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I called the two local Acura dealerships for tinting. One said they use 3M and other said SolarPlate for the same price. Which one is the best to go with? I want it to last long, blocks all heat, and higher visibility to outside.
I called the two local Acura dealerships for tinting. One said they use 3M and other said SolarPlate for the same price. Which one is the best to go with? I want it to last long, blocks all heat, and higher visibility to outside.
just like everything in life, there are options.
on top of brands, there are different kinds of materials.
you just listed the brands...3M makes various different tint materials......
you're going to need to research the materials and not the brands!
there are;
ceramic tint
metallic tint
carbon tint
dyed tint
and probably a lot more different kinds of materials, as new materials ARE ALWAYS being devoloped/introduced/invented.....
Hell, we added 4 new periodic elements to the periodic table....
Eastman, Inc. acquired Solutia (7/2/2012) who had films branded under LLumar, Huper Optik, and FormulaOne individually; having applications in automotive and within architecture.
So, today, you have one chemical company, making automotive films under three quasi-subsidiaries. This chemical company wants more profits...they're all the same tints.
And appear to have fully embraced nowadays (vested interest in move to maintain and increase market share): FormulaOne | LLumar Window Films -
I vote LLumar AIR on front and CTX (Pinnacle) all around, all are ceramic.
EDIT - Let this post lay to rest any preferred brand of tint debate.
I'm also not sure how a 12 year old film and a 5 year old can be compared. Not sure if both were under Solutia at the time. Point being, 12 year old Huper Optiks aren't todays'. And, all three are currently made by the same chemical company as of today, 1/6/2016.
Last edited by MonkeyTrucker; 01-06-2016 at 07:40 PM.
Hmm. Now that is a interesting. I didn't realize they were all subsidiaries of the same parent, and I researched them to death when I was looking for tint.
After getting ceramic as a must out of the way, you're really only left to decide between two re-branded, nearly identical in chemical makeup products:
Is being all owned by the same company mean they are all the same in quality?
Are all TL owners cool cats?
If anyone would like to dig up financials, the same trail of crumbs can be seen. They merged FormulaOne and LLumar; LLumar "grew" into FormulaOne's market.
Within some of those bread crumbs, you'll see Eastman honoring LLumar recently this year for their successes in automotive film.
You buy Huper-Optik at this point, you are buying a brand, the differences are minuscule at the "normal" tint levels.
Only upsides I see to Huper Optiks today, are being slightly more expensive and a few extra tint level options.
It's pretty clear that HO tops Llumnar across the board in what I think is the most important specification: %TSER. HO provides a minimum of 22% more TSER relative to Llumnar TSER.
It's pretty clear that HO tops Llumnar across the board in what I think is the most important specification: %TSER. HO provides a minimum of 22% more TSER relative to Llumnar TSER.
Great thread info monkeytrucker!!
Tser is one of the most important qualities and most people don't even look it up. They merely go by the % but don't read the actual VLT in the specs (all "20" are not actually 20).
Hopefully people read your information provided and make good decisions!
I also like more reflective tint, to me the less TLR the worse it looks on a car, especially the dark tint. The higher reflectance looks higher end to me
It's pretty clear that HO tops Llumnar across the board in what I think is the most important specification: %TSER. HO provides a minimum of 22% more TSER relative to Llumnar TSER.
Yeah, for the sake of trading visible light reflection and transmission. And, unless, you only drive your car in sunlight.
Some would prefer the more optimal glare reduction as well.
Getting in the TL is like putting on a pair of really nice Smith Optics Techlite Polarized glass lens sunglasses...it pops, you never want to take them off.
I knew it was impossible to achieve that with anything but ceramic. The TSER was the least of my qualms in pursuing tint; besides I think the opposite and a misunderstanding has been applied, as when it's "dual" as seen in the PDF it (TSER) decreases as all other relativity of "dual" is linear in correlation except the TSER values. I don't even want to consider the time involved to delve into that depth of surface level contradictions of "dual" creating a loss of TSER, and considering the time involved in just now thinking about that, causes me to want my time back already.
I was just brimming a brief history for some that may not have known, that all the "brands" of film worth putting on any car are all made and furnished by the same company...currently. Don't make me draw a market share bubble so that it's apparent we're all in agreeance where Huper Optik is located...and LLumar's growth is closing the gap of the smaller player Huper Optik, like real close.
Why would a parent company want its subsidiaries to compete with themselves and double their efforts at all phases when it owns nearly all the market share of ceramic film technology, so much so, others aren't even trying anymore (3M). Eastman will consolidate ALL of them eventually. The Solutia firm was just an investment outfit acquiring other companies until attracting the attention of a large buyer...they did not start up the ceramic film industry.
My two cents, the painting on the wall says to buy LLumar, especially if you want to take anyone up on a lifetime warranty. Man draws line on wall and depicts LLumar as sole survivor amongst conglomerate's eventual consolidation of subsidiaries. Ceramic Film is Ceramic Film. Ceramic Film is not vertical within its own grouping and instead are horizontal consumer options, the largest being LLumar. When they overlap.....dun dun dun.
...really late, dunno, don't care, I really enjoy my setup.
http://northamerica.llumar.com/about...e-manufacturer
"Eastman Chemical Company is the world’s leading manufacturer and marketer of high performance films for automotive and architectural applications, and is sold under the LLumar® window film brand as well as under the FormulaOne High Performance Auto Tint® by LLumar®, Vista™, Huper Optik & Design®, EnerLogic®, IQue®, V-KOOL® and Gila® Do-it-Yourself window film brands."
Essentially, Solutia had Pennsylvania, B&O, and Reading Railroads. 3M is trying real hard to hang onto the Short Line.
Last edited by MonkeyTrucker; 01-06-2016 at 11:10 PM.
I thought i did my research 7 years ago but I guess not haha. I currently have solargard on all my windows and I love it. Any legit tint brand will also give you lifetime warranty it's not a rare thing (I've used my warranty a few times...some user error and some material lot issues). For my front windshield tint I have suntek since it was the cheapest of the four options my place offered but was still expensive at 120 alone (got this done about 6 months ago)
My setup:
Front - solargard 20
Rear - solargard 12
Windshield - suntek 80
Trust me, I did do the research when I tinted mine.
LLumar AIR on front and CTX (Pinnacle) all around
The dealer said they use Solarplate which is same as LLumar F1 Pinnacle film but in a different box as the warranties are different for dealers. Did you hear anything about Solarplate?
Entire front clear windshield tint cost about $200 as the strip cost only $45. which one do you recommend?
01-06-2016, 03:04 PM
Lifetime warranty.
