Hey guys and gals,
Just a quick note to confirm that if the wrong type of tint is used, it does affect the navigation. I just had 30% Llumar "stealth grey" put on my CG TSX and now the GPS reception absolutely stinks. The tint is "metallic" and has a reflective property to it. The GPS went from locking in on 7-8 satellites to none or at the most 2 at any given time. If it is raining the Navigation does not work at all. I know this has been brought up in threads in the past but from my research the posts were inconclusive. I now have to return to the tint shop and try to work something out. The dealer also confirmed this as they tried the antenna outside the car and it worked fine. Beware!

 

how do u get it to show how many satellites are locked on? *I have an accord coupe w/ navi, but i'm guessing the 2 cars should work thet same*

 

Hold the Menu,Map & Cancel buttons together for about 3-5 seconds. It will go into the "test" mode. Go into the GPS information screen and it will show the rest. Also, when the "gps" logo on the Nav screen is green it has locked in on satellites. If it is white it is searching. Hope this helps!

 

Keep in mind two things:

Tint materials vary. Not all metallic tint films contain the same amount of metal. The more reflective it is, the more metal is probably in it.

GPS reception varies with location and weather. There are some places where you will have a strong signal from 8-12 satellites at almost all times. There are others where even in optimal conditions you're only getting strong signals from 3 or 4.

Bottom line is that I would not put any tint material on the back window without testing it first. It's relatively easy to do. Just ask the tint place for a large piece of "scrap" material identical to the one you plan to use. Tape it on the rear deck, immediately over the location of the GPS antenna and drive the car for a day or two. You'll find out quickly enough. Use the Nav system diagnostics screen to verify how good the reception is with and without the film in place.

Removing tint is a major pain. Don't put it on without testing for the specifics of your situation.

 

I hope the tint installer advised you against metallic tint, damn him if he did not.
if he was experienced enough and knowledgeable enough he'd have adviced you against it.

 

Does the tint effect the FM reception also?

What about if I have a TV tuner in my car. Do you think it would effect TV reception?

 

I had tinting done to my car yesterday with metallic film. I was told that it would affect my AM reception but so far it didn't affect it at all. FM reception isn't affected by metallic tints according to the tinting guy.

 

I wish he did. No such luck. It is a great shop though and I am hoping he helps me out on the back window. I don't think he sees enough navigation equipped cars to know anything about them. The problem is, what type of tint should I go back with? Metallic is the only one I know of that does not fade......

 

it seems to vary. I've got 18% mettalic also by lumar and have no problems.

 

I'm about to get tint and plan on getting 30%.
I have a TV tuner that uses Diversity Antennas mounted to the back window. Do you think that tint will interfere with my reception?

 

When I got my tinting done, the guy suggested about using non-metallic 3M film at the rear windscreen so that it doesn't interfere with my AM radio reception. According to him, that 3M film does not fade. So ask about that.

 

Best place I've found to ask is http://www.tintdude.com

As far as I can tell, the only one that absolutely doesn't fade and doesn't have metal is the Huper Optik Ceramic film. Expensive as hell and not always easy to find a dealer. http://www.huperoptik-usa.com/products_ceramic.cfm

 

AM/FM and TV signals are at a much lower frequency than GPS signals and therefore are a lot less imune from the tint.

 

i got llumar tint all around and have no affect with my gps signal, fm or am. it all works.

 

Update:
Went by the tint shop this morning and the owner said he would take care of everything. He was very apologetic and said he did not know about the GPS antenna being under the back window. He said that the 3M "carbon fiber" tint has been sold to him for specialty things like GPS and XM radio antennas and that the sales rep guarantees it wont interfere with these signals. He is just going to charge me for materials. ($25.00) Sounds fair to me. He has a steamer to remove the old tint. Says it wont hurt the lines in the back window. Interesting note-the car he did before mine was a cop car that had a radar mounted in the back window and the tint affected it as well. It had a 500 foot range and with the tint it was more like 50 foot! I guess he is using a high quality product with lots of metal in it.