Everyone who has tinted their own windows look here...

[rjdavis21]

I am trying to tint my own windows in my 2g talon and the sunroof was a little tricky but I got it and the rear side windows were easy. the front windows should be easy but havent tried them yet. im working on the back and im using the 6 inch strips but the ends seem to want to bubble up still no matter what I do. Everyone who has done this with some success please let me know in detail how you went about doing this. I need as much help as I can get. Thanks.

 

[1993eclipseGS]

Dont run the tint all the way to the very edge of the window.
Trace the outside of the window first, With the tint and cut it, Take the door panel off so this way when you roll the window down with the tint on, It isnt going to mess up over time.
Try using a blow dryer once it's on?

 

[jimwross]

You really can do perfect window tinting yourself... I had little to no experience doing it and it turned out awesome.

Things you need:

Windex
Spray Bottle (distilled water in it)
Credit Cards and Rubber Squeegee
Exacto Knife
Scissor
Good Lighting
Place to work with no wind / sun (garage)
A friend to help you

First thing to do is to run out and buy some window tint, don’t cheap out because this is going to affect the look of your car. To be honest, I went out and bought some tint at Wal-Mart (its like 12 bucks a roll... on the 2g eclipses, one roll will fit a large side window, and two smaller side windows. So you'll need 3 rolls... more if you screw up).

After you have it... DONT OPEN IT YET! Take your Windex; clean the inside and the outside of the window you’re going to be working with. Make sure to clean the outside / inside door panel surrounding the glass (about 2 inches around).

After that’s complete, unroll the tint in a fairly clean place (if you get dust / little fuzzy things etc... don’t worry about it doesn’t matter quite yet, just make sure it doesn’t get creased / scratched). Eyeball about the length of the window your tinting (given it’s not the rear window... we'll discuss that later). This is when the friend part comes in, you'll need to now hold the tint up while its still on the roll (or have your friend hold the roll up) and cut a piece of tint off that will give generous extra area for you to trim later.

Now that you have your section of tint, put the remainder away and take your spray bottle and SOAK the entire outside of the window. You need to make sure you get it REALLY wet, not just a spray. Once it’s wet, go ahead and place the tint on. Something to remember: Your going to be trimming a bit of the tint at this stage, make sure that the AHESIVE SIDE IS FACING DOWN (on the outside of the window). You can tell which side is the adhesive side by separating the corner a little (the tint has a clear protective sheet on the adhesive). This is important because if you cut it on the non adhesive side, the window will be reversed (aka it'd be flipped from what you want). Now on the 2G eclipses, you'll want to line up the corner with the side view mirror first. Then line up along the bottom so it’s even out to the end of the door. Once you have it lined up use your squeegee to have it stick to the window.

After it’s sticking to the window use a scissor to trim around the edges and get the shape of the window. You will want to leave about an inch to and inch and a half in all directions, but just try to get the general shape.

Ok, after that is complete, spray the inside of the window. Remember, it’s very important to get it really wet in the inside or else you will get bubbling later.

Once you’re done with that, its time to remove the plastic protective sheet from the tint. Peel a corner back and start to spray the adhesive side with water, use generous amounts to prevent the tint from creasing / tearing (don’t worry the adhesive wont come off). Using a friend to peel, as you spray the bottle on the tint works very well.

When the protective sheet is all gone, send your friend to spray the inside of the window. This will be his job for the next maybe 15 minutes. Line up the window tint on the bottom again, make sure when you put it down the window is wet. Make sure to give ample room for your extra tint to be trimmed precisely later.

Then start squeeging from the middle up (don’t squeegee the bottom yet). As long as you keep the window wet, you'll be able to move the tint around. Use your credit card or squeegee to get all the bubbles out, if you miss one, just spray the tint at the top and you should be able to separate it from the window. Once you get a line at the top done, work down till it’s all attached.

Now comes the tricky part, trimming the tint. Use an exacto knife to trim along the window. The hardest part is by the side view mirror... cut with a straight edge (credit card works best) and don’t tear the excess tint off till its FULLY DETACHED... otherwise you run the risk of tearing the tint that just took you so long to attach. Go slowly, have patience. Don’t worry if you use the straight edge and are careful you wont tear the hell out of your weather-stripping, and your glass will still be scratch free.

After that’s all done, its best to wash the outside of the glass again, then start checking for bubbles, get any obvious ones out, then sit in your car look out and try to get the rest of them out. Remember, WATER IS GOOD, use it alot it helps.

Oh about the rear window: Its curved, so use strips of tint (Usually about 4 strips works), but use the exact same techniques!


P.S. I've had people tell me windex is bad? You can use stuff that has non-amonnia in it I guess... but windex has never failed me


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I wrote that a long time ago, since then i've learned a bit... it makes it 100000000000000x easier if you take out the windows... so so so much easier.

Also, alcohol (rubbing) works great to clean windows... use a heat gun for the rear window, overlap the pieces, then cut off the excess...

 

[rjdavis21]

soa heat gun will help? it seems to try out the tint....

 

[FiReBReTHa]

amazing post.

amazing amazing..



im going to do this proj once i get some extra cash.


Thanks!

 

[FiReBReTHa]

anyone know where i can get 3M scotchtint?

 

[Ballin' GS]

If you haven't done if before it costs the same to do it your first time good as it does to get it done better professionally. I've done about 4 cars now and on my eclipse when i had it done last year i took it in and had it done. Mostly because i wanted a 1 piece back window and there was only one place around here that could do that. I've tried everything on the back window, strips, heat gun, baby powder. All the different tecniques, yet none of them have worked well except doing the back window in vertical strips which looks sorta ### but better than anything else. Its hard but i can get all the side windows perfect now, just not the back. Go here for some helpful links. www.tintdude.com

 

[rjdavis21]

so you said vertical would work but looks funny? i got the rear side windows done and they look good (cept for the little fade dots around the edge have bubbles because the tint doesnt like to stick to them, any suggestions on that?) also the sunroof isnt PERFECT but im satisfied with that. I did the rear in horizontial 6in strips and it still bubbled/folded at the sides of the window and doesnt look the best. what would the vertical ones look like? the quote i got around here for just the rear was 80 bucks...a little much right now. please be all the help you can be i want nice tint.

 

[Ballin' GS]

so you said vertical would work but looks funny? i got the rear side windows done and they look good (cept for the little fade dots around the edge have bubbles because the tint doesnt like to stick to them, any suggestions on that?) also the sunroof isnt PERFECT but im satisfied with that. I did the rear in horizontial 6in strips and it still bubbled/folded at the sides of the window and doesnt look the best. what would the vertical ones look like? the quote i got around here for just the rear was 80 bucks...a little much right now. please be all the help you can be i want nice tint.

Well vertical would look the opposite direction of the horizontal ones... and 80 bucks is a great quote, go with that, or else people will laugh at the job you will do. Trust me

 

[Chuckster]

Jim, excellent write up!

Personally, I've never used distilled water. Tap water with a couple drops of dishwashing detergent works great.

Also when doing the final trimming of the front windows, remember to cut in ~1/8th of an inch from the edge of the window. The tint WILL peel if you make the cut flush with the edges.

 

[LaserDad91]

Jim, nice write up. I was looking at tint, but have decided to hold off for a bit. I would just like to share with you guys (and gals), some stuff I saw on Ebay.

Pre cut window tint for about $50 plus shipping. Not sure how good or bad, but, for our cars you could get a one piece back window. Just thought I would pass this along. Let me know if anyone orders these kits and how they work out.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=63689&item=7913495917


Another contact for this is: [email protected] I did email them a while back and they do have a kit for our cars.


Good Luck!