F1 Pinnacle ceramic tint.

 

 

 

 

^ What percentage did you get done??

 

It's the Pinnacle 35.

 

A slightly related question - I am going Friday morning to get a ceramic tint done on my car at 9am and then actually had scheduled to get my speaker replaced at 2pm, do you guys think its a bad idea that when they take the panel off they may touch or move or do something to a fresh tint or would it be ok?

my other option is to move it to monday instead of friday - I think 3 days would be enough?

 

I got the darkest HO on all four side windows and rear and it looks great with Palladium. I live in SoCal and I know it's not legal, but neither was the tint on my last TL and I had that car for 10 years and never got pulled over.

 

do you have any pics?would like to see palladium with tints especially a awd

 

Just got mine tinted with Solar Gard HP Charcoal 32%. http://www.solargard.com/Auto/HP_Charcoal A little darker than I wanted, I should have gone for the 38 or 43%, but very nice from inside. I like this film because it has a slight reflection from the outside, but also has the dark film look of a classic dyed film. I made the mistake of getting a full metal film on our Outback and it is very reflective, almost like a mirror in the daytime. The windows on the new TL must have a darker factory tint than the previous gen, because I had the same film on my 06 and it didn't seem as dark.

 

^^ Nice, you're right that is pretty dark.... I was told that the 09/10 had 90% on them already, then with the 32%, you're looking at probably around 20-22%VLT.

 

It was overcast the day I took the pics and in the full sun its not as dark. The tint shop was having a sale, only paid $180, so not a huge loss if I have to switch or get pulled over.

 

from what i read the hp charcoal is a metallic tint. does it interfere with the XM or nav or anything like that? I dont want to drop $450 to get huper optik but i will if the metallic tints create problems and for $180 thats a deal. looks great

 

I didn't read throught their website, but from what I understand the HP is a hybrid tint made of metal sputter coat and also dye, but I'm not exactly sure. No problems with nav/xm/fm or cell phone, etc. Everything works great. I thought the price was good too, normal price is $225. They charge $200 for standard tint and add $25 for the HP film.

 

And personally, I wouldn't get all caught up in what's best and lasts forever marketing crap. As long as it's nice and clear and has the color you like, that's what was important to me. I personally tinted my SHO 12 years ago with cheap dyed film from the auto store and it still looks pretty much the same. So unless your going to keep the car for a long time, I don't think it really matters. IMHO

 

has ANYONE gotten a regular metallic tint done and had any issues or not with their navi/bluetooth/radio/electronics etc.?

i have a shop who does an amazing metallic ting for $150, and would save me almost $200 from going ceramic if I don't need to.

Any advise?

 

Did you price the Pinnacle FormulaOne series ceramic? I paid $225 plus tax and from what I read it's pretty well rated.

Here's a link for your viewing pleasure.

http://www.bestcovery.com/node/50152/compare

 

...from pp 5 of the navi manual (also see pp 125)...

If you have front or side window tinting installed, be aware that if the tint has metallic properties, it can seriously degrade or prevent GPS reception. This is because the GPS antenna is located behind the navigation display in the center of the dashboard

 

Correct, It will also kill your AM reception, since the antenna is in the rear window. I had odd issues with my Nav after I got my cheapo metallic tint, would come out of a parking garage and it would have no idea where I was at, or would take a longer time to locate my position. It was random, but it happened... Plus a dyed or metalic tint (35%) will reject around 50% of heat compared to a ceramic tint which can reject 65-70%. Then you go for the high end Huper and you're look at ~85%.

 

on the tint king website they mention two brand of tint which are less expensive than HO. they mention Llumar Llumastar ATR and Suntek carbon tints. they are both non-metallic and supposedly much cheaper in price than HO. does anyone have any reviews or know anything about these tints? thanks

 

He didn't have the Llumar when I went to get my tint installed, he only had the Suntek and the HO. The Suntek IIRC, was more of a black tint, and the Carbon45 had IR rejection of 45% (They put 45% tint on + the 90% that's already there from the factory to get to 35% MA legal). I think he charged $300 but don't quote me on that.
For the Huper ESC 45 is a much more reflective silver look with a IR rejection of 76% also a 45% tint. So like most everything else, the more you pay, the better performance you can get.

 

Which brand is recommended for longevity for our cars. I want the best product and the best quality, but not sure which route to take. Any suggestions out there?

 

Any higher end ceramic tint will last a very long time. Huper Optik is considered the best ceramic tint from a quality & performance standpoint, but you're going to pay for it ($400-$500) for superior heat rejection, one of the highest optically clear tints, and a unique look. You can get ones below HO for less (250-350) ish, and those vary in their IR Rejection #'s

 

QFT!
Living in Southern CA has gotten me through a tint job on every car I've owned since 16 (6 different tint jobs) and all the previous 5 have sucked when compared to HO. What's funny is my wife's Accord has "limo-tint" (she doesn't remember the %) and it allows more heat in than my 40% HO tint. Which IMHO is a light tint.

 

Yea, it's all in the numbers, i've seen some dyed 5% tints that have only a 10 or 20% IR rejection, where my 45% HO has an IR rejection of 76%. That's going to pay off this summer

 

Try to negotiate a bit on the price, especially if you'd be happy with the single layer HO ESC film. I got my installer down about $50 on the dual layer Ceramic Series but he wouldn't budge any more because of how thick and difficult the film is to work with. It was the equivalent of sales tax and I could almost buy a tank of gas so I was happy.

Huper is VERY expensive but over 3 or 4 years or however long you have the car you will NOT regret spending the money. I've had ceramic film in the deep south, new england, and now the southwest and I can honestly say it has single handedly improved the driving/riding experience in my cars. However, one thing that has bothered me with this car and my last car is that if you have the navi, ceramic film makes Honda/Acura's GPS linked temperature control somewhat useless and I often have to raise the climate control temperature to keep the car from getting too cool!! Even if HO is a bit more than you want to spend, don't give up on ceramic film just yet. Check out Madico Advanced Ceramic and FormulaOne Pinnacle. They won't outperform Huper but they're still well regarded ceramic films. I haven't tried FormulaOne but if you peruse some 5series forums you'll read about people stripping their Huper for FormulaOne.

 

Why the hell would anyone pay $400+ for HO to just strip it off for another ceramic tint? That's just crazy...

 

thanks for the advice. yea i decided not to be cheap and go for some good stuff. i called tint king and spoke to them about it. apparently they also offer another ceramic tint that is not on their website. the name of it is geoshield and its a milti layer ceramic according to the guy i spoke with. after some research it seems like pretty high end stuff and costs $300, $150 less than the HO double layer ceramic i was contemplating getting. anyone have any personal experience with geoshield?

 

Ahh yea, that was the other one they told me about... I was trying to remember, but it wasn't on their site. I looked it up and found that it's a very good tint, maybe 10-20% less IR rejection than the HO, and more of a black color. I made my decision for tint based on the performance and look. I preferred the higher reflective silver look of the HO ESC tint, compared to a black tint that I feel like everyone has. But personal choices are why we mod our cars in the first place!

Good luck on your search.

 

I had been looking for quite a while to find a Huper-Optik dealer in Colorado, but couldn't find one. Even tried contact the manufacturer, but never got a response.

I eventually picked 3M CS-35 tint from a local tint/detail shop. Cost was $275 and install was pretty quick and turned out good. More details on the specs are here 3M CS Tint.

I don't think the numbers are as good as the Huper-Optik, but didn't really have much to choose from. They say it has about 98% UV block & lets in 38% visible light. I didn't want to go too dark, as the car is CBP and this percentage is the legal limit in Colorado.

Here's a couple of pics, although I think it looks bit dark from this angle.

 

Thinking about getting my rear windows tinted. My wife had a local shop tint her car and I noticed that a thin rim at the edge of the glass when viewed from the exterior appears uncovered by the tint. The shop stated that this was normal and due to the fact that part of the glass is not accessible from the inside.

My questions are:
1) Any exterior visible defect as described above in the TL after tinting?
2) Any recommendation on the type of tinting that looks best
3) What level of tint looks best on the TL

Thanks!

 

What kind of car does your wife have? I think any quality tint shop will 100% cover my windows, or they will not get 100% of my money. I've never had a problem with any of my Acura's getting them tinted. So to answer your questions.

1) No problems on my car, perfect tint job.
2) Not sure what you mean by "type" of tinting, if you mean Brand, I've gone with Huper Optik, which is considered one of the best ceramic tints on the market (be prepared to pay extra $$ for the quality).
3) Personally I have 35% on my car, and If I could have gone with 25% legally I would have done that, but MA limits to 35%. I think the darkness is going to be a very personal choice.

Good luck.

 

1) It depends on how they cut the film. Good tint shops will have a plotter (think of a giant inkjet printer that has a blade instead of a print head) that cuts the film. If the template (digitally downloaded to the plotter) is accurate and the calibration is on, the rim should be very small - like less than 0.25".

2) Looks are highly subjective. I'm highly preferential to 5% VLT (visible light transmission) because when it's 115 deg in the shade, you *need* it dark. Huper Optik has a great reputation but I find the better bang for the buck is 3M Color Stable (carbon based - no fading guaranteed and no electronic equipment interference).

3) Again, *highly* subjective. Your local laws and enforcement may have an impact on what you choose to do but I run 5% 3M CS on every piece of glass except the windsheild. The windshield is 70% VLT with a cheaper Suntek carbon-based film. Reason for Suntek: it's cheap and I don't go nuts when I replace a windshield (you drive 3K miles a month in Vegas and you go through windshields b/c of the construction trucks' debris on the freeway).

I know I'll get chided by others for that tint darkness but I have a legitimate optical prescription for photophobia; it's 100% legal.

The down (up?) side of tint that's so dark is that no one can ever see into the car, even into the windshield during the day. You can forget about using hand signals to communicate with pedestrians, other drivers, etc. On the other hand, if you're a privacy hound, it's very comforting.

 

quick ques:
which one should be considered cheaper or cost less?
Huper Optik ESC version or Huper Optik regular (non ESC) ceramic version? I know for starters..the differnce is shiny look of ESC vs non reflective look of "regular" ceramic...Also, lookin @ pic and % as posted by folks...ESC comes in 35...45...etc VS ceramic version of 30..40...so forth.

 

The ESC 40 cost me $400 installed. Not sure what the other dual layer Huper costs, but probably around the same or a little more (since ESC is single layer).

 

Thx for reply...MY Installer carry non ESC version, per him, ESC is "metalized" hence the reflective look which is mostly used in residential/commercial installation...He can get that though if I insist...I saw your vehicle pics which looks good to me..Part of my reason to put HO is get lil shine off tint...I'm pretty sure that regular HO he's offering is single layer..I'll probably go with that (sacrifice my shine) and post some pic once its done

 

Yea, I'm not sure how true that is. HO tints are non-metalized - they are nano-ceramics. I'm not sure what gives the single layer it's shine, but their ceramic tints are 100% dye and metal free. I think it's part of the production process. One thing about the Dual layer - I've read previous posts that it seems to labor the window opener, due to the thinkness. I didn't noticed the problem on my single layer.

But the key thing between the two is that they are roughly the same performance, one is "blacker" one is more silver (ESC). My tint guy raves about the Huper, except to him it's a paint to install because even the single layer is so much thicker and stronger than normal dyed or metallic tint.

You can't go wrong either way! Post Pics!

 

I just got the F1 Pinnacle 35 done on my car last week, a few spots have very tiny dots showing as in the picture below, is this normal for tinting? or should this have been done even more cleaner?

You really need to get up close to the window and inspect it to see - but if this is not normal, can the tint shop still clean this up or is it too late??

http://img35.imageshack.us/i/img00058201003251739.jpg/

 

Otherwise my tint looks like this;

http://img714.imageshack.us/i/img00061201003251740.jpg/
http://img185.imageshack.us/i/img00060201003251740.jpg/
http://img20.imageshack.us/i/img00057201003251739.jpg/
http://img51.imageshack.us/i/img00056201003251739.jpg/

 

Yea, those look like bubbles, the tint shop *may* be able to fix, but if you're is like the one I went to, they have a warranty on their work...