Shingo

they invented tape for gods sake..... LOL

I used to have a 96 ex silver civic with 3m tint. I loved it and it was put on by the dealerships aftermarket team. I bought my 96 ex used in 99.

Go with the pros. I have heard good things about madico, and lumar but never had real experience. I will probably go with 3M on my Mp3 within the next couple weeks.


2001 Mazda Protege Mp3 - Lazer Mica Blue

mnkyboy

How well does metallic tint hold up to scratches? I have (2) dogs, and they love to ride in the back seat of my P5. How can I protect my windows from my dogs (besides leaving them out of the car :P)?

hihoslva

No tint is gonna hold up to dogs paws. Metallic or not, it will get scratched up quickly.

Maybe you want to re-think the whole tint thing, as it will surely get ruined by the dogs if they like to paw the windows. Or, maybe re-think the dogs in the car.

Shingo

I dont know if one exists but perhaps you could have the windows tinted from the outside with some kind of "all weather" tint.

who knows ?

not me definitly.

mazdaspeedwest

You could get some thick 10mil clear safety film to cover just he back windows, doubled over the 38 and 20. It will hold up better to the scrathes, but it will still get scratched. Will also up the price...

another idea is to find a place to fabricate some nice billet fasteners or whatever that would get bolted to the chassis door frames and hold a piece of perforated plexi glass protecting the window and the tint..again, price goes up, but the plexi is removable, easily storable and you and your dogs will be happy, you'll never have any scratches in the tint and they can scratch the plexi all day long. You can keep the rear windows down giving them all the air they need. Now i don't recommend this for the rear window obviously, but a rear strut bar would make a nice start to a baracade to save the rear window tint.

mazdaspeedwest

my personal favorite is a medium, silver all metal film. (30-40%) it's a nice clean look, no need to worry about blend, as it's nice and uniform. Blending shades looks ok, just not my pick...IMHO

Take it from someone who knows and just broke down and played the game...i had 18% all around for the longest time, in a city that is well known for tint pull-overs and paid my dues...the day i switched, is the day i won that round of the game. I have not gotten any hassle what so ever since. They can seen in the same from any position around the car, there's no mystery.

i feel you should stay away from Centaur or Bronze, just for the fact, i feel they will not match well.

cjb200

I recently had my Pro's windows tinted with Llumar Platimum Plus film. 20% front windows, 35% rear. Sounds like a funny combination to me, but the guy strongly recommended it.

Unfortunately, I have some spots on the back window that aren't going away. Looks like maybe window cleaner that wasn't properly dried (??) and was tinted over. So I'll have to go back and hopefully they'll agree to re-do it. Besides that, the film looks great. Not too shiny like some metallic films.

mnkyboy

Do you have any pics? What year,model, color is your Pro?

hihoslva

If you've got stuff under the tint, the shop should absolutely re-do that. Those windows are supposed to be totally spotless before they apply the tint - besides, something under the film is real easy to prove, and there is no way you could've done it, so....

I had a few small bubbles (looked more like water than air, though) in mine just after it was done - the installer told me just to wait a day or so for them to dissapate, and they did.

But I already have a scratch in my tint - it's from rolling the driver's window down - a hairline scratch. Dammit - what can I do to prevent this? I didn' see any dirt on the dust flange in the car, but I guess it was there.

cjb200

I have an 02 LX, Black Mica, with an automatic ( ). I have a few pics posted here.

cjb200

The thing is, it's not extremely visibible all the time. It's only when the suns shines at a certain angle. It's not dirt, it's more like some kind of a liquid that dried inside it and left some spots. Then again, they cold just be fingerprints.

Anyway, I had a feeling it could dissappear during the 2-3 week "curing process", which is why I've waited this long. I'll probably take it in tomorrow.

mazdaspeedwest

an all metal film will take 2 weeks+ to dry, where as a hybrid film will only take about a week.

by what your describing, as you can't always see it, but when the light is right, it's noticable, may be a heat burn. When they used the heat gun to shrink the film to fit the contour, they may have heated that section a bit too much. Almost looks like the same effect oil has in a puddle.

You can't expect a totally flawless tint job, they don't exist. Some minor flaws will be there, no matter what. But of course, the obvious ones should be fixed.