Getting Tint - Does brand matter?

[Celestias]

Hey all

I'm new to the world of car cosmetics and a friend told me they paid an extra $100 for higher end tint film, but i was wondering if the brand really matters or not?

I plan to go to a very good tint shop with excellent reviews but I've seen people do it themselves and they just buy the tint from Walmart pretty cheap and have it look great. This leads me to think the tint itself must not be that expensive and it may be more about technique in application, but maybe I am mistaken.

Perhaps someone who knows can let me know if the brand matters for how it will look and how long it will last, assuming the tint will be applied professionally.

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[Diode Dynamics]

Absolutely!

The installer plays a vital role (prevents bubbles etc), but the quality of the tint film used is probably the biggest factor IMO.

There's several big providers out there, so I suggest asking which brand they use and maybe searching a bit online

3M is usually a safe bet FWIW

Nick C.

 

[Celestias]

Thanks that helps a lot. I'll be sure to ask for options and keep 3M in mind.

 

[Diode Dynamics]

Thanks that helps a lot. I'll be sure to ask for options and keep 3M in mind.

I'm pretty sure the higher quality brands all use ceramic tint, but I'm no expert :shrug:

Nick C.

 

[Celestias]

Update:

Spoke to two shops.

The first uses suntek and quoted me 175 for the sides and back plus 175 additional for the front windshield at 70% uv protection.

The second one uses 3M and quoted me at 200$ for the sides and back and 330$ for the windshield.

I live in California and doing 70 % on the front is the most shops do here. I plan on doing 18% on the rest of the Windows.

I can't help but feel these prices are out of control though since I'm looking at $350-500 . Am I getting swindled here ? I may want to keep shopping around but I was hoping for no more than 250$ for everything which I thought was reasonable.

 

[Celestias]

After some research 350 appears to be the going rate for my area (with windshield). I'm going to go with a third shop that did say they could fit me in today and they use a Ceramic tint. Johson or luma brand (not sure how to spell it).

 

[Diode Dynamics]

$350 seems a little high to me, I've never paid more than $200 for a window tint (with quality film)

But I don't live in CA so idk! lol

Perhaps a member from CA will chime in with more information/experience

Nick C.

 

[Tweezy7]

Yes brand matters!
I had previously tint on two cars my lease civic (3m color stable) paid $250 and my old s2000 (3m fx) paid $125
The FX is 3M's entry level tint, it was okay but it was starting to fade purple after 5 years on the car
The 3M color stable is guaranteed to not faded and comes with lifetime warranty. Both cars where tinting in SoCal by Fresh Window Tint. when I was living in CA for my after college years

If you plan on keeping the car longer, I plan on keeping it my whole life. Im going to invest in Ceramic tint by Huper Optik this is (A) tint. This tint has 61% heat rejection and doesnt interfere with GPS, SAT radio etc. I was quoted $425 for this on the stang.

If you want the best of the best its called Spectra PhotoSync (A++) this is what I have seen people use of Ferraris and Tesla's. It offers 80% heat rejection and solar adaptive coating high tech stuff. Also you pay for what you get $600 for the stang

Both tints come with lifetime warranty. Its all up to you and what you want to pay for the quality.

 

[Celestias]

Hey thanks for all the information. Very helpful and will assist when asking questions. I called up four shops that had 4.5 or higher ratings on yelp and all want in the same range I mentioned. I think I'm gonna go with the one I mentioned which uses ceramic tint all around. I'm not sure how much heat rejection it is but I'll ask them when I go.

 

[Tweezy7]

Hey thanks for all the information. Very helpful and will assist when asking questions. I called up four shops that had 4.5 or higher ratings on yelp and all want in the same range I mentioned. I think I'm gonna go with the one I mentioned which uses ceramic tint all around. I'm not sure how much heat rejection it is but I'll ask them when I go.

What did they quote you at the Ceramic?
Just curious on pricing

 

[Celestias]

What did they quote you at the Ceramic?
Just curious on pricing

350$ for everything. Includes the windshield @70% And everything else will be 18%. I'm going to find out more details when I get there though. I'm not sure if they use different brands of ceramic for the windshield versus the other windows, so I'll ask about what they'll be using specifically before they do anything

 

[BlackWidow]

I've found that $250-350 seems to be the going rate for tinting an entire car here in NJ. It obviously depends on the quality of tint used but interestingly enough, it also depends on how the tint is cut. A few of the shops I have used over the years use a CNC type machine to pre-cut all of the tint for the car which usually means lower cost because there is less labor involved. The shops that still hand cut the various pieces tend to be a little higher in price, again due to the labor/time involved.

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