So I finally decided to get my windows tinted after a year of owning my car. I wanted maximum heat rejection, no interference to electronic signals, and I didn't want the tint to fade. I thought long and hard and decided to go with a "ceramic" tint. My choices were Huper Optik and FormulaONE Pinnacle. I decided to go with FormulaONE since after doing research, I learned that it was the better alternative (no greenish hue, etc...)

Anyways, I located an installer in my area and got the tint done last Thursday. There was a sizeable gap around the edges and some dust specs in the tint. I showed the dealer last Saturday who said "yeah, if you're going to bring out a microscope, then sure, you're going to find a buch of imperfections." Well, I explained I wanted the job done right, so he finally agreed that the shop would redo it next week.

So I go back in today and this time I told them that I wanted the tint to go to the top of the window (no gaps). They did it fine and it looked good, but they accidentally made a 1" long cut in the tint which looked horrible. Anyways, he took it off, redid it again, and this time there's just a BUNCH of specs in the film. It's not the type of stuff that just needs to dry out--it's pretty much dirt or something stuck between the glass and film.

What do I do? I have a warranty, but I don't know if this is covered. I really do not want to go back to these guys. If I go to another FormulaONE dealer, will they redo the tint for me?

 

Amit, this is what you need to do.

After hours, go 'borrow' a roll of the FormulaONE tint. Next hop in your car and drive to White Bear Lake, MN to Dave Metz's house for a nice tint job.

Seriously though, I went round and round with my last car trying to get a good tint job. Ziebart had 3 shots at it and finally I had them take it off and refund my money. I asked around and by word of mouth I found my 'saving grace" (in terms of tinting). He charges 2/3rds of what anyone else does and his work is PERFECT. My car went from the dealership straight to his house to get tinted.

All that said, ask around and you will find somebody that will do it the way you expect and want it done.

All the researching about electrical interference and fading is a bit overkill IMO. Most every shop gives lifetime warranty on tint, so if you have a problem, take it back.

 

Yeah, I just didn't want to go with a metal tint since I didn't like the reflective nature of the tint. But I didn't want to go non-metal since it didn't have as much heat rejection. This type of film basically filled the middle ground.

Unfortunately, I am not happy with the tint. I actually want to do one of two things:

1. Easier way if possible: just go back again (don't even want to see the people), tell them they just aren't doing a good job, and ask for my money back. I just don't want to hear their BS, etc. I'm a picky guy, what can I say?

2. Call up FormulaONE, tell them I had a bad job, and hopefully they refer to me to another more competent installer. This seems more difficult though.

My only issue is, however, that I went to another FormulaONE installer who agreed that the job wasn't extremely well done. He says it's up to me on what I would like to do. But when I called my original installer today he said "so yeah, I hear you want to one of my pal's in LA? So how'd he like the tint?" Apparently the second installer I went to called my installer and told him I went there, as if I was doing something behind his back! WTF? So the problem is, I don't want a bunch of installer's talking and like conspiring against me! lol...

Dammit...sometimes I think that life would be easier if I didn't have such a keen eye.

 

Oh...I do like the tint BTW. Looks good from up to 5 feet away. Then come the imperfections...

 

Sorry to go OT (lol as usual) but anyway, how dark is the 35 bro? I was going to get mine done..especially after the huge stereo install is done..wondering if 35 will do it b/c thats the best balance (and I dont want to get pulled over).

Do you notice any heat rejection compared to before? Do you think like 20 in the back three and 35% in the front two would look ok?

ravi

 

how old are you? who tf cares who you went to for a second opinion. that guy is bullying you. are you man enough to stand up to him? you gave him what, 3 tries? 3 strikes, you're out. demand your money back with the the promise of a small claims suit if he doesn't comply.

 

That would be perfect

 

Well bullying me isn't really the issue, at least I don't think

I just don't want to have like all the FormulaOne dealers out against me since they are a smaller group and generally know each other and will probably back each other so that I'm SOL or have to to drastic measures (which I just don't have the time to deal with the headache...). But in any case I am not going back because I would flip the next time I see them. So in order to avoid such a situation, I just don't want to go back to them.

On a brighter note, I called up another Formula one installer and he said "Sure, come on by, and I can take a look at how bad it is. If it looks fine to me but you still want to replace it, I can do it for $50 since this is probably an installer issue." So it would be up to me if I wanted them to redo it. I though, what the hell, I paid a lot less anyways, so these guys can go ahead and replace it and I will pay them to do a quality job. When I got there and showed them, they were utterly dismayed. They were a few feet away from the car, looked at it and were like lol..

So he said "Yeah that's pretty bad, you should replace it. The guy did a bad job." I was thinking, fine, let's just get it overwith since money is not a huge issue, I just want it done RIGHT. I knew that this was the issue with the installer and not the film, so I either had to go back to the original installer or pay these guys. Without me saying anything he said, "I'm going to replace that as a warranty issue. Normally you go back to your installer since this is NOT a warranty issue but this window has WAY too much contimination". Looks like things might turn out okay. He told me to come back tomorrow any time and they would go ahead and redo the side windows and touch up and blemishes they can do for the rest of the car.

I'll keep you guys posted.

 

Damn dude, you love going OT, just like me!
j/k...I think 35 all around is perfect for me. I don't want to go too dark since I don't really like that look (I'm not hiding anything! ). Plus I think a lighter tint does the job and looks classier than something like 5% all around. But some people may prefer darker. I would probably have done 35/20, but the Pinnacle has like 50/35/15 I believe. I didn't want there to be a HUGE difference front and rear, so that is why I didn't go with the 35/15.

If you go with something besides the FO Pinnacle, I think 35/20 would look great, and you have less chance of being pulled over. I didn't realize how much better the car looks with tint!

 

This is not my car, but another guy with SS who go Pinnacle 35. I'll post my pix as soon as I get my wheels in.

 

Got the side window redone under warranty! The guys there were great, and in fact, all 4 of them came out and checked out the car. They are truly concerned with getting the job done right. They even went ahead and touched up some of the other film as well. Now I just need to let it dry a bit. I'll be taking my sister's G35C there next week