This issue is not new (and has been discussed on this forum and elsewhere), but I wanted to dive a little more deep into this before making any final decisions.
Tints that generally have very high heat rejection tend to be on the thicker side (like 3m crystalline, photosync, etc.), which are generally 2 mil thick, if you tint over the defroster lines you'll likely get an appearance like this (my car, XR Plus 70, but read on about this tint line first as this vlt is the odd one out):
At night this leads to stuff like this (it's hard to capture how it looks exactly as to actually how bright it is, but the light along the defroster lines are real, from my car; this I believe is also with the auto-dimming in action):
What was maddening to me was that I was pretty sure my original tint did not have that issue (XPEL Prime XR Plus 45, as it was 1.5 mil thick); for various reasons I switched to the 70 version. (Would like confirmation of no issues for any of the XR or XR Plus that is not the 70 version)
What I didn't know was that the 70 version is the only one that was 2 mil thick vs 1.5 mil (according to the spec sheet), because of that you get the effect above.
I guess for a lot of people this doesn't bother them and they like the tint for the various benefits; I think for me one reason that it bothers me a lot is since my tint is light, the refraction really sticks out.
I also wonder if this is just because of my defroster lines just happening to be on the thicker side...
I was going to do something about it last year, but ended up trying to sit it out and get used to it. Now that it's been a bit longer, I find it still bothers/annoy me. I'm kind of on the fence on trying to do something about it. But before I decide on anything, I wanted to find out the following:
Any other insights/thoughts would be appreciated as well.
Tints that generally have very high heat rejection tend to be on the thicker side (like 3m crystalline, photosync, etc.), which are generally 2 mil thick, if you tint over the defroster lines you'll likely get an appearance like this (my car, XR Plus 70, but read on about this tint line first as this vlt is the odd one out):
At night this leads to stuff like this (it's hard to capture how it looks exactly as to actually how bright it is, but the light along the defroster lines are real, from my car; this I believe is also with the auto-dimming in action):
What was maddening to me was that I was pretty sure my original tint did not have that issue (XPEL Prime XR Plus 45, as it was 1.5 mil thick); for various reasons I switched to the 70 version. (Would like confirmation of no issues for any of the XR or XR Plus that is not the 70 version)
What I didn't know was that the 70 version is the only one that was 2 mil thick vs 1.5 mil (according to the spec sheet), because of that you get the effect above.
I guess for a lot of people this doesn't bother them and they like the tint for the various benefits; I think for me one reason that it bothers me a lot is since my tint is light, the refraction really sticks out.
I also wonder if this is just because of my defroster lines just happening to be on the thicker side...
I was going to do something about it last year, but ended up trying to sit it out and get used to it. Now that it's been a bit longer, I find it still bothers/annoy me. I'm kind of on the fence on trying to do something about it. But before I decide on anything, I wanted to find out the following:
- If you tinted your back glass and did not get the light refraction, what tint & vlt did you use?
- If you tinted your back glass and do get the refraction, how noticeable it is, and what tint & vlt did you use?
- If you did not tint your back glass, do you have the issue at all? (When my car was untinted I don't remember having the issue, but not 100% sure)
- If you had to redo your back glass more than once, did the issue appear/get worse with the same level of tint? (I was wondering if reapplication had something to do with it)
Any other insights/thoughts would be appreciated as well.
