When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Looks great! I’m considering a similar 70% tint but worried about how the dots on the rear quarter windows would look. Can you take a close up photo of the dots? Thanks,
Originally Posted by jamesinger
UPDATE (no tint)
(with tint: llumar stratos 70% on ALL windows)
I would say the tint looks darker here because it is dusk but in direct sunlight, it is pretty clear. I still would rather no tint but I feel like even with the AC on blast, I need tint once the temps are over 100. I drove up from LA to Tahoe area 2x this summer and from June to August, it was at or over 100 even after the sun went down and even early(ish) in the morning. It is just an oven in the Central Valley.
A couple comments:
The Llumar Stratos 70 is better than the Air 80 or Crystalline 90 on the windshield for sure. It is WAY more clear with less distortion. This is my 5th car done with windshield tint.
No tint shop can get this stuff perfect. I feel too OCD to go back and complain but there are 2 dust specs the size of a bic pen point on the rear quarter windows. I can only see them if I look but they are annoying to me. Luckily, all windows I look out of are perfect.
In relation to the dot matrix cr@p on the windows—Even with Air 80, Crystalline 90, and Llumar Stratos 70, you will get the silverish ring around the window. This makes me want to rip the **** off every time I look at it but as mentioned above, I need tint to not cook. When I am working in person, it is common for me to drive into the sun for an hour and/or to have it coming directly into my driver side window, so I just had to cave and get it because I am driving more now between work and caring for my mom...
Last, I would be interested in anyone who has the Xpel Ceramic. I think it is the only high end brand I have not tried. I tend to stick to Crystalline or Llumar Stratos but I am open to the Xpel. I will be getting another EV by the new year and with EVs tint is WAY more important for range after owning a Leaf, an i3, and a Bolt. Suing the HVAC less = more range, so the heat rejection has a strong impact on that.
It looks like ****. I will try to take pics. but it doesn't show up. I thought if you went 50% or higher, they wouldn't show. They show. They show a lot IMO. Rear quarters and rear window have a silver ring around them BUT it is less noticeable overall than when I had Huper Optik in a 40 or something.
Here is an attempt with every possible light on in my garage.
...but it just doesn't show, which is to say—it is not that bad.
If you zoom around the photo you can see it though.
Last edited by jamesinger; 09-09-2021 at 01:06 AM.
Thanks! It doesn’t look too bad! I think I will try the 70%. The 911 is the first car I’ve ever hesitated on tinting. I’ve always tinted my cars, usually with a 40-50%. But I just love the profile of a the 911 windows.
Yeah, I agree. I am overall anti-tint and have been going lighter and lighter since my first car but my opinion is all the 911s look better without tint. Also, I had a black EVO with 3M crystalline 90 all around and the clear windows looked much better than tinted ones when parked next to other black EVOs IMO.
One last thing I will say is that with nothing on the windows, in different light and at different times of day, the windows look more and less clear. With the 70% and up to the 3M Crystalline 90, this is slightly more the case. In direct sunlight, the 70 sometimes looks clear. In my garage with just one overhead light on, they show the 70% or so of transparency more (i.e. 30% darker than clear is more obvious). In relation to the imperfections and the silver rings around the dot matrices, this is also the case. If the windows are dirty or clean, in direct sunlight or at night, and etc. it will change what you see.
I talked to the owner of the shop I got this done at, and after years of dealing with the dot matrix junk on car windows, he considers it kind of a "throwing the baby out with the bathwater" type thing. You get all the benefits of heat rejection and UV rejection, and with ceramic, the percentage of light transmission does not affect this heat and UV rejection much...BUT you get this eyesore that no normal person would notice. The owner of the shop is also "not a normal person" so he gets it (and his McLaren has it too) but all the solutions to the dot matrix stuff are not really solutions, so they just focus on super clean uniform install, which is what I got except in 3 or 4 spots that are all as small as the rollerball (or less) of a common bic pen.
My point is, you have to know yourself. I assume that when I am daily driving my car, this will be less of an issue. Right now, the car sits most of the time detailed like a garage ornament, so anything from a rock chip to an imperfection in the glass is noticeable. The second some dust settles on the window, or they get slightly dirty, all this fades into the background. For example, when I did my last drive up ACH, I complained to my friend about the above mentioned dust speck in my rear quarter window and I had to clean the window to make it visible after a 100 mile or so drive all up in the Angeles National Forest. Food for thought. Unfortunately for me, this takes up too much thought.
Yeah they're high and low points in the glass texture, i've never minded it. I can't remember why they make auto glass with it instead of without. I think it has something to do with the tempering or install process i can't remember exactly.
Yeah they're high and low points in the glass texture, i've never minded it. I can't remember why they make auto glass with it instead of without. I think it has something to do with the tempering or install process i can't remember exactly.
I think you are correct. It also dissipates heat as well. I need to learn to not mind it. It isn't a big deal really. I just need to stop looking at it every time I look at my car.
Not sure the % but I know I don’t like it. I purchased this about 2 months ago. Way too dark for my liking. Reputable shop told me over phone $250 to remove but I haven’t taken it yet. I’m a little concerned they will damage defroster during removal.
Is that 80 or the 90 in that photo. I'm looking at Stratos 70. Not interested in the "blacked out" look and the lowest VLT I'd consider is 50, but leaning towards 70 for night visibility. Thanks
Is that 80 or the 90 in that photo. I'm looking at Stratos 70. Not interested in the "blacked out" look and the lowest VLT I'd consider is 50, but leaning towards 70 for night visibility. Thanks
here is a recent picture of stratos 70 in direct sunlight (all windows):
In an underground parking garage, they look a bit darker.
09-08-2021, 10:55 PM
