Sweeper

I was informed yesterday that the window tint film will not properly adhere to the matrix design on the top of the rear window. Have any of you had any experiences with this? The installers said that the CL and Accord have this matrix design and they now only install the tint up to the matrix but never over it. By doing it this way, the glass appears incomplete. Any suggestions?

Shawn S

If the tint guy is any good he can get it to adhere to the “dots” pretty good.

There are several methods to work around this such as sanding them down or covering with black vinyl.
But I think a good application directly over the untouched dots is your best bet and least obvious.

Do a search in Car Talk for “dots” and you’ll find a TON of threads here on this.

Shawn S

rickm

Mine is tinted over the matrix, right to the top and looks good. If they know what they are doing, it will come out okay looking.

95gt

Every place i have gone to has not been able to do it over the dots. They just cut around them. As long as they do a good cut job (as close to the dots as possible) it is not very noticable. Would much rather it was done over the dots though

GoldieAlek

I got mine done over dots....there was one spot that it didn’t stick too well...maybe size of nickel... but rest looks good.
Shops have this special liquid called Dot Devil that they use.

derelict

Same, mine is holding fine. You can tell from the outside that the tint is overlaying the dots, but it's better than not being tinted at all. My next step (now that I know) will be to pull the backseat deck forward or remove it for a bit then scratch my back tint and have them replace it.... I'm not too keen on the 3rd brake light sticking out like a sore thumb from the outside.

spdy0001

Mine's tinted over the dots and it looks perfect. From the inside you can tell the dots are there but not from the outside

Sweeper

Has anyone had the black vinyl installed over the matrix, and tint over the rest of the glass? Was wondering what the tape looks like with the tint. Appears that the tape is a sure way to darken/blacken the matrix area and not have any problems.

Sweeper

Have the installers been installing tint behind the 3rd brake light?

spdy0001

My guy tinted behind the third brakelight without even removing it

schoeny14

my guy cut around the 3rd brake light......as for the dot matrix part, i had him tint over it and there's a decent sized section that it didn't adhere to perfectly. You can really only tell if you look up close at it though. I've seen acura's with the black vinyl over the dot matrix and it looks good.

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

Mines tinted too. Have no problems with it. However the 02 I had before went to the same shop, & they didn't tint the dots, only up to the line. I didn't look bad, just different. I like the whole thing tinted way better.

Chaptorial

My tint shop tinted up to the dot matrix and it looks fine. Since its 20% on the back you really can't notice the part thats missing. In the future i may put a strip of vinyl over it.

AcuraCl1

iTrader: (1)

I had mine done up to the dots, and then I had the black vinyl put on and it looks awesome. I get compliments on it all the time.

proaudio22

Anyone have any pics of black vinyl on the dots with the rest tinted? I'm getting very close to getting mine tinted (within the next week or two) and this sounds like an ok option.

Sweeper

Those pics would be nice; they would also show whether the 3rd brake light was done or not. My tint job went up to the matrix and around the light but I had him remove it as it looked tacky. Appears that one of the better ways to go would be to tape over the matrix and go behind the 3rd light. Hey guys, let us have some pics!

Sly Raskal

iTrader: (1)

I heard that the black dots contain a little bit of metal inside of them and the reason why they are black is cuz of the covering they put over the metal, so if you shave them down it will begin to rust when you tint over it. so you'll have this nasty brown rust begin to show up between the tint and the glass. Someone on this forum had this exact problem from sanding them down i believe. Do a search on this before you resort to sanding the dots and tinting over them.

Sweeper

Just spoke to Robert at Auto Safe & Sound and I guess I have no choice but to go up there and have it done. He said that he sometimes has problems with the rear window matrix area but that you just have to work with it so it sticks. He doesn't use gule nor sanding, just patience; sounds good to me.

schoeny14

hope everything goes well..... like Chaptorial said, go dark enough and you won't really notice if its off a little bit. I went 20% too and it looks fine.

Sweeper

I'll be putting the real dark tint on the rear window. But, a neighbor, who knows an installer, uses a product called 'digi dot' on the matrix. He said that it is a filler and is made for matrix. Never heard of it.

AcuraCl1

iTrader: (1)

I will post pics saturday.