cobrar97

I just wanted to pass on some information about window tinting on the 2015 SQ5. This is just a piece of the puzzle that may help others trying to decide what to do make a better decision.

After looking around, I finally decided on Llumar CTX (ceramic) tint for the SQ5. I was going to do CTX30 of the front-sides and a much lighter shade of the rear so it would blend, yet the rear would be slightly darker (I was going to do CTX70 on the rear-sides and rear). I was going to do CTX50 on the pano-roof).

I took it to an upper-line shop that does excellent work.

Upon arriving, I wanted to know the OEM tint level on the rears. It metered at 28% VLT. Depending on who Audi gets there glass from that week, I've heard this can vary...but mine metered 28% as the OEM.
From front windows (clear) metered 80%.
Applying CTX30 (32% VLT) to the front brought them down to 28%VLT...exactly the same as the OEM rears.
Then I was going to have CTX70 put on the rear for the solar rejection properties, which would drop the rear slightly to a 22%VLT.

Here's where the problem occurred. After everything was done, the shop called and said they just didn't like the way it looked. The front windows had such a green cast to it, that they didn't match the rears AT ALL. The green cast to the ceramic tint from Llumar just wasn't even close to the OEM smoked color...even with CTX behind it.
As a test, they removed on of the front-side windows and replaced it with ATR30, which is Llumar's regular color-dyed tint. It matched the rear OEM smoke almost exactly.

So in the end, even though this isn't want I wanted, they removed ALL the tint from the vehicle and put ATR30 on the front and left the rears as OEM...so everything matches exactly in both color and tint levels.
Granted, I'm not getting any of the solar rejection I intended, but I couldn't have it look funny either...and it DID look funny.
I did do the ceramic CTX50 on the pano for the IR rejection, and you can't see the green cast anyhow. The CTX50 on the OEM pano darkens it just a very little bit and nothing that would make you wish you didn't do it. Anything darker that 50 on the pano would be too much since I paid for that light. But now it won't roast me either.

So all-in-all, Llumar's ceramic tint, called CTX, does NOT match with Audi smoked glass. If you were doing a car that started with matching, clear windows, you'd never know...but CUV/SUV with OEM smoke isn't going to look right.
Llumar's basic color-stable, called ATR, matches Audi's OEM smoke perfectly. In addition, the ATR30 nets a 28% VLT on the front windows with is a dead-ringer to the OEM 28% VLT on the rears.

Again...this is just information as I discovered it. Add this to you tint search knowledge base to make a more informed decision and possibly prevent a headache.

The shop that did mine was so disappointed with the look of the CTX, the went from a $650 sale to a $240 sale AND basically did the entire car twice. They didn't make much money on me, but they said they'd rather I be happy and recommend people that have something that looking bad and tell people who did it that way.

Regardless, I AM happy with the "appearance" of the end result.

rob40wilson03

Thanks for the info! I'll most likely have mine tinted not long after I get it. Where are you located?

cobrar97

I'm in central Ohio.
Yes, the SQ5 certainly looks better with tinted windows.

metta

Thanks for sharing this information. I'm thinking of getting my windows tinted so it's interesting to hear your process, and the different product outcomes.

Does anyone know or have an opinion on whether I could get away with the front windows matching the rear windows in CA? I don't think it's street legal, but is anyone else doing this and have you garnered any attention from the po-po due to this?

hilld

I had my fronts tinted last week. They used Suntek Carbon film at 25% and it as close a match as one could expect. I am happy with the look, the fronts match the rears, that is all I wanted.

The best part is that they only charged me $50 as I was a repeat customer.

cobrar97

I actually metered the Suntek product as well. I've had issues in the past (twice) with Suntek, so I opted against it this time.
Carbon has a good color match (in my opinion). Carbon25 is a 24%VLT. This offsets the extra light that comes in the windshield which makes matching VLT fronts appear slightly lighter than the OEM rear.
If you meter Carbon25 fronts and OEM rears, the Carbon25 will meter a darker VLT than the OEM rears.
Again, the appearance (especially in the sun) looks like a perfect match to the rears from the exterior. What I noticed is that from the INSIDE of the vehicle, the fronts looks slightly darker than the rears when looking out.
Most people wouldn't notice this (as you don't look out both at the same time for the most part)...but it's one of those little things that would bother me too much. I'd rather have the VLTs match and look the same from the inside in absolute perfection, but the front do look slightly lighter due to the windshield light.
NOW...if you put a AIR80 (or similar "clear" product) on the windshield, this would eliminate that slight difference. In that case, you wouldn't want to use a 20 or 25 film on the front...nothing less than a 32% spec VLT is going to be exact.
Of course, all of this depends on sun or not, overcast or not, pano light or not, evening light, etc, etc. That's why if you match the VLT %, you cannot go wrong in any condition.

JBDinTX

Thanks for the info. I have the same llumar on my SQ5. Also llumar clear bra to.

jbbarrette

It's not legal in CA. Anything on the front windows is against the law. That being said, all my vehicles have always had dark front windows and so far I haven't gotten into trouble (knock on wood)

Xylar5

I have the Llumar CTX 30 on the fronts and I have not noticed a green tint. In fact, everything seems to match quite well. I do notice a blue hue when looking from inside to the side mirrors under certain lighting conditions, but my wife has never noticed it.

I wonder if you got a bad batch (or I did not get what I paid for)

cobrar97

Maybe it was a bad batch. Or maybe it was an old (or newer) version. I'm not sure. The shop is very up-scale and well known. They did the entire vehicle and THEY disliked it so much they wanted to re-do it for me. When I saw it, it certainly had a green cast to it. The final tint, which was the low-cost color-stable looks like a perfect match.
The tint people do change things, and technologies, from time to time...so that could have been why yours looks like, and mine wouldn't have. I'm happy with the appearance of my tint (and the price), but I won't get the total solar-benefit that the ceramic would have offered. Oh well.