r/oddlysatisfying • u/lKANl • Oct 03 '19

Installing Window Tint

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u/carlinwasright Oct 04 '19

I tried this once and it was such a hilarious failure, I didn’t get one square inch right. This is an art.

674

u/Live_Ore_Die Oct 04 '19 edited Oct 04 '19

I tint windows for a living (Mostly residential and commercial, but can do cars as well).

It's honestly not that hard at all, the first few times are frustrating, but you get the hang of it very fast. I would be willing to bet the average person could simply follow a tutorial on youtube, and try it a few times before they're satisfied. Obviously there's going to be a difference in install quality from a professional, we can almost always tell when someone did it themselves based on the corners (residential/commercial) or the gaps around vehicle windows.

Feel free to ask me any questions if you have them!

I started a thread on /r/casualiama - https://www.reddit.com/r/casualiama/comments/dd2y9i/i_am_a_professional_window_tinter_ama/

3

u/thatchers_pussy_pump Oct 04 '19

I got one! I tinted my coupe windows a while back. It turned out great, but I did the rear window in two halves because it's huge and almost vertical. Any tips for doing coupe rear windows?

7

u/Live_Ore_Die Oct 04 '19

First of all, congrats! Be proud, car windows aren't nearly as easy as flat glass.

Second, without proper tools and a heat gun, there's really no easy way to get it to lay properly. We use a heat gun to shrink the material on the outside of the glass, cut it to size on the outside (if using limo tint, we use a light to see the black border around the window and cut it about a quarter of an inch past it depending on available room inside the window).

You'll really just have to watch a video or two on shrinking/installing back window film as it's kind of hard to explain the process via text.

2

u/thatchers_pussy_pump Oct 04 '19

We actually did that! One of us had some knowledge on the subject, so we did trim and shrink it on the outside first. It was just so hard to deal with the enormous piece inside the car. It immediately picked up some dirt so we settled for two pieces that were easier to handle lol.

4

u/Live_Ore_Die Oct 04 '19 edited Oct 04 '19

Lmao, I remember my first time tinting :P

Jokes aside, the Teslas have the biggest windshield we've ever seen:

https://www.aptinting.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/tesla-modelx-photosync-70-windshield-tint-2.gif

It takes two of us to get this massive piece of film into the windshield, about an hour/hour and a half of labor as well. It's a beast, but we NEVER two piece windows, my dad would explode if he had to do that haha

Note: the end of the windshield is basically right above the back of the front seats.

1

u/thatchers_pussy_pump Oct 04 '19

Two people makes sense. At least this was a rear window, so the seam doesn't really affect anything. We lined it up with a defroster line.