Black car, black tint...options

[Burning_Beard]

I'm allowed 50% on the doors, and I'm fine with that. I have a few questions about tint, I've never tinted anything before, and I notice that black cars are hard to tint correctly, shade wise.

I do not want the "purple." I guess they're obvious DIY jobs or just crappy tint film. I definitely want a smoke grey. Does anyone have any recommendations? I'd like to do this myself.

Would the passenger side windows look better blacked out, with the doors at 50%, or should they both be 50 to match? I'm having a hard time finding examples of black beretta's with tint to reference.

This doesn't look terrible, I think the passenger window may be darker:




But I'd rather have a more reflective one like this one seems, but it may not be legal in Ohio:

[woody90gtz]

You can buy pre-cut tint on ebay and DIY. The stuff I got for my truck was not purple.

I like the tint to match front to back, but it's not legal. And if you're allowed 50% tint, to be legal you will need to select a film over 50%VLT because Beretta windows already eliminate some light. I don't know if they make a 60-70% tint, but that's what you would need to be legal. When I got written for the 15% tint on my Beretta it read 11% on the tint meter. My 35% on the truck read like 27%.

[themadness]

if you have never tinted windows then get ready to be frustrated. my jeep windows werent that bad when i did my first tint job. the beretta however is a diff story for some reason(maybe the curve of the glass).

here is what i learned from my many fails....
-when you think its clean....clean it again. scrape it with a razor blade and clean it with the "cleaner" recommended by most tint companies that sell at big box stores.
- different squeegees......one for larger areas and one to get down in the corners-
-get a piece of glass of reasonable size and practice. maybe even do a window in your house. practice and cut your energy bills.
-sharp razors...the ones in the kits are good but an xacto might work better.

i probably wont ever try to do my windows again. around here you can get them done for about 100 dollars. as far as tint brand goes i'm not sure which ones are the best quality. when can do 35% here and in my experience anything off the shelf will eventually turn purple. i miss the days of mirror tint. something about that look if done correctly is pretty cool. i think its illegal in nc now.

here's a decent tutorial on DIY tint....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N_KRoE1Uu4

[Thompson128]

I did my windows myself, and they look great other than i cut one corner a little to much, but just lay the tint on the outside of the window without peeling the film, cut the shape you need. Use A LOT of tint applicator its easier to squeegee out more than what you need, than have to dick around with not having enough. I used GILA and a year and a half later it still looks great. 20% no hassle... yet.

[heavywoody]

The only reason tint turns purple is from using the wrong cleaners on it. That and/or tint being on a car for a long time (10 years plus).

Do not use ammonia based glass cleaners, this will turn them purple. Invisible Glass is ammonia free.

I've had both my cars tinted 20% all the way around, and have had them like that for the last 5 years with zero issues regarding color fade/change.

[snowblindburd]

The only reason tint turns purple is from using the wrong cleaners on it. That and/or tint being on a car for a long time (10 years plus).

Do not use ammonia based glass cleaners, this will turn them purple. Invisible Glass is ammonia free.

I've had both my cars tinted 20% all the way around, and have had them like that for the last 5 years with zero issues regarding color fade/change.

^This

That and I only wash my inside windows with water. But yes there is tint-safe cleaner.

As for black cars with tint (These are all my car, tint was done in 2006 by a local shop for $175):
2006:


2007:



2011:



I asked for 20%, but when I took the car back to the shop (was broken into) they said it was slightly higher. Either way, I love it. I'm a fan of the tint being the same percent all the way around. I don't really like unevenness.

I did see the lexus-style slightlly mirror/almost greenish tint on a Beretta before as well, and it looked amazing. However, as you said, will probably will get you in trouble.

[Burning_Beard]

Snowblindburd, that's exactly what I'm looking for, thank you for your pics. I may have to risk 20%. That's just too damn sexy. And for that price, I don't need to DIY and risk failure. I thought that it'd be more, I've never shopped around for it before. $50 a window seems really fair.

[snowblindburd]

No prob. Yeah I've really been happy with mine. Price is going to vary per shop, and some are a bit more uppity about doing the rear window, but the shop I went to gave me no troubles. And I didn't have to fight with the tint film, because I know I'd mess it up, lol.

[woody90gtz]

I went the mirror route on my first car and all black on the 2nd. Got written and the popo made me peel it, so I ran with just the back tinted for a while.

[Burning_Beard]

Man thats so nice. If I didn't know better, you'd have 4 kilos of columbian bam-bam in your trunk driving up the A1A from Miami.

[96B-Mike]

50%??? Dam i have 15%

[DanteGTZ]

I've had 20% all the way around on my 04 SRT4 and have never had an issue with the law. I'll have 20% all the way around on my GTZ as well...

[Lothurin]

There is a youtube channel that shows window tinting. Its a acutal shop. He does sell kits on a website and he seems very friendly and knowledgeable about tints. You check check out his website at http://www.tintstuff.tv/

[3X00-Modified]

I did my wife's car, my cousin in law's Legacy, My legacy side windows and one of my wife's friends, and I have one more to do soon. I've been using pre-cut tint from E-bay and haven't had any discolor on me yet... You can get expensive lifetime tint from ebay pre-cut as well so don't think you can only get cheap stuff on there.

[Koots]

I've been pleased with the quality of my precut tint, but I absolutely hate installing tint. The precut pieces made it easier, but I'm 5'11", 220lbs and am built more for heavy work LOL

I still ended up ruining the back window and the pass.rear window and bought a roll of replacement film of the same brand to do it myself. I'm trying my hardest to save money after going way over budget on everything vehicle I have, but that means way more work and aggravation for me