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Hey guys, I was planning to tint my windows in the next month or so before summer here in Southern California begins. I really want to protect the near perfect Amaretto interior color, which surprisingly really cared for at 187,000 miles. Now that most of the planned maintenance and services (timing belt/water pump/thermostat, drive belt and tensioner, valve cover gaskets, pcv valve, oil cooler, right fuel pump and filter, as well as new front shocks and control arms/sway bar links) are done, I want to prepare the car for summer. Any suggestions as far as tinting or any special procedures that need to be done before I take the car in? How much (price wise) should I expect? And any suggestions on good tinting places between Los Angeles and San DIego? Thanks!
[The car in the pic is seems tinted BTW, so not sure i understand unless that is an exemplar--looks like maybe 30% light transmission rear (70% down), maybe 70% transmission front (30% down; might be 50%). But if shades are up in back, that could be why it looks darker back there and/or why whole car looks somewhat dark thru the glass.]
I will skip the specifics for now of exactly which film, but can observe some stuff from having mine done w/ the same colors like 8 years on now. I am in NorCal too so can't really give you direct ideas there. BUT, what you might do is search on the regional boards (what i did) and also maybe look at the newer high volume boards where people are getting it done on new vehicles. Prime suspects there would be Q5 and then A4.
Also realize D3 is one of a handful of vehicles where if tint shops know them they duck, hem and haw or avoid outright absent special consideration, prior relationship, etc. Or, sometimes do a hack job. The issue is you cannot tint the rear window in full without taking out the back deck/hat shelf because of the way the height of that is several inches up into the glass area. Look from outside and you will see the issue right away; not very many cars are like that. Variously to kludge it some shops might cut film short or try to tuck it down there and get a bunch of crap stuck on film no doubt. Some don't even tint the rear window apparently. The problem with that is usually when I see old Audi's the two places most damaged/faded are the dashboard (warping, delimitation, etc.) and around the back window--up high and hat shelf area in general.
Net, the right answer is take that deck out. That is involved and basically means disassembling the whole back of the car upholstery wise. I did it. Another poster is running a thread literally right now about doing it, so look there too. And once you do it, you can also get at those little side windows a lot better that are back by the C pillar to tint them nicely. My preferred shop would only touch the rear window of my A8 if I pulled the interior in advance, which I did.
As you get into choice of product, with a dark car like that/mine, I would get a higher performance film and pay up for it. Focus on not just uV for sun fade but also IR for heat rejection. Then you also don't have to go way darker quasi limo stuff/ticket me/make a cop nervous stuff. Being in CA you know that front tint is technically a no no, and some get fix it tix for it. Others seem in the real world to be tinting to avoid getting busted for the incessant texting and phone use going on, but maybe just coincidence or overlapping correlation of owner patterns. My net is I went 30 % down (70% transmission) in front and 50 in rear. You can hardly tell it is in the front so it passes any casual LEO look, but still performs. Strong uV protection, about 50% on IR/heat rejection. On newer vehicles, especially as pano roofs get more common, I am tinting the roof panel too. Again, with a film that only rejects modest light--10% down or 30% for me; shops have suggested as much as 50% at times. Even by only 30% down takes out the 50% or so on iR over a flat (roof) piece of glass that probably has about as much sun load as the two front windows combined for any given angle of the compass.
Last, as you probably know, you will likely want to go to certain firm colors/shades. Given black and amaretto it is probably neutral gray or perhaps a little brown. What it isn't is toward green or blue. And that in turn may take out certain film brands. Thus in my world that kind of crossed off the Huper Optik stuff and brought the 3M Crystalline in. I think Huper Optik may have tweaked their colors some though. And this is also to say, don't get too scope locked on a brand before knowing the color family it is in. A good shop knows these nuances, knows the iR rejection issue that isn't just about darkness of film but also about the chemistry (ceramics, nano, etc.), and has the specs for several products in a range of price points to choose among. A really good shop also knows how to mix and match that can save some $, especially if you do progressive/variable shade tinting like mine from front to back. Thus they might use a high light transmittance film up front to stay closer to stock and LEO smile look, but use a cheaper and darker conventional but still quality film in back like a Suntek. Darker films will typically reject more iR anyway; the nuance is to reject a lot with a lighter film, the pricier ceramics, nano, etc. films generally get the nod.
Yes my rear window shades were up, but all windows inside the vehicle are clear, except for sunroof. I'm guessing around $350.00 is what I would expect for the tint job?
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Originally Posted by MP4.2+6.0
[The car in the pic is seems tinted BTW, so not sure i understand unless that is an exemplar--looks like maybe 30% light transmission rear (70% down), maybe 70% transmission front (30% down; might be 50%). But if shades are up in back, that could be why it looks darker back there and/or why whole car looks somewhat dark thru the glass.]
I will skip the specifics for now of exactly which film, but can observe some stuff from having mine done w/ the same colors like 8 years on now. I am in NorCal too so can't really give you direct ideas there. BUT, what you might do is search on the regional boards (what i did) and also maybe look at the newer high volume boards where people are getting it done on new vehicles. Prime suspects there would be Q5 and then A4.
Also realize D3 is one of a handful of vehicles where if tint shops know them they duck, hem and haw or avoid outright absent special consideration, prior relationship, etc. Or, sometimes do a hack job. The issue is you cannot tint the rear window in full without taking out the back deck/hat shelf because of the way the height of that is several inches up into the glass area. Look from outside and you will see the issue right away; not very many cars are like that. Variously to kludge it some shops might cut film short or try to tuck it down there and get a bunch of crap stuck on film no doubt. Some don't even tint the rear window apparently. The problem with that is usually when I see old Audi's the two places most damaged/faded are the dashboard (warping, delimitation, etc.) and around the back window--up high and hat shelf area in general.
Net, the right answer is take that deck out. That is involved and basically means disassembling the whole back of the car upholstery wise. I did it. Another poster is running a thread literally right now about doing it, so look there too. And once you do it, you can also get at those little side windows a lot better that are back by the C pillar to tint them nicely. My preferred shop would only touch the rear window of my A8 if I pulled the interior in advance, which I did.
As you get into choice of product, with a dark car like that/mine, I would get a higher performance film and pay up for it. Focus on not just uV for sun fade but also IR for heat rejection. Then you also don't have to go way darker quasi limo stuff/ticket me/make a cop nervous stuff. Being in CA you know that front tint is technically a no no, and some get fix it tix for it. Others seem in the real world to be tinting to avoid getting busted for the incessant texting and phone use going on, but maybe just coincidence or overlapping correlation of owner patterns. My net is I went 30 % down (70% transmission) in front and 50 in rear. You can hardly tell it is in the front so it passes any casual LEO look, but still performs. Strong uV protection, about 50% on IR/heat rejection. On newer vehicles, especially as pano roofs get more common, I am tinting the roof panel too. Again, with a film that only rejects modest light--10% down or 30% for me; shops have suggested as much as 50% at times. Even by only 30% down takes out the 50% or so on iR over a flat (roof) piece of glass that probably has about as much sun load as the two front windows combined for any given angle of the compass.
Last, as you probably know, you will likely want to go to certain firm colors/shades. Given black and amaretto it is probably neutral gray or perhaps a little brown. What it isn't is toward green or blue. And that in turn may take out certain film brands. Thus in my world that kind of crossed off the Huper Optik stuff and brought the 3M Crystalline in. I think Huper Optik may have tweaked their colors some though. And this is also to say, don't get too scope locked on a brand before knowing the color family it is in. A good shop knows these nuances, knows the iR rejection issue that isn't just about darkness of film but also about the chemistry (ceramics, nano, etc.), and has the specs for several products in a range of price points to choose among. A really good shop also knows how to mix and match that can save some $, especially if you do progressive/variable shade tinting like mine from front to back. Thus they might use a high light transmittance film up front to stay closer to stock and LEO smile look, but use a cheaper and darker conventional but still quality film in back like a Suntek. Darker films will typically reject more iR anyway; the nuance is to reject a lot with a lighter film, the pricier ceramics, nano, etc. films generally get the nod.
Thanks for the heads up as I usually have my vehicles tinted and will do the same when I pick mine up. Now I know to find someone that has actually done a D3 before....hopefully. Thanks again.
cost of tint depends on what brand/type of tint you use. there's cheap **** that will bubble and turn purple, moderate tint which will be fine and block light but not necessarily heat, or more expensive tint like ceramic, which will block out light and heat.
For moderate tint i'd guess $2-300 for 4 windows +rear.
fwiw, my 2 front windows with 3m colorstable and lifetime warranty cost $90
Thanks for the heads up as I usually have my vehicles tinted and will do the same when I pick mine up. Now I know to find someone that has actually done a D3 before....hopefully. Thanks again.
If you feel like making the trek, I can recommend someone down this way. I just got my windows done (3rd car with the same guy), and he did an awesome job.
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Originally Posted by MainelyA8
If you feel like making the trek, I can recommend someone down this way. I just got my windows done (3rd car with the same guy), and he did an awesome job.
Are you kidding? From where I live I consider Boston my area for maintenance so southern Maine is even closer. I figure that when I pick up a D3 that I'll make upgrade stops along the way home. What place do you have in mind?
Are you kidding? From where I live I consider Boston my area for maintenance so southern Maine is even closer. I figure that when I pick up a D3 that I'll make upgrade stops along the way home. What place do you have in mind?
Casco Bay Tints is where I've had a few vehicles done. Matt runs the place solo, and he has nothing but good reviews. I know a couple of people who have had him tint their windows as well, and I believe that's where my brother had his S500 windows done.
My came tinted. I'm pretty sure it's metalized tint, which I prefer anyways. I thought it was 35% all round. But the rears look darker in this pic. Could be the open sunroof and/or untinted windshield making the front look lighter
01-29-2016, 09:14 AM
Tinting My Windows Soon.....
