this is what the topdog tint guy told me regarding what shade i should use:

35% would serve your desires better than any other. Limo is way too dark
so is 20% & 50% wont provide much cooling. Keep in mind 35% on the
fronts is not legal, heck even 50% is not legal. I defy anyone to point
out a car in a parking lot with 50% tint on it. IT CANT BE DONE, the
human eye is not that sensative, this is a scientific fact. Ultimatley
if you cant see the reuction you wont feel it either, Thats why we seek
shade. There lies the dilema, I bring all shades with me and will
discuss each one with you until you have no more questions and are
comfortable with your choice.
Chuck

 

Can't go wrong with the Top Dog Tint guy. I highly recomend him if you live in the San Diego area. He did an awesome job on my car.
As for the 3M question...I checked all around before making my choice to get my car tinted. 3M seems to be the industry standard. If you get it done, make sure the tint comes with "3M" markings every foot or so (removable with alcohol swab) on the tint material. This is for fraud protection. I guess a lot of people were saying they were using 3M, but were really not. If 3M wasn't any good, people wouldn't be trying to pass off any fake installs.

 

Well maybe someday these car builders will get smart and have the windows sputter coated with a low-e product (like Solarban 60)...or go to a pyrolitic low-e glass for the windows...this can be done...their just to cheap to do it...

What you need to look for in window tint is one that gives you the most visible light transmission with the lowest shading coefficient...the difference in the 3M cs35 and cs50 tint is real close and I would go for the most visible light and take the .07 I will loose in the shading coefficient over loosing the .13 in visible light transmission...but with that being said either Llumar or 3M makes a great product...we have used both in the glass business for years...

 

Agreed, especially in the case of cars like the '06 Civic with highly raked windshields that absorb huge amounts of sunlight. If the windshields etc. came with a transparent film of some sort that blocked out the infrared spectrum while allowing only visible light to pass through, there woudl be significant heat reduction, and signficant less need to run air conditioning.

 

What happened to the photovoltaic glass we were promised years ago? Turn your car off and the glass instantly turns opaque. Start it up and an electric current acts on a chemical film within the glass to make it completely clear. Since it's within the glass, there's no worry of scratching or fading.

This might be practical for fixed glass like the windshield or rear... but would be quite costly to do on moveable glass like on the doors! Would be nifty, though!

 

Not sure if someone already answered your question, but I heard to be careful about using metallic tint on the rear window IF you have any type of antenna in-glass NAV/radio or satellite on your rear deck. I heard it may cause signal degradation/loss.

I'm looking to have my car tinted and learned about the metallic tint caution from calling some tint companies for quotes.

 

thanks for that good info. i think i'll go with 50 up front and either 35 or 50 in back. top dog tinting is coming to install them tomorrow. i'll post pix after.

 

Its here...cost is around $100 a square FOOT...so you figure your windshield went from costing $300 to costing almost $1400...and for the record its a liquid crystal film thats laminated in between two pieces of glass...the only problem is it requires POWER to make it opaque...so a dead battery in the morning would be a common thing

Here is a link for those interested...
http://electricglasswall.com/index.html

 

Hmmmm, I was thinking it could be set to be opaque with power off, and only clear with power... but on second thought, that would be a really bad idea! I could only imagine the lawsuit if you're driving along and a fuse pops and your windshield suddenly goes dark at 60 mph!

Scratch that idea. Good for homes...BAD for cars!

 

well, its done. top dog did an outstanding job. i watched the whole thing, and the guy, chuck, is very knowledgeable and skillful. only problem is, i think my fronts are too dark. when i looked at his car (he has a tinted prius), his front windows looked light enough, and he said they were 35, so i told him to do mine in 35 all around, but when i got out into the afternoon light, they looked much darker than his did. they look great, but if i get a fix-it ticket, i'll redo the fronts in 50. i'll try to post pix tomorrow.