Do it yourself tint

Ando140 · #1 (**permalink**) 05-27-2007, 09:50 PM

So, I bought some pre-cut 3M Color Stable tint off ebay. It arrived Friday and I decided to try to put it on today with some help from my uncle (who has done this before). I mixed up the water/soap solution... 2 drops of dish washing detergent to 1 spray bottle (~1 qt). spray the solution on the window & clean it with a paper towel, then again with a razor blade. Roll the window so there is a gap of about an inch from the window to the top of the frame. Then spray the outside of the driver's side window with the solution and place the tint on it. We peel the protective film off about 80% of the way from top to bottom, spraying the solution on the adhesive side as we go. Then spray as much solution on the inside of the window & the adhesive side of the film as they will take. Try to slide the film into place, and the film will not slide at all. The slightest bit of pressure and the film sticks firm. So, in trying to deal with this I accidentally crease the film in several places and it looks terrible. So, we ended ripping it off and trashing it. That'll be the last time I try that, I'm calling a 3M local tint place on Tuesday and hoping they'll put the remaining piece I have on the passenger side and put a new piece on the driver's side. I just have one question though...
What did I do wrong? Everything I've seen & read says you should be able to slide it around on the window... I couldn't have possibly had more water between the tint & the window, it just wouldn't slide at all. It was almost like there was no water on it.
Sorry that got so lengthy, I wanted to be sure I included all the details...

Big_Al1 · #2 (**permalink**) 05-28-2007, 07:06 AM

It should slide with ease maybe it was defective .I watched the guy do mine and he slide the tint were it needed to go no sticking until he started squeezing the air bubbles out.

Ando140 · #3 (**permalink**) 05-28-2007, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big_Al1

It should slide with ease maybe it was defective .I watched the guy do mine and he slide the tint were it needed to go no sticking until he started squeezing the air bubbles out.

Yeah, I was under the impression that it should slide with ease too, but it didn't...

Bluethundra · #4 (**permalink**) 06-02-2007, 12:47 PM

You may not have had enough soap in your spray solution. It should slide pretty easily until you start smoothing out the tint.

Ando140 · #5 (**permalink**) 06-02-2007, 10:35 PM

Yeah, that's what the guy I bought it from said... so I got another piece... using a scrap, I tried adding more soap and I couldn't get it to slide much better, and I was afraid I was adding too much... so I went out and spent $5 on some stuff that's made for it. That seemed to work better, but when I went to put the new piece on, it was nowhere near the right size & shape for my window... the one I destroyed was perfect... and so, the saga continues...

Bluethundra · #6 (**permalink**) 06-06-2007, 06:18 AM

So did you ever get another piece of tint and give it another try?

Ando140 · #7 (**permalink**) 06-06-2007, 07:59 AM

I did get another piece... after messing with some scraps & the solution I decided to go spend $5 at advance auto parts & get the Gila solution... it works much better than my solution. So, I placed the new tint on the outside driver's side window and got ready to peel the backing off, but I was having trouble lining it up with the window... the cut wasn't even close to my window this time (it was perfect last time). So, I emailed the seller and he's sending me another piece, he thinks he may have cut it for a tacoma by accident, but I'm not sure... there's a pretty good angle where the back of the window would be, and if I remember correctly, the tacoma's window (like the tundra's) should have about a 90 degree angle at the bottom on the back of the window... so I don't know what it's cut for.
The new tint should be here today and I'll give it a shot again this weekend... wish me luck!

Ando140 · #8 (**permalink**) 06-06-2007, 04:34 PM

well, the new piece showed up today and it doesn't fit either... it's strange, I double checked the one I still have for the passenger side and it's perfect, so I'm not sure what's going on with this now.

Bluethundra · #9 (**permalink**) 06-07-2007, 06:08 AM

Just keep bugging that guy until he sends you the right tint.

Ando140 · #10 (**permalink**) 06-07-2007, 07:46 AM

Yeah, I will... I think I figured out what he did. I think he cut it for an 03-06 double cab. I didn't realize the double cab front windows were different from the access cab until I looked at some pics.
I can't complain though, it'd be easy to make that mistake if you weren't real familiar with the Tundras, and the guy has been extremely nice and easy to deal with. I wouldn't hesitate to buy tint from him again.

los211 · #11 (**permalink**) 06-13-2007, 11:26 PM

When I have done my other cars I have gone to Tap Plastics and purchased the tint in the shade I wanted. The limo tint usually goes for around 3 bucks a foot. The lighter shades are cheaper. I get enough to have some left in case a screw it up. I have done my cars for about $50 each. The newer cars are a pain in the shorts cause the glass has compound curves and is much more difficult to get the tint to lay flat.

TundraBear · #12 (**permalink**) 06-13-2007, 11:53 PM

you guys are giving me courage to try it, but i'm planning to tint ALL of my windows including windshield, so i'll probably just wait.

i did however buy some tint to cover my headlamps and rear lights. i'd love to have my truck as completely black as possible. i even just ordered black seat covers from Exact Seat Covers. anyways, i tried to install the film over my headlamps and just couldn't get it. most likely because of the curves and what not. hopefully the tint shop won't charge me too much to do it for me.

Ando140 · #13 (**permalink**) 06-14-2007, 07:35 AM

I haven't tried it myself, but I've seen videos on the internet where people use a heat gun to shrink the tint to the window before they peel the plastic off the adheasive side. For example, with the back window, they lay it over the window (covered adheasive side out), rough cut it to size (leaving some excess), then wave the heat gun over it until it shrinks up to match the window. It looks pretty easy, but like I said... I've never tried it, and probably wouldn't attempt it myself unless I had plenty of extra tint & time. I've heard that you can use a hair dryer instead of a heat guy, but it'll take longer.

los211 · #14 (**permalink**) 06-16-2007, 01:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ando140

I haven't tried it myself, but I've seen videos on the internet where people use a heat gun to shrink the tint to the window before they peel the plastic off the adheasive side. For example, with the back window, they lay it over the window (covered adheasive side out), rough cut it to size (leaving some excess), then wave the heat gun over it until it shrinks up to match the window. It looks pretty easy, but like I said... I've never tried it, and probably wouldn't attempt it myself unless I had plenty of extra tint & time. I've heard that you can use a hair dryer instead of a heat guy, but it'll take longer.

I had my malibu done at a shop cause the glass on that car was just too much for me. Even the guys at the tint shop had a hard time with it. I melted the tint with a heat gun twice and burned my fingers from the hot glass. A blow dryer will work but it does take longer to get the tint to shrink.

Ando140 · #15 (**permalink**) 06-26-2007, 07:44 PM

well... the fiasco isn't over yet... I finally got tint that was cut correctly and had planned on putting it on this past weekend. Well, as I peeled the tint off the backing, it started to tear from the pre-cut line.
That sealed it, I give up. I'm going to have a tint shop do it. I wasn't trying to save money by doing it myself, just trying to make it more convenient (I hate dropping my truck off and letting someone else work on it), and I hoped to learn something in the process. I definietly learned something... I learned that when it comes to installing tint, I'm no good. I probably could have gotten it done if I had a roll of tint so I could screw up and have plenty to try again with... but this just isn't working... I give up, the tint gods have won.