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| The tint is trimmed around the edges and the area of the mirror bracket. |
Of course a good tint job requires good installation. An ultra high end film like Crystalline is somewhat tricky to install and we wanted a really clean professional installation. Another thing is that 3M Crystalline is only available through authorized 3M installers. We had our favorite window tinters, The Tint Factory in LA, expertly install our Tint. The Tint Factory does all of our project cars due to their professional workmanship.
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| The tint is then sprayed with soapy water and soapy water is applied between the tint and the backing. |
We decided to use the darkest 40 Crystalline film on the side and rear windows and the light, nearly clear 70 on our front windshield. First, The Tint Factory's Ace installer Frank Garrido, thoroughly cleaned the inside and outside of our windows and laid down the film on the outside of our windows using a large amount of soapy water. Then he trimmed them to exact fit using a razor knife. For the compound curved windshield, Frank used a heat gun to skillfully shrink the film to the shape of the windshield so that it could be done in one piece. This is pretty cool as we would always have to do curved windows in many pieces with seams.
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| The soapy tint is then unrolled on the inside of the glass. |
Frank also used techniques such as bumping and shaving to do a very thorough job. Bumping is partially rolling down the window in the trimming process to make sure that the entire window is covered with film, even under the weatherstrips and other parts that are not so easily seen. Shaving is cutting the film to the very edge of the glass, then burnishing the film slightly over the edge, sealing it with the careful use of a propane torch. Careful use of the propane torch also helps getting the film to stick without wrinkling in difficult to work areas. It is not good to try this unless you are pretty skilled, you could easily end up setting fire to the car’s interior panels, melting the film or cracking the glass!
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| The tint is put in place and positioned. Once in place the backing plastic is removed. |
