pb06

I went to have my car windows tinted and asked the shop about what would happen with the 6 inches or so of dot matrix at the top of the rear window. They showed me a car with a similar issue, and it looked odd. There was the one-inch ring of dark factory black all around the window, then the 6-inches of dot matrix looked much much much lighter (almost clear), then the dark tint on the rest of the window. Not so desirable.

I've since done some online research, and in various forums have found people who say there's a guy in their hometown who does a great job, makes the matrix unnoticeable, etc. But they're nowhere near me. I've called quite a few shops in my area and they all say it's not going to look good and there's not much they can do to fix it.

Has anyone tinted their rear window and if so, how did you get around the issue with the dots at the top?

Thanks.

ntwrkguy1

I just had the windows tinted on my '01 CL-S, and the guy doing it stopped right at the dot matrix part. He has about 10 years of experience doing tint, and said there are long-term issues with it sticking to the dot matrix area. I'll take a picture of it when I get a chance (my daughter has adopted the car, and not shockingly, I don't see it often) to let you be the judge.

Admittedly, it's a strange rear-window (I don't have that same setup on my Lexus GS430), but I was satisfied with the way it looked.

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

Umm, get a better tinter. No reason a pro can not tint that. I had 3 CLS's all were tinted & all were perfect. So were many other cars.

pb06

Seems like it would look odd to me, so I look forward to seeing your pics.

pb06

Fuzzy, did your CLs all have the dots at the top? Do you have pictures?

I called over a half dozen shops in the area and they all said basically that it's a problem, the tint won't adhere, they can't guarantee results etc.

ntwrkguy1

Ok....this is proving to be a difficult thing to capture accurately in a pic. Here is a shot early in the morning yesterday. The car is supposed to be here this afternoon, so I'll try to get a few more shots. Tough to see it in the pics. The view from the inside is fine -- I don't see the dividing line of the tint to the dot matrix. Looks a little odd from the outside, but I think it's not as bad due to the fact my car is NBP.

And yes, that's the clear coat totally failing on the roof, not dirt....lol. My daughter somehow thinks I am going to pay to have it painted while she finishes college (uh....no), so I've got to tolerate two more years of it looking this way!

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

only pic i have...

ntwrkguy1

Fuzzy, it must be nice to be able to run darker tint. I moved to NC from FL, and the inspections on tint in NC are comical. On cars, nothing lower than 35% here.

aznboi2424

iTrader: (10)

My car has the tint over the dot matrix, no problems.

pb06

ntwkguy -- thanks so much for posting. Your daughter's lucky to have inherited an Acura from you for college! I do detect a line across the top of the window. is that where the dot matrix is or is it just the lighting?

Fuzzy thanks -- I can't see a line on yours, but maybe it's just the lighting as well. Is it uniformly dark from top to bottom?

I'm the Los Angeles area. If anyone knows of a good shop here who can do a great job with this, I'd appreciate it. I'd bought a groupon to this other shop but it just doesn't seem worth the savings if it's not going to look right. I'd happily take it to a better shop if I could find one that had a more optimistic forecast for the outcome.

It does really make the car look sharp!

I had factory tinting on my last car and liked it but I do remember it was difficult backing up at night.

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

yes. All once piece all the way around the window. The 2 CL's I had before looked exactly the same. All had the same %15 tint done by 3 different shops too.

ntwrkguy1

PB, my daughter did get pretty lucky on this deal -- I take care of all the maintenance costs, too! The line is where the dot matrix starts. There's no gap in there (meaning you can't see a line of light between the two surfaces), but I didn't want to have the hassle of the tint having issues while my daughter was away.

It's really a strange back window, actually. I don't think I've owned another car that's had this kind of stuff on the window.