Tinted windows serve as an important feature of protection against the sun’s harmful rays for not only the car’s interior but also the car’s occupants. There are a number of things that you must consider when thinking about having tinted windows in your car. Understanding these key facets of the process, whether you intend to use the services of a professional installer or prefer doing the fitting yourself, is important in ensuring that the materials used and the workmanship are of good quality.
So how do tinted windows offer protection? Well, they block out over 60% of the sun’s heat radiation and virtually 100% of the sun’s Ultraviolet rays. The substantial reduction in the amount of direct sunlight and harmful ultraviolet rays that the car’s occupants are exposed to reduces the risk of skin and eye conditions that may otherwise result. In addition, the car’s interior and in particular the upholstery is preserved from the rapid fading of fabric seats and cracking of the interior panels.
Other than protecting from ill health and reduced wear and tear, security is another benefit of tinted car windows. Tinted windows make it more difficult for anyone to tell exactly what is inside your vehicle; therefore if you have any valuables, they would not be as obvious to a burglar as they would for a car that has no tint. Tint also provides privacy for the vehicle’s occupant. A good example of this is prominent persons that sometimes prefer to travel incognito.
The actual process of fitting the tint film is fairly straightforward with the only difference between doing it yourself and using a professional being the latter’s use of more sophisticated equipment coupled with the benefit of experience. Whereas using a professional has the advantage of you having the ability to demand a quality installation, you can still achieve quality if you do it yourself if you follow each step and do so meticulously.
The first thing you must do is to buy the film to use. It is at this point that you need to decide on the type of tinted window you would like to have – do you want a reflective or non-reflective tint?
Once you buy the appropriate film, clean the windows thoroughly in preparation for the fitting of the film. If you leave traces of dust particles or dirt water stains on the windows and allow these to be sealed under the film, they will reduce the quality lifespan of the tint and lead to the rapid deterioration of the tint as ‘bubbles’ develop.
Next, thing to do is to cut the film to the exact specification required to fit the window(s). You can do this by either measuring the dimensions of each window and cutting pieces of the film accordingly or you can place the film on the window and then cut the film slightly beyond the edge of the window frame all around. Do not cut the film in the exact measure as a slight margin of error in measurement may mean having a section of the window left clear.
One you have the pieces for each window you would like tinted, stick the film to the window with a mounting solution, smoothing as you go. Cut out the extra edges all around so the tint fits into the window exactly. The result should be clear, bubble-free tinted window. Leave for approximately one month before cleaning the tinted windows to make sure that the bonding has fixed properly.
One thing to bear in mind is that laws on tinted windows vary significantly from one state of the US to another and from one country to another. You can very easily drive from a state where it is perfectly legal to have tinted windows into one that has much stricter laws around the use of car tint. The legal disparities between two US states may be as simple as having any tint at all on one’s vehicle to the darkness of the tint used.
The important thing is to make sure you are within the law of the place(s) where you expect to use the vehicle most frequently. This is probably one of the key benefits of using a professional to do your tints as you can have them provide you with a certificate to confirm that it is legal to have tints in your jurisdiction.