Levon05TL

hello, been a long time lurker! I have a 2005 Acura TL with 141,000 miles. Crazy maintained, runs and drives and somewhat looks factory new.

I decided I wanted to tint my car. After I thought I’ve done my research and homework, I chose a tint shop that does high end cars however he had a special on Yelp for $200 cash out the door for 3M FX Premium tint.

i took it last week and it took them about 3 hours to do it. The tint installation looks great. However I wish I had gone darker than %35 all around. That was my first disappointment.

my 2nd disappointment is when I finally rolled down my windows today. The driver and rear left passenger door card had some plastic exposed.

now I know for a fact it wasn’t like that because I cleaned the window sills a day before the tint job and I would have noticed and addressed this as I am OCD about the silliest details.

it looks like a fine razor was used to cut that section off and I really see no logic behind it. As a bonus, my installer was a super cute girl named Crystal. I liked the idea that a girl had done my tint because girls are usually gentle and pay attention to details. She did a good job overall but why am I missing a chunk of my nice interior? Any advice or insight? Thank you!

Acura TL Builder

I would flip shit at her if my mint TL was tainted when it was suppose to be tinted.

Not all girls are detail oriented, some are even half-assed.

08KBP_VA

Are you sure its been cut? To me it looks like they pulled the door card back and just needs to be pushed back in. I ask as I see the dark blotches as you move closer to front.

Did you go back as ask that cute girl whats up with this shit?

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

installers usually install "moleskin" over that flap. Moleskin is a felt liner that absorbs dust or sand particles.
if dust or sand particles get inbetween that flap and the window, the grains of sand WILL scratch up the tint.

either she cut that flap off, or like 08KBP said, it's just flipped under.
What she should have done is installed moleskin

thoiboi

Take it back to get them to fix it..


Typically, they'll push that flap down so that they can install the tint under it, when you scroll up and down, the flap should come back up and ideally have moleskin installed

GhostTL09

iTrader: (1)

i would say it needs to be adjusted, else she has some steady hands to get a cut across that neat.

I know what you mean about the 35%. It almost feels like the car isn't even tinted.

aIRpeACE

iTrader: (2)

it's a 141k car, so normal wear and tear

peter6

I removed my door panel before, and it looked about the same when I was done.

Fix was to remove door panel, and take the seal off the door. Then push seal on the door panel and mount it like that.
(assuming that they didn't cut/remove that seal)

That's the seal that I'm talking about (borrowed from AlbinLee's thread) :

08KBP_VA

Makes no sense why they would have cut that piece. When they prep they <should> trim it on the outside of window if they dont have a template and should not have impacted the door card. That trimming to cut through that piece has to be pretty heavy hand and if theyre using the right blade it should cut through that tint like hot knife through butter and not require that level of pressure. I dont believe the door card is damaged if it is that installer no matter how cute needs a boot

truonghthe

she didn't cut the trim since they have to pre-cut the tint via computer machine or old school way (stretch the film from the outside first then cut) your flap got fold down because they have to use a squeeze tool to push the tint edge downward as they start in the middle and work their way toward edge.

guitarplayer16

iTrader: (8)

I've had something like this happen before, door card wasn't installed all the way in properly.

The biggest pain in the ass that most tint shops do is overtighten the one door card screw so that the next time you try to remove the door panel it just spins.

sockr1

iTrader: (5)

nothing was cut, like others said you need to adjust the door panel a bit. most tint places will not install moleskin unless you request it. the TL MUST have it, or you will get scratched tint eventually.

if they won't add it, buy some from tintprotector.com and install it yourself. super easy and actually works better than moleskin tint places install. i've had both, currently i have tint protector and it works way better and i did it myself knowing it was done correctly.

Levon05TL

Thank you all so much. I feel much better knowing that nothing was cut or missing. Is it something I can do or should I contact them and have them put it back properly? I just don’t want them to further damage anything.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

^well, people have gave you suggestions on how to fix it. you can either try to unflip the flap. you can try to take off the door and the door card to fix it.
or you can go back to the shop to have it done. these were all suggestions made in this thread

Levon05TL

thoiboi

take it back

Levon05TL

sockr1

iTrader: (5)

if i were you, i'd buy tintprotector, remove door panel myself (super simple), and fix flap and install tintprotector at same time. you know it's done right that way and you learn about your car.

Levon05TL

calling you a genius is an understatement. That’s exactly the right way to approach this. I am ordering the protector as we speak. I will however hound the owner maybe he’ll cut me a great deal on a windshield tint :P

WDPanda

That's the weather strip. You must get alot of noise from the outside while driving? And the door lock actuators should be louder.

Levon05TL

Levon05TL

updated! I was able to slide “up” the weather stripping without taking door cards off by sitting inside the car, rolling down the window, jamming my fingers delicately in between door card and door, then pulling up on the weatherstripping while at the same time pushing down on the top of the door trim using the palms of my hands looks %95 better. Ofcourse with my OCD it will never look %100. But I don’t see anymore white.

Levon05TL

Update 2: Windows Roll up properly. The regulator was struggling to lift the windows up when the weatherstrip was out of alignment.

theCoffeeFiend

iTrader: (2)

I had the same issue @Levon05TL. Had my local tint shop do all the windows, ended up with 25% all around which was a good dark . The 2 front doors had the same issue. I fixed it by taking the door panel apart and readjusting it, although your mileage may vary.
Also about the darkness of the tint. On my previous car, I had the car tinted to the legal limit in Massachusetts(which is 35%). It definitely could've been darker and wasn't noticeable in the day, since the factory tint was pretty nonexistent. I would take 25% over 35% any day. BUT because of the recent changes in how the annual State Inspections are being done in Massachusetts, no shops will pass you with illegal tint. I had my windows tinted before I knew the Inspection changes were going to happen. So when I pulled into a shop to get my Inspection sticker, I FAILED due to illegal tint. LUCKY of me, I knew a guy that was willing to take the risk (because their inspection cameras were down at the time) to give me a Legit passing Inspection sticker. Of course, every state will be different. Just be wary of getting darker tint. Has its positives and negatives. I don't want to deal with the headache of getting rejected on another Inspection Sticker so I'm going to have to remove the tint when time comes.

Levon05TL

Levon05TL

I might wanna add that since the TL side mirrors are tinted, sometimes I can barely see the mirrors when backing up. Having to roll down the window. And that’s with %35

theCoffeeFiend

iTrader: (2)

I gotcha Levon05TL. I did get that feeling of jealousy from the other cars that had darker tint.
As for the mirrors, you will have some visibility issues. I can barely see in my rear view mirror at night. I alleviated that problem with brighter reverse lights. A backup camera would be nice though

truonghthe

its California where every thing is illegal without special city permit lmfao, you can't water your lawn for certain days and wash your car. You have to leave your garage door open from 8-4 for HOA or facing $250 fine, hell everything is illegal in that state.

Levon05TL

It’s easy to rip on California. I read about that dumb HOA rule and I gotta say most of my family and friends are homeowners and I’ve never heard of such HOA rule before. I’m sure other states got laws we Californians think are dumb as *uck.

truonghthe

I went to cali back in 2005 and 2006 been to San Francisco, San Jose, drive to Fresno, LA, Santa Ana, Rosa Mead and San Diego... I love the weather and scenery of Socal and Norcal but hate how state government has too much restriction about people business. I love house on the hill side looking down to the valley which consist of mostly shopping center however when I found out the extra "view tax" on the property lol.



Back on topic, I am glad everything work out for you. Cali sun isn't harsh as Texas lol (well at least where you living).

Levon05TL

truonghthe

did you get ceramic tint? I had regular Suntek on my TL and ceramic Suntek in the TL and notice in the RL (same darkness) it reject more heat than the TL.

Levon05TL