can anyone help with fitting window tinting vinyl?

[Neil Davey]

What’s the window like, is there much of a curve or ‘bowl’ in it?

Neil

[Dave Bruce]

Jonny, I thought it was always done wet! If the window is curved you will need to put the tint on the outside, back-to-front and heat the material to conform to the window curve, remove them apply to the inside.

I am no expert, but that is what I understand you do.

Cheers

Dave

[JonnyAnnett]

quote Neil Davey:

What’s the window like, is there much of a curve or ‘bowl’ in it?

Neil

It’s a 2006 Fiesta ST so the windows aren’t to bad. The rears quite curved.

Wasn’t sure if I was to fit wet or not as I’ve no idea about this type of job.

[Neil Davey]

You’ll have to heat shrink the material to conform.

This is a little tricky and may take a few attempts 😕

[Gavin MacMillan]

Heat shrink on the back screen and then fit WET. It’s not vinyl and attempting to apply dry will only mean you wasted all the time shrinking it to fit!

[Stuart Miller]

wow, big question …
as there is no easy learning curve to tinting, it probably takes 2 years full time to even feel you’re starting to get to grips with it.

Every piece of film (even car side windows which look flat) has to be cut and shaped by heat shrinking on the outside. There are 3 basic ways of doing this and you have to know all the different ways as no two cars or two types of film will shrink the same way.
Wet shrink is easiest and fastest for simple curves,
Dry (soap) shrink is used on more curved screens and the most extreme method for radical curves like Clio, Beetle, Peugot 206 is called lift and pull.
all have their place, all need lots of practice.

Once shrunk without any creases you have to then learn the techniques of getting the liner off the film without touching the film or getting any dust on it and onto the glass on the inside.
Any felt edges, fabric trim must be covered with duct tape to stop dust contamination and then a mixture of water and baby shampoo allows you to position the film on the glass.
A good tinter’s squeegee will get most of the water out followed by a hard card covered in paper towel/microfibre towel will get even more out and `bump` the edges dry. Even still film can take 30 days to dry out completely. But no problem, it will dry and there is no method of getting tint on without a water and slip solution.
Further awkward learning curves are how to get tint behind edges of roll down windows so can not be seen and tucked behind door rubbers. some cars you have to remove door cards some just tuck in.
This is only a very brief description but there is plenty of how to info on this website.
http://www.tintdude.com/
If you can’t afford proper 1:1 training then the only other option is to purchase Flat Rock Stan’s training DVDs which everyone agrees to be the best. find on tintdude or here
http://www.autowindowtinting.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=content.display&pageID=144
Trial and error without some direction will never get you there to a satisfactory standard. Far far harder than any vinyl installation.
However luck is on your side as a Fiesta is straight forward unless you want to do the front roll downs, which have severe light transmission restrictions anyway.
Good Luck
Stuart

[Lee Ballard]

You’re a braver man than I.:D

Having tinted a few friends vehicles, mainly flat windows, I would not fancy offering it to customers on a commercial basis, horrible job.

Best of luck and I hope you get the hang of it quickly. Whatever you do though, don’t treat it like vinyl at all.

[James Martin]

My mates a full time tinter, infact it was he who put me onto signmaking as he used to sell for the film for various comapnies.

I’ve watched him tinting loads of cars and it looks very labour intensive with loads of technique’s.

The de-trimming is hair raising the way he rips and pops the plastic and seals off, and sometimes they break by the way.

he uses lots of soapy water on the window and the film and loads of heat and elbow grease getting the water out.

Still messes up and has to start over sometimes and thats after years and years day after day.

[Jayne Mason]

Not sure if I can mention this, but here I go…..
I know a company who offer training courses in film on a one to one basis if you are interested I can give you details, you can either go to them or they come to you. This is not a service that is offered through me and would be between you and the installer/trainer

Hope all goes well

mod-edit

[Gav]

are there any guys in Scotland who do training courses in tinting?

[Stuart Miller]

quote Neil Davey:

You’ll have to heat shrink the material to conform.

This is a little tricky and may take a few attempts 😕

Even a simple bit of help like this can put you wrong for ever without training as what this does not tell you is the film only shrinks along one axis so put it on the window the wrong way and however many times you try it wont work. The whole tinting game is like this, which is what makes it such a challenge and keeps those that persevere in work.

quote :

Still messes up and has to start over sometimes and that’s after years and years day after day

yep the final outcome can still be uncertain for the expert. keeps you on your toes.

quote :

I would not fancy offering it to customers on a commercial basis, horrible job.

That just depends on whether you like an easy life. After two years tinting full time I still get a great buzz out of a successful install, every car presents a new challenge. Not a horrid job, a challenging job.

quote :

are there any guys in Scotland who do training courses in tinting?

There are, but you have to make sure they know what they are doing as there are a few cowboys offering training who them selves haven’t done a long enough apprenticeship.
I would recommend going on the Tintdude forum, finding the European Board and asking there as some good guys hang out there. But be warned you have to be tough as it can be a hard place to get accepted as they guard their profession with a vengeance and don’t like giving tips to people who just want to give it a quick go. If you are serious and humble and are serious about learning as a profession then they will help.
A guy called Diamond Tints in Glasgow would know.

[JonnyAnnett]

Thanks for your help guys. It’s for my own car first, I’ve wanted the windows tinted. We have a local specialist tinting firm and I spoke to them about doing the job but the price was unreal, I know firms on the mainland that charge half the price of this guy and they are well respected.

Anyway. I decided I’d buy some material myself and have a crack at it, if I mess up I can do it again. I’ll be able to make mistakes and repeat it a good few times before I get to the cost of what I was being charged.

I’m not intending to get involved in the tinting on a commerical basis simply because I have a good bit of work with signage and liveries, but having some experience tinting is handy incase of any jobs in that line of work.

I’ll give it a go at the weekend, providing its not too cold off course.

Jonny

[Stuart Miller]

Jonny it would still be worthwhile scanning the installation instructions on tintdude to get some tips as there is too much to try and tell here and each stage is important.
read this
http://www.tintdude.com/tint.html

to give you an idea of prices.
They can vary greatly depending on quality of install, experience, whether mobile or workshop and the type of film used.
We always advise not to use a mobile tinter as quality is never as good outdoors.

For the 3 rear windows of a Fiesta
Under £100 is usually a hack job. (I would avoid)
around £120 – 140 is average for a budget film (0-2year guarantee)
around £175 for a quality film with 10 year guarantee.
Max £220 for High performance metal heat rejecting film.

You actually get what you pay for and therefore really hard for the public to understand why so much variation in cost and it can be quite normal for it to seem that the same thing is twice as much.

MOD-EDIT see board rules

[Sean Cully]

I do a bit of window tinting and it gets easier the more you do it.
Do not expect to get it right even the third time!!!
To be quite honest there is a lot of time spent removing door panels, rubbers and glass then you have to shape on the car.
Sometimes it isn’t worth the heartache and you may think the professional tinters are charging a fortune but when you look at the amount of preparation and application it is cheap……

SC

[Raymond Wiedenhof]

A lot of conflicting and frankly misinformed opinions here(sorry to rock the boat so soon after joining the forum)but as a tinter with over sixteen years experience I have to say that good tinters can be made,great tinters are born.Profound I know but basically anyone can be trained to tint,with enough practice they may even be good at it,but I find that unless you have an aptitude for it most peoples patience gives out long before their confidence.

Ray

[Stuart Miller]

quote Raymond Wiedenhof:

A lot of conflicting and frankly misinformed opinions here(sorry to rock the boat so soon after joining the forum)but as a tinter with over sixteen years experience I have to say that good tinters can be made,great tinters are born.Profound I know but basically anyone can be trained to tint,with enough practice they may even be good at it,but I find that unless you have an aptitude for it most peoples patience gives out long before their confidence.

Ray

Welcome Ray, another tinters opinions are welcome here as I am often alone trying to explain what makes tinting so difficult.
Guess your’re saying the same as me, but hey, if they are after advice and knowledge I’m all for letting them try. More work for us when they give up, possibly.
Just saying "its hard so don’t do it" doesn’t really help

[Raymond Wiedenhof]

The amount of times I’ve heard "How much,I can buy the stuff for a tenner in Halfords and do it myself",on you go mate see you when you’ve wasted £40 and made a complete hash of it. need any help, I can explain things reasonably well.

[Martin Pearson]

Raymond, no need to appologise for rocking the boat, the whole point of the boards is to help each other and if people are giving incorrect advice to people for one reason or another then it’s better if someone who really knows what they are doing comes along and puts people straight.
To be honest I think a lot of people think they will be able to window tint because they have learned how to fit vinyl.
What they don’t realise is that it’s a completely different material, reacts differently and is a different skill to fitting vinyl alltogether.