Wondering about tinting my windows because they are not yet and it gets hot here and would like the privacy. Wondering has anyone tried tinting themselves? I found a full precut tint kit for the x-type on ebay for $30, and if I bought the squeegees I needed and a heat gun, I reckon I could do it myself. It's a skill I've been wanting to acquire but I don't want to mess it up or make it look homemade. I've watched a few tutorials on youtube and it seems pretty straight forward. I was thinking a dark tint in the back, maybe not quite limo tint dark, but like 5-10%? Does it make it harder to drive at night? I know they are pretty strict around here about dark front windows. Also it would give me an excuse to get a heat gun. I've been wanting one and there's always projects that requires a heat gun.

 

Although this is not the easiest thing to do in the world, you definitely have the right mentality to take on the job!

If your sole purpose is to just cut cost and find the cheapest way possible to get a tint job then I don't recommend someone try this job because they will get frustrated very quickly. On the other hand if you are doing this to acquire a valuable skill and as a fun learning experience then I say go for it. Just take your time with it and I'm sure it will turn out fine.

Personally I think tinting windows on an X Type makes it look a lot better. Vision isn't really an issue even at night and with a dark tint.

TIP: if you wan't an OEM look try to keep the tint level as uniform as possible throughout the car. Even if it means going with something like a 35% tint all around. It doesn't have to be that dark to make the car colder inside.

 

I have 5% tint on all 4 windows, back windshield and the strip on the front windshield. At night (at least initially) it's unbelievably difficult to back up, turn, or see much of anything without adequate outdoor lighting.

I would highly advise you pay a professional to laser cut the tint and install it correctly.. I paid $250 for mine, and I have a lifetime warranty.

5% will look the best, provide you the best privacy, and will keep the hot sun out of your car.

Side note.. I also paid. $250 to get my headlamps, fog lamps, and tail lamps tinted. They aren't 5%, but still look great.

 

its not hard to tint. Best way I found was to make a very mild soap water and use a windex bottle. Spray both the window and the tint. This will make the tint move freely on the glass. You don't need a heat gun just a hair dryer will work. Start from the center out and make it even strokes. after its all dry I use clear nail polish at the edges to make sure it don't peel. and DONT ROLL THE WINDOWS DOWN for at least a day.


I have always done it this way with no issues at all.


Good Luck,
The Dr!

 

My XJR had dark-ish tint on it when I bought it. I hate it. It really restricts night visibility.

But I'm not well versed on the subject. I'm sure there are a jillion different types of tinting with different characteristcs.

Cheers
DD

 

04xtype04, I have done the home tint on my car. I bought one of the $30 E-bay kits. It will look great for the first year or two. After that, you will notice that the tint will start to fade and you are going to end up with a dark ring on the edge of the windows where the glass tucks up into the window seal. I bought 20% and installed it. I would guestimate that the tint is now at about 35% (if not nearing 50%) after 4 years.

The side windows are pretty easy. The back window, well, if you are the only one doing it, I wish you luck. I haven't had good luck doing that window by myself. Like was mentioned, a heat gun is nice, but a hair dryer works. The big thing is to squeegie out most of the water and if you crease the tint, to hit the crease with some heat and it will cause the tint to shrink slightly and straighten out the crease. The big thing is once you see the tint start to crease, don't push it down any more. Go to the sides and then use the heat to pull it flat.

This is one of those things that what you pay is going to be reflective of what you get.

As for seeing at night, I can not speak for the 5%, but I have 20% on other vehicles of mine all the way around and backing up isn't hard, but it does make seeing things more difficult.

 

Would it be any different tint than what the shops use? From the listing it sounds like top of the line tint. Could be embellishing that a bit but my guess would be the average tint place uses regular old tint, not sure though. If I could do it myself and do a good job I would rather do it myself and learn how to do it. Kind of in the DIY mood, but I don't want it to look DIY. It seems hard to but maybe I am overthinking it. Did the precut pieces line up to the top of the window exactly or did you have to trim them a little?

 

I am not trying to persuade anyone to pay for a tint job, but based on my experience with doing tint myself vs a professional job, there really is a dramatic difference. Would you rather buy that cheapo tint off ebay, install it incorrectly, and then have it fade in a year? Or pay a little extra to get it professionally installed with a lifetime warranty?

It's puzzling to me why some choose to do that themselves.

 

04xtype04, do some looking in the e-bay listing. I bet you will notice at the bottom of the page that they will have something about "you can upgrade to a better tint by paying XX more". There are quite a few different levels of tint out there and some have tiny pieces of metal in the tint to aid in reflectivity, others us exotic stuff to make the tint color last longer, etc. I liken it to cars. You have your Geo Metros, you have you Jaguars. Both cars, both drive nice when new, but how do they look and how are they perceived 5 years from now. You get what you pay for with tint.

As for what the tint shops use. That is hard to say. But, if you talk to them, almost all of them off the "$99 specials" and then you can step up to the $250 and more installs. The big difference is the quality of tint you are getting. It takes them about the same amount of time to do the tint job. Again, you are getting what you are paying for.

 

Ah ok. I will keep that in mind. Just wanted to learn how to do it myself but it doesn't seem like the best car to learn on.

 

04xtype04, this car is not any different than any other car that you are going to learn on. Worst case, you install the tint, figure out that you don't like it, then you remove it to have a shop install it for you. You have still learned something in the process.

The big thing with installing the tint is cleanliness. You need the inside of the windows to be spotlessly clean. Even then, if you aren't sure, clean them one more time. Once you apply the tint, any dirt will be there till you remove the tint.

The big problems I have had in the past doing my own tint goes back to the back window. That piece is so large that it takes 2 people to do unless there is a trick that I am not aware of. The one thing that I will pose to you is that before putting the rear window tint on, you lay it on the outside of the car and hold it in place with a little bit of water (keep the clear film on it, but lay it like it would be being applied). From here, you can pre-shrink it to get the film to match the contour of the window. That way, you are not fighting it to lay flat when you are trying to squeegie out the water.

 

Ok thanks, I saw how they did that on youtube. Looked a little tricky getting the back film on without touching it on the seats or creasing it. Do you have to remove the door panels for the sides or does it tuck under the seals with the panels on? Thanks

PS This was the seller I was talking to. Looked like good tint. What do you think?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/191062355637?item=191062355637

 

04xtype04, the best advice that I can tell you is to do some reading up on window tint, the different kinds of tint that are out there, and the expected lifetimes of the tint. From what I have read, the tints that you can get pre-cut for $30 are the kind that in a short period of time (2 years or so) will fade. You start paying $100 for just the tint, you are going to get something that 10 years from now will look like it was just installed.

Once you do some reading, that will show you what a quality tint will say in the advertisement. Just to put a bit of reality into the link that you posted, they say that they have "very little color shift after 3270 hours". Ok, 3270 hours is roughly 20 weeks. Since the sun only shines on average 50% of the time, they are saying that you will see a slight bit of color change after 40 weeks (or 9 months). What about at the 24 month point? 48? With a little bit of research, you will see how the different tints have their pros and cons. Kinda like you will find that some tints will have metal flakes in the tint to provide the tinting. You will find that this is some of the higher quality tinting out there as it will last pretty much forever. The con to this style of tinting is that it puts you in essentially a farade cage and using a cell phone inside your car will be very difficult because most of the signal is going to get shunted to the body of the car vice coming through the glass.

Research is your friend in this case.

 

Probably would be worth the $100 to have a professional do it