Acura Integra Window Tint
Window Tinting Made Easy! (notrly at all)
I started tinting windows when I was 16. I had a totally sweet 1992 Honda Prelude that needed to be riced out. This was 13 years ago. There was an import accessory shop that made the majority of its money by tinting windows for dealerships in the area. Since I was always hanging out there and trying to fix up my car, I ended up getting a job and learned how to tint windows, work with DC (direct current) electronics, and do some minor mechanic work.
Most of the focus was on tinting windows and my abilities in that field excelled accordingly. After getting paid $200 a week for a few months, I realized I had a marketable skill worth much more than I was being paid. I went to another tint shop and began making a decent living and it's become the best paying job accessible to me, without much of a formal education at all. I've had a few years working for dealerships that I grossed 6 figure income. If you're fast, efficient, and quality control is okay, you can make a good living tinting windows at a car dealership.
I was unemployed for over a year recently, coinciding with recent economic turmoil, but finally landed a job I really enjoy at a Ford dealership in the area. My Acura has had clear glass ever since I bought it over a year ago because I just never really bothered tinting it. Lol. Well, after work this thursday I pulled my Integra in the bay, took a few pics with my phone and decided I would journal how to tint windows for the hell of it... so here ya go..
What you need
A car - Mine is a 1994 Acura Integra LS that has the majority of the JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) adjustments, so other than right-hand drive (it's left hand, like most NA cars), it's very similar to a Honda Integra you would purchase from Japan. It reads speed in kilometers per hour and sometimes it's a bit confusing going 155 on the highway! =p This is a picture with clear glass before I got started on the window tinting. It has a B16a head, which has VTEC (Variable valve timing and life electronic control) - a popular camshaft switch @ higher RPM to efficiently promote gas mileage and performance, synergystically.. The car is extremely clean for a 94. I chose it over some 99-00 models when buying.
Ice Cream - This isn't really a need, but this mexican dood pimps his bike all over the dealership hoin his ice cream cones all day every day and it really trips me out so I took a pic! That bike is fkin playa.. I could pick up mad hoes sportin that...
Window Tinting Tools - These vary a lot due to individual preference. I use about 5-6 main tools and an Olfa SVR 1 knife. (Not the gay yellow one pictured below)
Squeegees / cards/ etc. - I use a yellow squeegee, some blue squeegee (does the same shit as the yellow one, but I think I might like it better, it's new), a corner card (triangular shaped hard card used for flattening out the edges of the film), a thing (no idea what it's called, but it's a squeegee that I use to flatten film out in hard to reach spots on the back glasses), a lil' chizler (very hard card circularly shaped to push out the air from imperfections), a hard card (Square card I use for heat shrinking), and a bone! (I use for various things.. It's long, hard, and often penetrates). I hold them all in a pouch, kind of like a fanny pack that homosexual tourists wear.
Wetness - Before penetration and actually performing, I like to get it nice and wet. I use a soap (dish detergent - dawn, palmolive) and water mixture either sprayed from little bottles or from pressured canisters kind of like a fire hose! For 1 liter of water, approx 1 tablespoon of dish detergent should suffice. That might be a little much on the soap end.
Hawt - After you've begun the application and prepping, there will be situations that heat is a necessity. I use a heat gun and a propylene torch (Novice tinters shouldn't use this torch. I've broken 1-2 windshields and 4-5 back glasses in my 12-13 years just from the torch heat..)
Film - Film includes a thin sheet of film rolled around a plastic roll, that's prepared for application. It has the adhesive already promoted and ready to go once a clear liner is removed from the film. Splitting the film and the liner is a skill in its own. I used to use my teeth until I learned a different, better method using my Olfa knife.
Motivation - I use cigarettes to wear out my lungs and make me tired. Then I have to work harder to achieve the same results, cuz I'm just smart yo... See the determined look in my eyes..? (I saw the mexican ice cream man and was totally thinkin bout pwnin a bomb pop)
Tinting n Shit!
The process for all windows.. (Some of these steps can vary in their timing)
Prep - Clean the outside of the glass - This is often skipped, as the outside is just the surface for performing cuts and cuts are often done using a machine. I have a machine that I use every day, but I chose to hand cut my car because I cut better than the machine.. no, i'm serious..
Certain cars will need certain things done. On an Integra, the break light is attached to the back glass via 2 10mm bolts which pierce through the glass. This creates two circles or holes in the glass, where the bolts go through. When into the cutting stage of the procedure, you will have to take these into account. Also during squeegeeing, care should be taken around any edge of the film.
Add film! - Take the film, either from wherever it is stored or just straight from the roll, and stick it on the window. There are ways of incorporating what's known as a double-cut, switching the liner direction on one piece of film while u cut one pattern, simultaneously replicating its mirror. I don't use this very often, unless I'm trying to cut fast. Otherwise one piece of film should be applied with the liner out. This means the first layer your knife will cut, will be the liner, followed by the film. The film is touching the glass, the liner is not. You can split a corner of the liner off to check which side is which.
Cutting - If I'm hand cutting, I like to use an Olfa SVR 1 blade, but can use any other type of click-to-snap type razor. I could probably tint a whole car with a 1 inch razor blade, but it wouldn't look fantastic. 99% of the time, I just type in the vehicle make, model, year, and let the machine do it for me because it's easier. The machine is finicky and the patterns come from scanning a pattern that was originally cut by a person. My borders are better than the machines the majority of the time and I like my rounded corners better as well. (By border I mean the small gap between the film and the edge of the glass on roll-up windows)
I often use the rubber borders and the edges of the glass as templates to cut the windows on. Every window will have different specific needs due to the rubber seals on the inside of the glass on all edges, as well as the border and method or roll. Integra is a bit of a strange window because of the way it has to be cut. It's hard to explain though.. You just have to move the film around a lot if you use the boarder as your straight edge template.
Heat Shrinking / Shaping - This can be done a few ways and even done with a torch, but it's typically done by placing the film on the outside of the vehicle and using a heat gun from about 2-6 inches away. When performed on a curvy back glass, it is often considered the most difficult aspect of tinting to learn. I still learn more and more about tinting every day. It's one of those things that no one will be able to perfect. Manipulating and handling the film properly is difficult and takes time to learn. It creases easily, which can be seen once the film is applied and often results in the need to strip and re-tint an unhappy customer's window. Almost all windows are now tinted using 1 piece of film and heating it to fit the glass, rather than strips of tint to reduce the stress from curves. My car, the Integra, is on the more difficult end, as far as back glass difficulty.
Temporary Template Storage - You will likely see panels of glass lining the walls of any tint bay. These are for holding your patterns between cuts, during cleaning, or during anything else. It provides a clean surface that can be easily viewed and easily cut on. Spraying the mixture between the film and the glass creates a natural suction adhesion, without having peeled the liner, for easy and fast storing.
My back glass pattern after cutting, heat shrinking, trimming, and storing it temporarily on the glass panel.
Trimming - This usually only applies to hand cuts, but some machine cuts will require trimming to meet personal needs. Typically this is where you cut the final edges of the film, after having cut the majority on the glass. Little touch ups, rounded corners, and any repairs necessary can be done with a tint knife and glass panels.
Below is the process of completing my cut pattern and storing it on the glass. Notice the edges (corners) of the tint and how the pattern looks unfinished.
Another difficult aspect is cutting clean, precise, aesthetically appealing corners. I am more precise with a tint knife than I am with a pen or pencil for some reason..
Once all edges have been cleaned up, the pattern is ready for application.
Cleaning (again) - This time it really matters, especially on older vehicles. On some of the newer stock units I tint I just spray water, squeegy the glass, and apply the film. For my car I first sprayed the glass, then used a scrub pad over the entire surface of the glass and the edges. I followed that with using a 1 inch razor blade, in one direction, over the entire surface of the glass. I followed that with another scrub, then a lengthy spray followed by a squeegy; A paper towel across the edge of the glass; And a final squeegy of the glass and considered it ready to be tinted. I will rarely incorporate so many steps and so much time to cleaning, but I was in no rush. Sometimes, adhesive or stickers on the inside of the glass will need to be removed. The length of time the sticker has been on the glass usually affects the difficulty to remove it. I had one sticker on the back glass that required torching the outside of the glass in order to soften the adhesive and remove the sticker smoothly.
When ready to tint, the glass needs to be wetted prior to peeling the liner and wetting the film. Gliding the film across the surface is accomplished much more easily when both surfaces have been sprayed.
Liner Removal - After cleaning and spraying the window, make sure you're at the right pattern and peel the liner according to the method of tinting utilized. Ie. On side roll-ups I roll the window down about 1 inch and apply the top 3/4 of the film, positioning it properly according to the way my cut lines up with the edge of the glass. This is called a border and is often the first thing a tinter will look at when judging the quality of a tint job.
(This picture is another I took of a different vehicle, because you can see the border. On my vehicle the border was too close to view on camera - There has to be some space though, or the film will peel due to an unsecured edge of the film. So it takes a bit of skill in the cut and positioning to get the film as close as possible, without sacrificing quality of the job)
Moar Wetness - Once the liner has been peeled correctly, spray the exposed portion of the film rather quickly. Once the exposed portion is in a free air environment, it can pick up particles in the air quickly, especially when the adhesive is dry/sticky. Little particles that land on the film end up between the film and the glass and become small little circles of air, due to the film being slightly pushed away from the glass and a small circle of missed adhesion. This is broadly coined as dirt and is most often the result of improper techniques or cleaning and can easily move from the rubber/felt seals of the vehicle, to between the glass and film.
Stick it in baby - I have no pictures of the process of applying the film, due to the necessity of both hands in moving and applying the film to the vehicle. On the back glass, there's a very large piece of film that is difficult to handle with only two hands. I use my head on hatchbacks to help hold the film.. lol. Position the film exactly as you want it to stay.
Tack it and Squeegee - This is tinter slang (tack) for squeegeeing a portion of the film well enough that the film will no longer slide on the glass. This is sometimes hard and misleading as to just how tacky the film is and how much freedom you can incorporate in your following squeegeeing. Care must always be taken and include some assumption that the film could move at any time. Below shows the top portion of the film squeegeed and ready to continue. All air and water needs to be pushed out from between the film and the glass and edges need to be secured (heated on the outside of the glass (using torch) and gliding across the film with a hard card / corner card) prior to rolling the window up.
Bottom Portion - After rolling the window up, the remaining liner needs to be removed and the film will tuck under the bottom seal of the window. Sometimes a seal will require tucking, utilizing your bone by applying pressure to fold the seal down, to assure cleanliness on the bottom portion of the film.
This process often results in small creases on the edges of the side of the glass that you will come to expect and learn to clean up during the final heating procedures. Often following this step, tinters will move to another window, to give the film some time to dry and make it easier and faster to heat. Prior to leaving the window, it needs to be checked over for any air bubbles that need to be removed while the film is still drying.
Heat again - Sometimes the inside of the glass will be heated with the gun, but this can be dangerous to the car's interior and most of the heating from here is done on the outside of the glass, using the gun or torch. The torch heats the glass up much faster and is more efficient, but also much more dangerous.
The area heated below is the portion that usually includes tiny creases in the film from the roll-up application process. I heated the entirety of my window, focusing mainly on the bottom edge, because I roll my windows up and down immediately following tinting them. Most people will be told not to roll their windows down for 2 days and unless properly prepped, this should be taken into account.
Look closely - This should be done multiple times during the heating phase, using different angles and different reflective perspectives, in order to find all flaws and fix them as best you can. Any dirt or imperfections in the tint can be minimized by applying heat and using a hard card or lil' chizzler to push out as much are as possible and maximize adhesion in the area.
Clean and finish - Wipe down the wet door panel with a clean rag or paper towel, clean the inside of the windows very delicately with a silicon based cleaner and paper towel. And clean the paint and outside of the car with a chamoix or something safe for the paint.
Experience Pwn - Now that you're all finished, sit back relax and enjoy your hard work and check out the completed result!
A few things to note - The car was tinted with Llumar ATR Charcoal 20% on the Side roll-ups, quarter-panel glass, and the rear glass. The windshield was also tinted with ATR Charcoal 35% (Lighter - percentage is the amount of light allowed through the film). Tinting the windshield is pretty rare and typically only done by those with connections or something in the auto industry. A tint shop or dealership will almost never agree to do this for a random customer, because it's illegal in every state (as far as I know). The darkness on my roll-ups and quarters is also illegal according to Texas law. The darkest legally allowed on she sides of a car is 35%. On a truck, SUV, or van, anything behind the front 2 windows can be as dark as you like legally. The front 2 doors must remain 35% or lighter and the windshield on all vehicles is limited to a 5 inch strip, or the AS1 line. I've sort of realized what exactly you can "get away with" in Texas and cops rarely know the difference between 35% and 20% without a meter to measure. Limo (5%) seems to more often get you in trouble, since there is hardly any visibility inside of the car.
The tricks to getting away with this are the same as anything else. Don't be an idiot, and try to avoid getting pulled over. If you do, roll down both front windows and turn on the interior light. An officer will appreciate this view anyways, considering he has no idea what to expect if he can't see anything inside of the vehicle. Precision on cuts around my legal stickers will weigh on a cops ability to notice that there is tint on the windshield. I cut very close, so it is hard to see the line at all. I also have a DPS sticker, that you only get if you donate money to the officers. This might seem cheezy, but it's $25 or whatever and when they look at your stickers they will see that you had donated to them. I dunno if I shouldn't make this shit public, but if you want to stalk me, go right ahead. I'm probably already stalking you anyways. (The army sticker is from a previous owner, but I leave it there so people think I'm a hardcore gun slangin army dood).
That's it! Here's a few more pics of the final product...
I started tinting windows when I was 16. I had a totally sweet 1992 Honda Prelude that needed to be riced out. This was 13 years ago. There was an import accessory shop that made the majority of its money by tinting windows for dealerships in the area. Since I was always hanging out there and trying to fix up my car, I ended up getting a job and learned how to tint windows, work with DC (direct current) electronics, and do some minor mechanic work.
Most of the focus was on tinting windows and my abilities in that field excelled accordingly. After getting paid $200 a week for a few months, I realized I had a marketable skill worth much more than I was being paid. I went to another tint shop and began making a decent living and it's become the best paying job accessible to me, without much of a formal education at all. I've had a few years working for dealerships that I grossed 6 figure income. If you're fast, efficient, and quality control is okay, you can make a good living tinting windows at a car dealership.
I was unemployed for over a year recently, coinciding with recent economic turmoil, but finally landed a job I really enjoy at a Ford dealership in the area. My Acura has had clear glass ever since I bought it over a year ago because I just never really bothered tinting it. Lol. Well, after work this thursday I pulled my Integra in the bay, took a few pics with my phone and decided I would journal how to tint windows for the hell of it... so here ya go..
What you need
A car - Mine is a 1994 Acura Integra LS that has the majority of the JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) adjustments, so other than right-hand drive (it's left hand, like most NA cars), it's very similar to a Honda Integra you would purchase from Japan. It reads speed in kilometers per hour and sometimes it's a bit confusing going 155 on the highway! =p This is a picture with clear glass before I got started on the window tinting. It has a B16a head, which has VTEC (Variable valve timing and life electronic control) - a popular camshaft switch @ higher RPM to efficiently promote gas mileage and performance, synergystically.. The car is extremely clean for a 94. I chose it over some 99-00 models when buying.
Ice Cream - This isn't really a need, but this mexican dood pimps his bike all over the dealership hoin his ice cream cones all day every day and it really trips me out so I took a pic! That bike is fkin playa.. I could pick up mad hoes sportin that...
Window Tinting Tools - These vary a lot due to individual preference. I use about 5-6 main tools and an Olfa SVR 1 knife. (Not the gay yellow one pictured below)
Squeegees / cards/ etc. - I use a yellow squeegee, some blue squeegee (does the same shit as the yellow one, but I think I might like it better, it's new), a corner card (triangular shaped hard card used for flattening out the edges of the film), a thing (no idea what it's called, but it's a squeegee that I use to flatten film out in hard to reach spots on the back glasses), a lil' chizler (very hard card circularly shaped to push out the air from imperfections), a hard card (Square card I use for heat shrinking), and a bone! (I use for various things.. It's long, hard, and often penetrates). I hold them all in a pouch, kind of like a fanny pack that homosexual tourists wear.
Wetness - Before penetration and actually performing, I like to get it nice and wet. I use a soap (dish detergent - dawn, palmolive) and water mixture either sprayed from little bottles or from pressured canisters kind of like a fire hose! For 1 liter of water, approx 1 tablespoon of dish detergent should suffice. That might be a little much on the soap end.
Hawt - After you've begun the application and prepping, there will be situations that heat is a necessity. I use a heat gun and a propylene torch (Novice tinters shouldn't use this torch. I've broken 1-2 windshields and 4-5 back glasses in my 12-13 years just from the torch heat..)
Film - Film includes a thin sheet of film rolled around a plastic roll, that's prepared for application. It has the adhesive already promoted and ready to go once a clear liner is removed from the film. Splitting the film and the liner is a skill in its own. I used to use my teeth until I learned a different, better method using my Olfa knife.
Motivation - I use cigarettes to wear out my lungs and make me tired. Then I have to work harder to achieve the same results, cuz I'm just smart yo... See the determined look in my eyes..? (I saw the mexican ice cream man and was totally thinkin bout pwnin a bomb pop)
Tinting n Shit!
The process for all windows.. (Some of these steps can vary in their timing)
Prep - Clean the outside of the glass - This is often skipped, as the outside is just the surface for performing cuts and cuts are often done using a machine. I have a machine that I use every day, but I chose to hand cut my car because I cut better than the machine.. no, i'm serious..
Certain cars will need certain things done. On an Integra, the break light is attached to the back glass via 2 10mm bolts which pierce through the glass. This creates two circles or holes in the glass, where the bolts go through. When into the cutting stage of the procedure, you will have to take these into account. Also during squeegeeing, care should be taken around any edge of the film.
Add film! - Take the film, either from wherever it is stored or just straight from the roll, and stick it on the window. There are ways of incorporating what's known as a double-cut, switching the liner direction on one piece of film while u cut one pattern, simultaneously replicating its mirror. I don't use this very often, unless I'm trying to cut fast. Otherwise one piece of film should be applied with the liner out. This means the first layer your knife will cut, will be the liner, followed by the film. The film is touching the glass, the liner is not. You can split a corner of the liner off to check which side is which.
Cutting - If I'm hand cutting, I like to use an Olfa SVR 1 blade, but can use any other type of click-to-snap type razor. I could probably tint a whole car with a 1 inch razor blade, but it wouldn't look fantastic. 99% of the time, I just type in the vehicle make, model, year, and let the machine do it for me because it's easier. The machine is finicky and the patterns come from scanning a pattern that was originally cut by a person. My borders are better than the machines the majority of the time and I like my rounded corners better as well. (By border I mean the small gap between the film and the edge of the glass on roll-up windows)
I often use the rubber borders and the edges of the glass as templates to cut the windows on. Every window will have different specific needs due to the rubber seals on the inside of the glass on all edges, as well as the border and method or roll. Integra is a bit of a strange window because of the way it has to be cut. It's hard to explain though.. You just have to move the film around a lot if you use the boarder as your straight edge template.
Heat Shrinking / Shaping - This can be done a few ways and even done with a torch, but it's typically done by placing the film on the outside of the vehicle and using a heat gun from about 2-6 inches away. When performed on a curvy back glass, it is often considered the most difficult aspect of tinting to learn. I still learn more and more about tinting every day. It's one of those things that no one will be able to perfect. Manipulating and handling the film properly is difficult and takes time to learn. It creases easily, which can be seen once the film is applied and often results in the need to strip and re-tint an unhappy customer's window. Almost all windows are now tinted using 1 piece of film and heating it to fit the glass, rather than strips of tint to reduce the stress from curves. My car, the Integra, is on the more difficult end, as far as back glass difficulty.
Temporary Template Storage - You will likely see panels of glass lining the walls of any tint bay. These are for holding your patterns between cuts, during cleaning, or during anything else. It provides a clean surface that can be easily viewed and easily cut on. Spraying the mixture between the film and the glass creates a natural suction adhesion, without having peeled the liner, for easy and fast storing.
My back glass pattern after cutting, heat shrinking, trimming, and storing it temporarily on the glass panel.
Trimming - This usually only applies to hand cuts, but some machine cuts will require trimming to meet personal needs. Typically this is where you cut the final edges of the film, after having cut the majority on the glass. Little touch ups, rounded corners, and any repairs necessary can be done with a tint knife and glass panels.
Below is the process of completing my cut pattern and storing it on the glass. Notice the edges (corners) of the tint and how the pattern looks unfinished.
Another difficult aspect is cutting clean, precise, aesthetically appealing corners. I am more precise with a tint knife than I am with a pen or pencil for some reason..
Once all edges have been cleaned up, the pattern is ready for application.
Cleaning (again) - This time it really matters, especially on older vehicles. On some of the newer stock units I tint I just spray water, squeegy the glass, and apply the film. For my car I first sprayed the glass, then used a scrub pad over the entire surface of the glass and the edges. I followed that with using a 1 inch razor blade, in one direction, over the entire surface of the glass. I followed that with another scrub, then a lengthy spray followed by a squeegy; A paper towel across the edge of the glass; And a final squeegy of the glass and considered it ready to be tinted. I will rarely incorporate so many steps and so much time to cleaning, but I was in no rush. Sometimes, adhesive or stickers on the inside of the glass will need to be removed. The length of time the sticker has been on the glass usually affects the difficulty to remove it. I had one sticker on the back glass that required torching the outside of the glass in order to soften the adhesive and remove the sticker smoothly.
When ready to tint, the glass needs to be wetted prior to peeling the liner and wetting the film. Gliding the film across the surface is accomplished much more easily when both surfaces have been sprayed.
Liner Removal - After cleaning and spraying the window, make sure you're at the right pattern and peel the liner according to the method of tinting utilized. Ie. On side roll-ups I roll the window down about 1 inch and apply the top 3/4 of the film, positioning it properly according to the way my cut lines up with the edge of the glass. This is called a border and is often the first thing a tinter will look at when judging the quality of a tint job.
(This picture is another I took of a different vehicle, because you can see the border. On my vehicle the border was too close to view on camera - There has to be some space though, or the film will peel due to an unsecured edge of the film. So it takes a bit of skill in the cut and positioning to get the film as close as possible, without sacrificing quality of the job)
Moar Wetness - Once the liner has been peeled correctly, spray the exposed portion of the film rather quickly. Once the exposed portion is in a free air environment, it can pick up particles in the air quickly, especially when the adhesive is dry/sticky. Little particles that land on the film end up between the film and the glass and become small little circles of air, due to the film being slightly pushed away from the glass and a small circle of missed adhesion. This is broadly coined as dirt and is most often the result of improper techniques or cleaning and can easily move from the rubber/felt seals of the vehicle, to between the glass and film.
Stick it in baby - I have no pictures of the process of applying the film, due to the necessity of both hands in moving and applying the film to the vehicle. On the back glass, there's a very large piece of film that is difficult to handle with only two hands. I use my head on hatchbacks to help hold the film.. lol. Position the film exactly as you want it to stay.
Tack it and Squeegee - This is tinter slang (tack) for squeegeeing a portion of the film well enough that the film will no longer slide on the glass. This is sometimes hard and misleading as to just how tacky the film is and how much freedom you can incorporate in your following squeegeeing. Care must always be taken and include some assumption that the film could move at any time. Below shows the top portion of the film squeegeed and ready to continue. All air and water needs to be pushed out from between the film and the glass and edges need to be secured (heated on the outside of the glass (using torch) and gliding across the film with a hard card / corner card) prior to rolling the window up.
Bottom Portion - After rolling the window up, the remaining liner needs to be removed and the film will tuck under the bottom seal of the window. Sometimes a seal will require tucking, utilizing your bone by applying pressure to fold the seal down, to assure cleanliness on the bottom portion of the film.
This process often results in small creases on the edges of the side of the glass that you will come to expect and learn to clean up during the final heating procedures. Often following this step, tinters will move to another window, to give the film some time to dry and make it easier and faster to heat. Prior to leaving the window, it needs to be checked over for any air bubbles that need to be removed while the film is still drying.
Heat again - Sometimes the inside of the glass will be heated with the gun, but this can be dangerous to the car's interior and most of the heating from here is done on the outside of the glass, using the gun or torch. The torch heats the glass up much faster and is more efficient, but also much more dangerous.
The area heated below is the portion that usually includes tiny creases in the film from the roll-up application process. I heated the entirety of my window, focusing mainly on the bottom edge, because I roll my windows up and down immediately following tinting them. Most people will be told not to roll their windows down for 2 days and unless properly prepped, this should be taken into account.
Look closely - This should be done multiple times during the heating phase, using different angles and different reflective perspectives, in order to find all flaws and fix them as best you can. Any dirt or imperfections in the tint can be minimized by applying heat and using a hard card or lil' chizzler to push out as much are as possible and maximize adhesion in the area.
Clean and finish - Wipe down the wet door panel with a clean rag or paper towel, clean the inside of the windows very delicately with a silicon based cleaner and paper towel. And clean the paint and outside of the car with a chamoix or something safe for the paint.
Experience Pwn - Now that you're all finished, sit back relax and enjoy your hard work and check out the completed result!
A few things to note - The car was tinted with Llumar ATR Charcoal 20% on the Side roll-ups, quarter-panel glass, and the rear glass. The windshield was also tinted with ATR Charcoal 35% (Lighter - percentage is the amount of light allowed through the film). Tinting the windshield is pretty rare and typically only done by those with connections or something in the auto industry. A tint shop or dealership will almost never agree to do this for a random customer, because it's illegal in every state (as far as I know). The darkness on my roll-ups and quarters is also illegal according to Texas law. The darkest legally allowed on she sides of a car is 35%. On a truck, SUV, or van, anything behind the front 2 windows can be as dark as you like legally. The front 2 doors must remain 35% or lighter and the windshield on all vehicles is limited to a 5 inch strip, or the AS1 line. I've sort of realized what exactly you can "get away with" in Texas and cops rarely know the difference between 35% and 20% without a meter to measure. Limo (5%) seems to more often get you in trouble, since there is hardly any visibility inside of the car.
The tricks to getting away with this are the same as anything else. Don't be an idiot, and try to avoid getting pulled over. If you do, roll down both front windows and turn on the interior light. An officer will appreciate this view anyways, considering he has no idea what to expect if he can't see anything inside of the vehicle. Precision on cuts around my legal stickers will weigh on a cops ability to notice that there is tint on the windshield. I cut very close, so it is hard to see the line at all. I also have a DPS sticker, that you only get if you donate money to the officers. This might seem cheezy, but it's $25 or whatever and when they look at your stickers they will see that you had donated to them. I dunno if I shouldn't make this shit public, but if you want to stalk me, go right ahead. I'm probably already stalking you anyways. (The army sticker is from a previous owner, but I leave it there so people think I'm a hardcore gun slangin army dood).
That's it! Here's a few more pics of the final product...