't know if this is making sense or not but its the best way I can explain it.

 

Words of advice from a professional here...go pay a reputable shop to do it correctly. I guarantee you won't be able to shrink the back glass if you were having trouble on the fronts, not to mention any of the **** tint you buy at walmart/parts store is cheap dyed film that will go purple quickly.
If you decide to try again here's a quick run-down of what to do.
Spray outside of the window and line the straight edge of the film with the bottom of the window. Push all the water out, run your blade alongside a hard card on the tall side of the window. On the short side lightly score the tint to mark where the gasket is, now pull the bottom edge of the film away from the glass, roll the window down about 1 inch. Run your blade along the top of the window to cut it to shape. After that go back to your short side and cut it but give yourself and extra 1/8th of an inch so it will fit behind the seal.

 

yeah that makes sense, i saw it done in a few youtube videos. Im most definately going to do that. basically i should:

stick it on the window while lining up the factory edge with the bottom part of the film (extending a little bit over the bottom seal so i can tuck it in under the gasket later), then make the tall vertical cut first, reposition the film to the right about 1/4 inch ( if im doing the drivers side of course), make the other vertical cut, lift up the bottom part of the film up a little bit, roll the window down so that the edge is exposed, cut the top part by running my knife along the edge.

well i rlly dont care about the cost, as long as it doesnt get ridiculous. its more important for me to learn how to do this. i take pride in knowing that i did something myself, instead of paying someone else to do it. and i have to replace that seal anyways plus you can make sum money doing this on the side if you wanted to, and im a broke @$$ college student

yeah i attempted to shrink the quarters cuz they had fingers, and they fit perfectly wen i put them on the inside. like i said the only real problems i had was making the cuts and contamination, and im eager to try the back glass

i grabbed some pieces of leftover tint i had laying in the garage today (how i spent my study break...haha the college life), and practiced running the blade very close to the gasket but without cutting into it.

after a few cuts i started to get the hang of it and i realized wat i was doing wrong before: i was keeping the knife "straight" while cutting and it would "wander" into and onto the gasket, now i hold it at an angle and run along the gasket with the "backside edge" of the blade. feeling confident, i went from my drivers side window (whose gasket i need to replace) to my passengers side, i did a few cuts with no damage to anything

im gonna buy some rlly cheap film, like autocraft from advance auto parts just to practice a little bit. Ill cut it, put it on the window, make sure theres no contamination, then ill just take it off.

im gonna order a roll of suntek and with sum practice beforehand, i hope and think itll come out alright.

 

one more thing to ask, can you fix any blemishes or contamination after you squeegee the film on?

will little bubbles go away after curing if there was a little dust?

or should there literally be NO contamination whatsoever?