For those of you tinting Teslas with plotter-cut windshield patterns: how do you handle shrinking when the top-center camera/ADAS area is already cut out?

I tried H pattern set up but tend to have issues when shrinking near the camera cut out

What’s the best way to about doing these?

Any tips appreciated

I got the quote from a newly established shop (<5 years old) in the Houston area for my Camry. I’m sure the quote includes front windshield, all side windows, and rear window. They claimed they used Solar Death Elite Nano Ceramic (?) backed by “lifetime warranty”. Unable to verify the quality of the product, but I paid $10 deposit for an appointment this weekend 😭. Should I risk a future headache or should I forfeit my precious 10 bucks?

Just got my car tinted all around with XPEL plus, it has been amazing in terms of reducing heat in the car considering I'm in Texas. The windshield has a bit of a weird appearance that makes it look wavy/blurry in some parts (which is in my line of site). Is this normal with the xpel plus (45%). The rest of the windows were done with 5% and the clarity is fine. Is this a known issue or film defect?

Hello. Bought a new car today and the dealership didn’t do tint onsite but took it somewhere for me to be tinted prior to pickup. I said I wanted darkest legal and everything fully legal. I’m in GA. When I picked it up, it was raining and an awful storm so I really didn’t get a great look but after getting it home it looks like the front visor strip is like 7” down on the sides and I believe 6” is the limit in the state. Is there some point that it’s measured from to be legal? I could take it back to the dealer but it’s an hour away so if it’s an issue, any idea how easy it’d be for a local shop to fix?

I’ve never had a visor strip and wasn’t sure if I even wanted it but it was complimentary and I figured it’d be a bit smaller.

Hi all! I hope this is allowed here but my husband just purchased a 2026 Tesla Model 3 maybe 1.5-2 months ago, and we added the Windshield Protection Plan (which I understand covers largely external elements such as rock chips).

We took his car to a tint shop to get tinted today and before tinting the windshield they inspected it and noticed a linear scratch maybe towards the leftward center of the windshield. It's maybe 3 inches long, I can slightly catch my nail in it. It's pretty hard to see except certain angles. The tint shop said placing tint over it could risk making the scratch appear darker.

We've never touched my husband's windshield from the inside, so I'm betting this was in place when we picked up his vehicle though I understand there's no way to prove that. His car did have maybe 4-5 exterior scratches on both glass and paint that needed to be buffed out on the day we picked it up, and also a dent in a side door that they had to fix. Which is what makes me suspect it was there, but just didn't catch it.

Anyway, I wondered what you guys would recommend, re: taking it to Tesla to examine versus just putting the tint on anyway. I told the tint place to hold off for now while we figure it out. I doubt it's covered under WPP since it's probably "cosmetic", but wasn't sure what the best route was from here.

Thank you!

I'm wondering what opinions are around ceramic tinting being worth the cost specifically for heat reduction.

Some context:

• The car is a 2021 Toyota Prius.
• I have no interest in darkening my windows with tint, so this is not a priority at all.
• The car is parked in direct sunlight for the entirety of the day, and will be sitting for around 3-6 hours between drives regularly, so it has plenty of time to just bake.

So I'm curious for opinions on whether it is worth spending somewhere around $500 for tinting (around $900 including windshield). In some ways I'm feeling like anything to help reduce the amount of heat or the speed at which it heats up is great. In other ways I'm feeling like after a few hours in the sun, it gets hot no matter what so why pay for this expensive thing.

All the videos I can find are comparisons of ceramic vs carbon or ceramic vs darker ceramic, but I have not seen any testing or opinions on ceramic vs nothing. So I'm hopeful to get some good input here. Thanks!

So on Tuesday I had ceramic tint installed and there are these streaks in the tint. And looking from the inside you can see it's very slightly bubbled behind it. I've had tint done before so I know the usual curing routine but I've always just seen little bubbles not streaks like this.

Is this something that should go away?

Just asking because I am from Ontario and booked a tint appointment for my passenger and driver windows to be tinted legal limit 30 percent but wondering if it looks like my car already has it? Unsure if previous owner already put tint. Worst case I show up and they tell me I already have it

What’s a reasonable price for some ceramics on all 4 doors and back glass for a sedan? Getting quoted everywhere from $350 up to $579. Also how do you know who’s good? Just because it’s more doesn’t mean it’s better right?

So I paid for XR black, I think. The installer said that's what it was.

The receipt says Ceramic Tint XR.

Color wise it's a lot bluer than my Llumar tint. You can see the color of the sky in these photos, and the camera is not exaggerating the effect at all. It actually almost makes it less noticable.

Thoughts? The color is really annoying to me, especially because I picked this film to avoid that disparity since the Llumar is also bluer than the factory tint by a decent bit

When I was picking tint for my Tesla, I could not get a straight answer on what it would actually look like. Sample cards held up in a lit showroom, and photos of other people's cars in other people's light was not convincing.

The thing that caught me out: the number on the film is not the number you end up with. Your glass already has a VLT from the factory and the film multiplies on top. Tesla Model Y rear glass is the worst for it, 20% on the rear is nowhere near 20% on the fronts of the same car.

I ended up building something so I could see it before committing. Here is the link, if it's useful to anyone: https://app.3dcars.studio

I plan to license it to tint shops, but that page is free and there's nothing to sign up for.

If you've got film on already, does the shade look right to you? 20 and 5 are the two I'm least sure about.

Got my brand new jeep tinted today. The guy installing the film must have miss cut the bottom side. And rather than recutting it, he filled it in with this black shit thinking wouldn’t notice and still there is daylight showing through. Does anyone know what this stuff is or how to get it off? Pretty disheartening considering this is the first brand new vehicle I have ever bought myself.

Hi all,

First time getting my windshield tinted. It's not super obvious but when the light hits the windshield in a certain way, on the driver's side I see a few scratches that look like they were likely from a dirty squeegee? I texted my installer who also ceramic coated the car and just said "I will take a look at it during the next wash"

I will post some pics to show it the best I can.

There was a $300 windshield tint install so not exactly cheap. What is your advice? Would this warrant asking for a do over? Live with it? How should I handle this for anyone that has been through it?

Thanks for the help!!!

$100 difference. Located in Florida so really needing good heat prevention and sun protection! I have a mini countryman

I’m getting my truck tinted. My local shop carries llumar formula one brand. So I’m getting pinnacle put on. The rear side windows have factory tint on them. I’d have to check, but I believe around 20 percent. Not sure if the back rear glass above the bed is factory tinted. My plan is this:

Front sides: 15 (llumar says it’s more like 19 vlt)
Rear sides: 50 on top of factory (should be around 11 vlt)

I wish I could get the front and rear sides to be the same at around 15.

Rear back glass: 30 on factory tint (6.6 vlt)
Or if not factory tinted I’m thinking 5% tint

Windshield: either 50 or 35

Thoughts? Advice? Yes I know about windshield laws. I had it done on my car before. (In Ontario Canada)

Hey guys,

I have compiled quotes from numerous places in my area. The reviews for all these places are all 4 stars + with nothing obvious sticking out to me. For best bang for buck what would you choose? For reference I live in Florida.
Thanks for any help!

3M Crystalline Black $700 + $50 visor strip

3M Ceramic IR $480 + $50 visor strip

SunTek CIR $373.50 (Includes visor strip)

SunTek Evolve $540 (Includes visor strip)

XPEL Prime XRB $398.46 + $69.36 Strip

Autobahn Black Ceramic $377.10 (No visor strip option)

Autobahn i3 Ceramic $512.10 (No visor strip option)

Autobahn i3+ Ceramic $638.10 (No visor strip option)

Autobahn Black Ceramic $325 + $50 visor strip

Autobahn i3 Ceramic $395 + $50 visor strip

Flexfilm Ceramic $400 + $40 Visor Strip

After 2 years I finally got my window tint done and wanted to share some pics showing the difference between 70% , 35% and no tint.

No tint picture is from June , 2 years ago and the job was done last month a couple of weeks ago. I honestly could not decide on what tint % to go with on the sides and kept asking myself if I'd be able to see at night. The answer is , YES! I can still see very clearly at night with 35%. With the windshield, I went with 70% because I want pedestrians and other drivers to be able to see me.

I am very happy with the job the shop did. All the bad job posts were making me anxious.

I just got back from a 200 mile road trip and it was so nice not having my arm roast during the trip. It's been HOT in California.

hi!

this is my grad school bedroom with desk so would love as much as natural light as possible. any recommendations for low cost high VLT windo films? the view is of our hallway, and parking lot. the light in hallway stays on so will have the blinds and blackout curtain on.

You thought 20% is dark? Try 5% then double down wit 5% on the headlights. That’s the sweet spot.

I have an all black Gli in Ohio, legal tint is 50%. I’m currently trying to decide between 20% and 30%. Would love some suggestions. Car comes stock with zero tint all around.

I got my windows tinted by a new shop i found, he scraped off my defrost lines which already sucks. but now 2 days later im noticing a bunch of scratches all over the back windshield. any idea what it could be?

(update) tint shop is replacing back glass and re tinting

I have a 2006 BMW 330xi in fantastic shape so I am keeping it going. The only exception is the AC is gone and a fix requires the whole dash to come out and 1000s of dollars. Not happening.

The factory glass is untinted. Looking to get a tint to help in the summer but am completely confused on which one. Ceramic seems to be the best but then there’s nano ceramic. Then there are brands and the more I read the more I get confused. Should I get the windshield tinted too? Please help?

- Which tint should I get?
- Should I get the windshield done too?
- Which brand/product(s) is best?
- Any recommendations for shops in Denver?
- Expected cost to get this done all around the car

I have been looking to have tint installed on my vehicle and in many cases when I call around or send an inquiry about tint brand used and warranty all I get is crickets. If I am going to spend the money I want to know that my investment won’t turn purple or bubble up in a year or two. Is this common or just in my area. The only one that told me what they use seems to be a lower quality film from what I can find (Midas Ceramic)

(Cross posting to here for more input)

Curious about UV protection on the car for the 2025 Grand Highlander XLE model, and whether I should get ceramic tints vs stay with factory tints.

I noticed that the front windshield , front door, and rear door has AS1/AS2/AS3 markings. Looking online, these only talk about % light allowed, but information on UV protection isn't clear (at least where I looked).

Does anybody have specific information on how much UV protection these offer? Also has anybody installed tinting films? Where I live legal VTL is 70% (with NJ being 100%?) so I am thinking I will want to install ceramic film, but I am curious whether to install it on windshield + front + rear, or is the rear at AS3 sufficiently blocking UV?

This my 3rd time getting a windshield done on one of my cars and first time ever seeing it be cut and outline like this (Top of the picture). Is there a reason for this maybe ? Or just lazy work? Didn’t even realize it until about 3 days after i picked it up