Window Tint - Who has done their own?

[JoeS]

When i had the interior ripped out of my S10, i took the time to tint the windows in the extended cab. I purchase some good quality tint and installed. I thought it was very straight forward and easy. That was 18 months ago and it still looks good.

Now that i have the interior ripped out the E34 i am considering doing the same.

BUTTT..... The rear window defroster has me a little apprehensive.

Any tips or tricks to pass on? I have found a place that will do the rear only for $60 and i am thinking of going that route.

[SnakeyesTx]

I had a Jeep Wagoneer with nice flat window panes everywhere and it was cake. With the defroster back window I just used a lot more water than I thought necessary and went with the squeegee. The trick is to go with the lines from left to right, not up and down. IF you have a heat gun you can make it adhere a little better.

On my 5'er, I was going to tackle it myself, but I looked, and looked and looked... and figured... well.. its curved 3 ways, and its not exactly "square" in shape AND I have defroster lines and antenna lines to mess with... lets leave it to the pro's (especially since they have sheets wider than the stuff you can buy in boxes at the parts houses so they can do it with 1 sheet rather than using two and trying to line them up together).

Had my whole car done for 120 bucks with warranty. The hardest one, back window came out the best, and I had to have 1 door redone due to peeling a month after install. The back window had these watery pockets in between the defroster lines for about 3 days, but I was told to just leave it alone for about a week and not roll down the windows. I let the car sit outside in the 100+ degree sun for 5 days, and wouldn't ya know it.. the water was gone, the tint was tight, and I have no bubbles anywhere. Shop around and leave it to someone else that'll warranty the work if you can shell out a few extra bucks.

[TheEndIsNear]

Yeah there's a tint guy here thats going to do mine with a lifetime warranty for 180... That's 35% in the front and 15% in the rear. Nice shop too all small and hidden. When I went in I as like this place is too small then I looken in the shop and they were doing a Porsche GT... There were doing some kind of tint on the lights too, never seen that before...

[Thayne]

Well that answers one of my questions. I think I am going to leave it to the professionals as well. I have never done this myself and wouldn't want to mess up. Do most shops offer a lifetime warrenty?

[TheEndIsNear]

Most good shops offer a strong warrenty... This shop that's going to do mine is going as far as removing all the door panels ect... The guy said its about $25-30 more expensice to do our BMW due to the way the door panels come off...

[Jon K]

I left mine to the pros - $180 installed 3M film, 30% all around.

[VentoGT]

Don't try this yourself--it's cheap enough to let a professional do it. $200 for 20% all around in my M5 with a lifetime bubble/peel warranty. Any decent shop will offer a similar warranty, as when this stuff is applied properly with a high quality tint, it just doesn't go bad.