Window Tints

Ok so the next thing that was in my process was to figure out how I wanted my car to look. Really this could be your first step and most of the time it will be. With the headlights and tail lights I was just impatient I guess. Anyways, I wanted to have my car all one color. The dominant color is black. The background of the headlights are black. So I proceeded to just black out the car. The windows were something that I couldnt do by myself at the time, and was relatively inexpensive to do. So I went on to google, pulled up the yellow pages for my geographic location and searched for local businesses that tinted car windows. If you proceed to do this your self it is not all that hard to do, just time consuming. But if you want to do this your self there are some general guidelines. First make sure that whatever tint you use is in accordance to any federal, state, or local regulations such as tint percentages. For example, in Texas you cant have anything darker than 25% on front windows. This information can be found online or by contacting your local DMV, DOT offices. Being patient is critical so as to prevent air pockets from forming in between the film and the window. some basic rules of thumb to follow in this would include: 1.) start with a clean car, relatively dust and wind free environment. The tint is applied on the inside of the windows using soapy water, also in order to proceed with the rear window you may need to remove the 3rd brake light and or rear deck if they are against the clear part of the glass,(you may need to do some research before attempting this due so many different car models have different layouts). 2) Preparation and materials:First get the right equipment and materials for the process. These items include a heat gun, tinting squeegee (they come in long strips so you can cut your own however you want it), spray bottles(can pick up at Walmart or old cleaner bottle), hard cards, Bondo cards, red devils, a cutting surface(something that wont damage the film, glass maybe) butcher paper (needs to be plastic covered on one side) a snap off razor blade or exacto knife, baby shampoo, paper towels (shop towels are better) and some hands tools. Go ahead and seperate everything so that nothing would get in your way. As well as around the window area that you want to tint. It may be necessary to remove the door panels.( again this is not car specific, research your car model if you have to remove the door insert).3) Side windows:There are a couple of ways to cut the paper for the windows, one is on the window itself. Place the window film on the outside, with the liner side facing up, the film then can be cut with the knife to the approximate shape of the window. Or to conserve film, or prevent trial and error, use something else to make the shape of the window, such as freezer paper. Also cut the piece a little bit larger than the window. Make several cuts along the side of the paper, maybe an inch or less long and about 4-6 per side. Side will help making the paper lay flat when you tuck the edges into the frame. Then proceed and spray down the outside of the fully rolled up window with UNSOAPY water. Having a sharp pencil handy, lay the paper over the glass, plastic side down and go over it with the hard card. NOTE: keep the paper side of the plastic paper DRY. Using the pencil trace the edges of the film onto the paper. due to the length of this post, please proceed to part 2