OK, I know tinting as a thread subject has been beaten worse than a redheaded stepchild here, but I searched and could not find any postings on differences between the two brands of ceramic tints. Are there any?

I am in AZ, so the only Huber dealer is in Phoenix/Scottsdale (Danny's) and the only Pinnacle dealer is in Tucson (The Specialist).

Price quite for the 80% Huber is $449 (98% is $649) and the Pinnacle is $285

The Huber guys have never heard of moleskin, and said the Acura doesn't have a tint scrathing problem!

The Pinnacle guys say they use moleskin for the Acura.

Both have a lifetime warranty.

Are there ay product differences in the two brands of ceraminc tints?

 

I don't know about the differences, but I've got the Huber Optic on my TSX and it is massively effective here in Texas. The heat rejection is better than any other tint I've had (about 12 other tinted vehicles) and so far (1.5 months) no signs of any scratches.

 

did you get the moleskin in the doors as well?

There is about a $150 dollar difference, and the install shop for Huber has so-so install record...

 

It basically came down to those 2 for me. I never ended up getting a price quote for the Pinnacle because as you say you have to go to Tucson or up to Prescott. I didn't want to chance it in case of future warranty work.

So I went with the Huper, however I did have a hell of a time with Danny's. They messed up my stuff pretty bad. I went to a non-Scottsdale location. They did end up making it right in the end, but I was in a loaner for a couple weeks. According to their shop manager in Scottsdale, they will replace any tint w/ scratches once a year, but not sure if I'd ever let them touch my car again. The film itself is awesome, and I only went with the Stark 30 (ceramic). The Drei has even better heat rejection, but it is semi-metallic (of course Danny's might try to tell you otherwise to get you to buy up).

 

I was leaning towards the Drei (98%!!!!) UV reduction and I think it's 35% light. You think I may have a problem with the XM/Nav if I use it?

Glad to hear Danny's finally made it right, but I hate that there is no GREAT place in AZ to get this done. You would think in ARIZONA there wuold be fifteen places doing high quality installs....

 

I know.. I was amazed there was no Pinnacle dealer in Phoenix Metro. I guess the millions in population just isn't enough. 450 for Drei would be a really good price... just make sure you are going to have it done in their North Scottsdale location. That would be the only one I trust.

As far as the interference... that I don't know. I searched endlessly before getting mine because of that concern and basically found many conflicting reports. AM is more likely to receive some interference due to the antenna in the back windshield. XM antenna is top of the car so I wouldn't worry about that. Navi is the big question w/ the antenna under the rear deck. Probably would be a good idea to get a guarantee from them. They of course will say that there will be no problem. They might just use Stark for the back windshield and Drei for everything else, either to mitigate a potential nav/radio issue or because Drei doesn't come in a big enough roll to cover the back windshield in one piece. Just confirm everything before you hand your keys over. Good luck.

 

Smite, Stogie, we oughta meet up sometime so we can compare our tints. I have the Drei 98%. Been meaning to go to Danny's again to have them replace the back windshield cause there's some bad creasing in it. My installer had one hand on his cellphone the whole time, was kind of annoying.

 

HO. do it.

 

I'm in. Yui, which Danny's put your film on?

 

Nope...no moleskin. The install was coordinated through the dealer who was advised of my scratch concerns. They have agreed to retint if scratches from the wiper bar appear, and note that with all the TSX they have tinted with Huber Optic, none have shown any scratches.

So, what the heck...

 

The one in North Scottsdale, close to the North Scottsdale Acura. I believe it's on Scottsdale Rd. They kept telling me how they do the Infinitis and the Acuras and all the other high end cars that are sold by the dealerships in that little area. North Scottsdale Acura offers Huper Optik as a dealer option actually and that's where they send their cars to.

 

keep in mind ceramic HO takes 2-3 weeks to fully cure and you cannot roll down the windows during that time. just fyi

 

Really??? My "care sheet" from huper optik said I can roll down the window after 72 hours....

 

i was told 2 weeks. and it took at least that long.

it may be related to the humidity here

 

OK, I plunked down cash for the DREI, getting installed on Friday at Danny's North Scottsdale (Scottsdale Rd. north of Greenway-Hayden). Got a deal because a guy at work was getting it as well, so we got a two car combo.

I will report on the quality of the install,,

It took some convincing to make sure that they were not going to wash the car after the install.

I only hand wash and dry, with my own mit and towells. The tint manager, Patrick, politely informed me that Danny's does the dealer prep wash on all the Acura of North Scottsdale cars. I politely informed him that I could tell, and would need to spend some time with SSR1 fixing the finish....Lol.

 

Ehhh...Sorry to inform you...but DREI is METALLIC TINT! There is still a chance that it will interfere with your Navi! I have HO ceremic line...(40%) and mine Navi is working well still... I think that since you spend $2000 extra to have Navi as an option, you should make sure that every thing you do will not cause your Navi to go crazy....

http://www.huperoptik.com/MetalCompare.asp

Click and link and read up on the different series in Huper Optic films....
Note that DREI series is actually under "METAL FILM"... not "CEREMIC"

 

I already talked to Acura North Scottsdale, and they said they have had both STARK and DREI installed on TXS/TL wihtout any problems.

The GPS for the NAVI is outside the tint area (Roof), so the only item that would be affected is the AM/FM radio, as the antennae is in the rear window. Truthfully, the metallic tint only REALLY affects the AM band, and the lower range of that. I am not worried. If the GPS/XM antennae were in the cabin, I would worry.

 

Actually...GPS Antennae is in the cabin....under the rear deck... The little thing on the roof is for XM.. (that is what I heard...)

 

That's right, GPS is inside cabin, under rear deck. May or may not cause problems. Might still work, but perhaps not as well as before.


Stogie -- Did you confirm w/ Danny's that they will be using Drei on the back window?

 

Ahh yes, I forgot to mention that. Stogie, when they did my install, I was told that neither Drei nor Stark could be installed on the back window. They "didn't have pieces that large" apparently. So they use something else for the back window, which is definitely not metallic and will not interfere with the embedded antenna or the GPS system. Smite, I still want to meet up sometime and check out your Stark tint and consider switching over to that when I have them redo my back window.

 

Sure we can do that sometime. I actually just started driving my car again last weekend after about 6 weeks of no driving after knee surgery. I sure did miss it!

 

OK, just checked with Tint Manager at Danny's and YES, they install a DIFFERENT product on the rear window It is still a HO product, but is called Aesthetic 35. Purely ceramic. Patrick at Danny's said that since the rear (and front) glass is soo much thicker than the side windows, having the Aes.35 on the rear is equivalent to the Drei on the sides. So, I guess I am getting Drei on the sides, and HO Aes35 on the rear. Getting it installed on Fri.

 

I've read threads on HO at tintdude.com and basically the film is very thick and hard to work with on curved surfaces. Basically, very few installers are willing to do the back window with the Drei stuff because of the difficulty of the install. Not worth their time I suppose.