June 23, 2007
$249 for full car (except windshield) using choice of 3 manufacturers of HP (high performance) Charcoal film. Price is normally $275, but Juan discounted to $249.
Lifetime guarantee no bubbling or peeling or fading or discoloring. Of course, a lifetime guarantee is only meaningful if the company is still in business. Juan has been window tinting for 15 years, and has had his own business for 11 years.
Juan installs at your location on weekdays. Installation on weekends at his San Jose shop only. Installation requires about 2 hours
Juan offers you a choice of 3 films - 3M HP (high performance), ProtectGard HP, and Solargard Colorfast NR. I was disappointed that he didn't carry the Solargard HP film, and so I chose to go with ProtectGard. More detail on each below.
With each film, you have a choice of shades: 5% is darkest as it only lets in 5% of light and it is common used on limousines and vans, then there is 15%, 20%, 35% and 50%. It doesn't matter how dark you go on the rear and back side windows. Local laws limit how dark you can go on front side windows... see Window tinting laws at http://www.solargard.com/Assets/PDFs/Technical_Docs/State_Tinting_Laws.pdf. In California, you can be issued a citation if you apply less than 70%. However, you are considered to be pretty safe from citation when using 35%. Once you get to 20%, you are really risking a "fix it" ticket. You can see the look of various tints by visiting http://rides.webshots.com/album/98529180uSkOMX.
We chose to go with Protectgard film, using 35% for the side windows and 15% for the rear window. Juan uses a machine to computer cut the film to fit the exact shape of the windows. But frankly, his hand-cut films provide just as accurate a fit.
We are very detail-oriented perfectionists. We rate the quality of Juan's work as outstanding. He does the work himself with two experienced assistants. It's interesting to see how the process works. The windows are thoroughly cleaned, and then the film is fitted to the outside of the window, cut and formed to the window. Then the film is removed and applied to the inside of the window, and smoothed. After the film is applied, Juan uses microfibre towels and spray wax to dry and polish. It's harder than it looks and Juan's team is very detail oriented. There is a lot of water involved, and you'll have to park your car in the sun for a day to dry the interior and heat the film to set the adhesive.
After you have window tint film installed, be careful to use the right glass cleaner. Juan recommends you use an Ammonia-free glass cleaner - the best is Sprayway glass cleaner - you can buy it at Safeway for $3 a can.
Photos:
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