Blue/White Tint Pics?

[acarney]

Not sure what you mean by 'cracking worries'. Most brands of tint actually deflect UV/heat from the cabin and would reduce the chances of cracking from heat. Maybe I misunderstood.

A lot of brands actually don't. They might reflect the majority of UV rays away, but for solar energy it's a different story. For Xpel XR+ 30 (31% visible light transmittance) for solar energy it reflects about 6% and absorbs 77%. That means a huge amount of the heat it's blocking from the car is being absorbed or stopped by the film and not reflected out. Since the film is bonded to the glass that heat energy is going to transfer to the glass. Your sheet of glass is now going to heat up like normal, plus heat up any from the dark black color, AND receive a large majority of the heat that the film is blocking from the cabin.

Under normal conditions that probably isn't an issue; but maybe Tesla has a bad batch of glass, or a supplier with poor quality control, or just the sheer size of it and curve, or how it's adhered to the frame, or the amount of stress and flex it needs from every day driving... all of those factors PLUS additional heat might be enough to cause these stress cracks. Or maybe it's just totally unrelated... but I'm not sure I want to pay hundreds to have it tinted and then develop a crack and have it replaced. Six months down the road or a year maybe I'll change my position and tint it, but at the time (7 days after having the car) I didn't want to risk it or invest money on that glass...

I'm not sure how accurate IR thermometers are but I'll try to get a reading of my front windshield vs my back to see if there is a temperature difference.

 

[acarney]

Here's another picture of my Xpel XR+ 30 from the side. As you can see, you can still clearly see the inside of the car, it's only when off center that you get more reflection/some tint look.

 

[bigroo42]

i did avery dennison 35 on sides and rear and 70 on front windshield. i have not tinted the 'sunroof' as of yet, but very tempted. i can tell a major difference from the windshield heat and the sunroof heat.

side note - i LOVE the look of the stock 18' rims with the aero wheel cap kit. cant get over how good they look. i left my aero covers on there for a few weeks, and once i 'discovered' the gems underneath there i was elated!!!

 

[Jazz_MIII]

I'm having the Xpel Prime Plus tint done this coming Saturday and have the blue/white config...these pics have really helped me see what the end result will look like! I'm a bit undecided as to how DARK I want to go for the back half of the vehicle, but I'm thinking around 50% based on what I see here! I am going to do the 30% on the front (max limit per CA law). So excited for heat repelling tint! -jazz

 

[acarney]

I'm having the Xpel Prime Plus tint done this coming Saturday and have the blue/white config...these pics have really helped me see what the end result will look like! I'm a bit undecided as to how DARK I want to go for the back half of the vehicle, but I'm thinking around 50% based on what I see here! I am going to do the 30% on the front (max limit per CA law). So excited for heat repelling tint! -jazz

50% would be lighter than the 30% fronts. The tint percents are usually in visible light transmission (how much light gets through the tint, so 30% light coming through compared to 50% of the light coming through)

 

[Jazz_MIII]

50% would be lighter than the 30% fronts. The tint percents are usually in visible light transmission (how much light gets through the tint, so 30% light coming through compared to 50% of the light coming through)

oh...pfft...okay I was just on the Xpel site and they represented 50% as a darker look than 30% lol...so that's where my info came from...you can see here: AUTOMOTIVE WINDOW TINT SIMULATOR

So 70% light coming through the front windows and only 50% light coming through the back windows....is what I MEANT lmao...this is some kind of bass ackwards for me.

 

[acarney]

oh...pfft...okay I was just on the Xpel site and they represented 50% as a darker look than 30% lol...so that's where my info came from...you can see here: AUTOMOTIVE WINDOW TINT SIMULATOR

So 70% light coming through the front windows and only 50% light coming through the back windows....is what I MEANT lmao...this is some kind of bass ackwards for me.

Ya, it took me awhile to get my head around it... this helps more...
https://www.xpel.com/web-assets/downloads/XPEL-PRIME-Spec-Sheet-USA-V2-1.pdf

The VLT (visible light transmittance) From the top row to the bottom it's dark to light (smaller number of visible light coming through to higher number)

 

[Jazz_MIII]

Ya, it took me awhile to get my head around it... this helps more...
https://www.xpel.com/web-assets/downloads/XPEL-PRIME-Spec-Sheet-USA-V2-1.pdf

The VLT (visible light transmittance) From the top row to the bottom it's dark to light (smaller number of visible light coming through to higher number)

Thank you! I have to remember it's the light coming through that's being measured. I'm using CA law as my base for the front two windows, so at least I can say I want ~2 shades darker than that. lol. Let them tell me what that actually IS haha.

 

[Candleflame]

I have Xpel XR+ 30% (which is really 31% visible light transmission) and you can hardly tell they're tinted from the outside during the day. At night you can tell they're tinted but you can still see inside if parked under a street light. They have a bit of reflection from the outside so when viewed off angle you get that classic mirror tint look, but straight on it just looks like a very slight tint. From INSIDE the car your visibility basically isn't reduced at all, picking looking through sunglasses when it's very bright out. At night you can tell they're tinted and it is a bit darker, but not unsafe. Far less then how much the mirrors auto dim.

gvien that 30% is extremely dark and illegal even in Australia (and in europe anyway) I don't think it is a matter of that you can "hardly tell". you definitely can. The window looks black like the night during daytime.

 

[jcsnider]

gvien that 30% is extremely dark and illegal even in Australia (and in europe anyway) I don't think it is a matter of that you can "hardly tell". you definitely can. The window looks black like the night during daytime.

From what I've been reading the white interior reflecting light back from the inside makes tints look 10-15% lighter. So that 30% in a lot of cases may look closer to 45-50%? I'm not sure personally. If that's true I'd go with 35%, if not then I want 40-50. Hard to decide.

 

[Jazz_MIII]

From what I've been reading the white interior reflecting light back from the inside makes tints look 10-15% lighter. So that 30% in a lot of cases may look closer to 45-50%? I'm not sure personally. If that's true I'd go with 35%, if not then I want 40-50. Hard to decide.

This is exactly my reasoning for going a little darker! Because of the white interior brightening up the look a bit.

 

[acarney]

gvien that 30% is extremely dark and illegal even in Australia (and in europe anyway) I don't think it is a matter of that you can "hardly tell". you definitely can. The window looks black like the night during daytime.

It's actually really hard to tell, I'll try to get a picture with the door open but I'm really surprised, I would say it's a little less than if you have sunglasses on, which last I checked, it's not illegal to do. (Even at night I'm impressed with how well I can see out, the dimming mirrors actually get MUCH darker than the tint)

Further... 20% is legal in Washington state, so I could have legally gone darker

 

[shiftkenny]

We did 35% windows and rear using The FormulaOne Pinnacle. The heat reduction is noticeable and no issues driving at night, or seeing out the rear top section. We are happy with our choice.

How do you like the tint? I'm getting mine done by pinnacle next week? I have time to change if people dont like it.

 

[ViPaDawG]

Crystalline 20%

One set of pictures are from a sunny day. The other is from a more overcast day. Crystalline definitely has a bluish hue to the tint.

 

[bigroo42]

View attachment 454494 View attachment 454495 View attachment 454496 View attachment 454497 View attachment 454498 View attachment 454499 Crystalline 20%

One set of pictures are from a sunny day. The other is from a more overcast day. Crystalline definitely has a bluish hue to the tint.

Looks great! I especially like the wheels. Are those powder coated? If you don't mind me asking how much did that run ya?

 

[ViPaDawG]

Looks great! I especially like the wheels. Are those powder coated? If you don't mind me asking how much did that run ya?

Thank you! I actually purchased them already coated from a forum member here on TMC. Powdercoating runs about $500-$800 depending on where and who does it.

 

[Stomsf]

I went with a full Stealth XPEL wrap, 70% windshield, 35% for the sunroof and the back window, and 20% on all sides. Chrome delete and removed the badges from the front and back (may reapply some in 3 weeks, depending on how I feel at the 1st wash). Ceramic coating on seats, and matte white console wrap.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/JETHF3WJd4Bu6qxF6

 

[bigroo42]

Well done.... Looks great!

 

[jcsnider]

OP here following up. I finally got around getting my Model 3 (mostly/partly) tinted.

I visited a few shops to get quotes on the work. Most said they were not equipped or capable of doing the rear glass using a single piece of film, and others didn't feel comfortable tinting the front windshield after reading horror stories about electronic damage due to the solution tints require getting into various electronics, etc...

I finally found a place in Louisville comfortable working with the Model 3, and they used 3M Crystalline on my vehicle. (ProTint Louisville off Preston Highway)

Levels:
40% Front and Rear Windows
40% Rear Glass
90% Windshield

Disclosure: They didn't have the 60in film in stock to do the rear glass today, so the pictures below only include the side windows and windshield.

Total cost including rear (not yet done): $1060 after tax.

Facing Sun:

Back Towards Sun:

Very happy so far, should get the back done sometime next week. Hopefully this helps others decide on the tints they want to aim for.