Model S - Window Tinting

[S4Life]

S4Life,

Welcome to the forum. Thanks for the info and contributions. Totally agree that the skill of the installer is what matters most.

I've had Photosync on my Model S since last summer and can certainly say its for real. Heat rejection is amazing. Yes, it does tend slightly to blueish in color, so it's not going to be the right tint for someone looking for a smoke effect. But at lighter shades it really still works at keeping things cool. That's why I went with it - I didn't want to diminish nighttime visibility, and more importantly for me, dark underground parking garage visibility at work.

It took a lot of back and forth with the Photosync rep to find an installer here in Seattle willing to try it, as much like you, pro installers want to test and try it before considering adding anything new to their lineup. One of the best in the industry up here sampled it, ran it through the paces, and was happy with it so decided to offer it. They are a stickler for detail and have a long established reputation up here, so I took that as a positive sign and indeed have been happy with the install and film. And they charged a 33% premium for it, not 300%.

I think part of the reason they only have 2 reps, don't attend the conferences, etc is because they are small, new to the market, and ramping up. Judging by everyone on this thread who's been happy with the film, I'd say they have a winning product but have a long way to go to build up a dealer network and break into the larger market. Always challenging for a new upstart in any industry.

Why don't you get a sample and check it out for yourself? Or maybe you can find someone in your area who's already had it installed and can check it out on a car. You seem skeptical, rightly so, but obviously somewhat intrigued. I'd encourage you to go take a look.

For sure skeptical as I am always with bold claims. Appreciate your response though. I can almost guess with 99% you went to Northwest . Good hands there for sure as they do it right for sure! Glad your happy with it as that is the most important thing.

Numbers they claim though still don't add up. I would like to see them get independently tested. Until then its just claims. They state they have been around 30 years though but not sure how long with the film side of it. Not sure I will try it or not as it seems hard to get hold of and Cali already has its limit on dealers. Something like 4 dealers a state I hear, thats crazy for a state with 30 million plus. I also am trying to stay 100% American on my products when ever possible, specially on an American car.

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If you're in SoCal, I'd be happy to bring my car to you to do some real world tests. I'm all about real world data. I know it's made a huge difference for my car, but would gladly put it to the test against other tints.

Appreciate the offer but I don't have the equipment to do the proper testing. BTU meter and the butt meter maybe but thats just heat. I want to see its adhesive properties and top coat durability tested. They should get independently tested using industry standard tests and back those claims up. I mean if they are for real why would they not want to do that? Everyone would want to carry that film then right? If they want to avoid chop shops from carrying it just put some dealer requirements and pricing on it but let the more than 4 dealers per state as thats ridiculous IMO.

 

[Bill D]

S4Life - IMHO, your skepticism is partially justified. I wholeheartedly agree with your point about independent testing but disagree with your speculation about why Photosync limits dealers, SEMA, IWFA, etc. I support Photosync's freedom to do whatever they want about dealers, associations, marketing and promotion (the same way I feel about Tesla's decisions about dealers, etc) and making a leap to speculate on their motives comes across as a "sour grapes" story like the NJ car dealers.

We've owned many cars here in the hot South Florida sun with window film and Photosync feels like it's the best so far, but that could be our imagination (BTW, we have no association with Photosync).

One of our best decisions (many years ago) was to buy a lifetime membership/subscription to Consumers Union/Consumer Reports magazine. CR is as good as it gets for independent product testing. They never have accepted advertising and never even trust vendors to give them products to test. They independently buy all products without revealing who they are. They also ask members to recommend what products they should test, so I've emailed them suggesting they test window film. I urge other CR members here to also email them. Hopefully they'll do it and put this issue to bed (and end my addiction to this never-ending thread).

 

[epley]

@EarlyAdopter:

Who did you get to install this in Seattle?

 

[S4Life]

S4Life - IMHO, your skepticism is partially justified. I wholeheartedly agree with your point about independent testing but disagree with your speculation about why Photosync limits dealers, SEMA, IWFA, etc. I support Photosync's freedom to do whatever they want about dealers, associations, marketing and promotion (the same way I feel about Tesla's decisions about dealers, etc) and making a leap to speculate on their motives comes across as a "sour grapes" story like the NJ car dealers.

We've owned many cars here in the hot South Florida sun with window film and Photosync feels like it's the best so far, but that could be our imagination (BTW, we have no association with Photosync).

One of our best decisions (many years ago) was to buy a lifetime membership/subscription to Consumers Union/Consumer Reports magazine. CR is as good as it gets for independent product testing. They never have accepted advertising and never even trust vendors to give them products to test. They independently buy all products without revealing who they are. They also ask members to recommend what products they should test, so I've emailed them suggesting they test window film. I urge other CR members here to also email them. Hopefully they'll do it and put this issue to bed (and end my addiction to this never-ending thread).

Fair enough and appreciate your view. I reiterate my point if your happy with your purchase then thats all that counts! I agree and would love to see CR review them but also someone that specializes in testing film. This is what LLumar and 3m for instance do. I also agree they have every right to do what they want like Tesla does but Tesla is not making claims they can't back up. Prestige is at this point. Anyone can print up some numbers, make claims and sell some product. I guess we really won't know for some time as time will always tell the truth. Poor films will color fade or even turn purple and delaminate over time. They also offer poor scratch resistance.

From my side though I have seen many film companies make claims they can't back up. Claiming a TSER of 79% on a 35% VLT though will bring a lot of warranted skepticism. I mean thats right up there with a mirrored film we put on commercial applications. You have to compare that to a 5% (Limo) VLT by other manufactures and they are only getting 60-65% TSER. Thats not a small difference. Then you look at the SC which in the same line of film always should go lower with the TSER going higher and it doesn't with this film. TSER is heat rejection where SC is heat passing through. If your blocking way more through your rejection then your SC has to go down. It does not with Photosync and that makes the numbers looked way fudged here. I am not saying this film doesn't block a good amount of heat but I just can't see how they can block this much or make claims like these. I did call Prestige and talked with them. Not going to divulge any of that info but now I am even more skeptical about this company than I was before. Others on the tintdude forums are also raising the flag on this so I am not alone. I trust only when trust has been earned.

 

[liuping]

Numbers they claim though still don't add up. I would like to see them get independently tested. Until then its just claims. They state they have been around 30 years though but not sure how long with the film side of it. Not sure I will try it or not as it seems hard to get hold of and Cali already has its limit on dealers. Something like 4 dealers a state I hear, thats crazy for a state with 30 million plus. I also am trying to stay 100% American on my products when ever possible, specially on an American car.

I would love to see independent testing, and I'm sure some of there numbers are slightly exaggerated. However, I do know from my person experience that Photosync Tint works extremely well at heat rejection, which was my primary reason for adding tint.

We tinted our Volt first to test it out before installing it on the Model S. Photosync was only slightly more expensive them 3M Crystalline installed, and the heat rejection number were better, so we went with the Photosync. My wife did not want a "tinted look", so we when with 75 front windshield, 65 sides and back. This is a fairly subtle tint level, but it has made a huge improvement in the heat inside the Volt and the amount of AC needed (AC really hits the Volt's EV range).

On my Model S I have 75 front and 45 sides and back, and the heat reduction is extremely good. I'm very happy with it, whether is is exactly as spec'd or not.

(I do not now have, or have I in the past had, any affiliation with Prestige Films, Photosync, any tint manufacturer or installer, or any one or anything to do with the automotive industry.)

 

[dsm363]

I would love to see independent testing, and I'm sure some of there numbers are slightly exaggerated. However, I do know from my person experience that Photosync Tint works extremely well at heat rejection, which was my primary reason for adding tint.

We tinted our Volt first to test it out before installing it on the Model S. Photosync was only slightly more expensive them 3M Crystalline installed, and the heat rejection number were better, so we went with the Photosync. My wife did not want a "tinted look", so we when with 75 front windshield, 65 sides and back. This is a fairly subtle tint level, but it has made a huge improvement in the heat inside the Volt and the amount of AC needed (AC really hits the Volt's EV range).

On my Model S I have 75 front and 45 sides and back, and the heat reduction is extremely good. I'm very happy with it, whether is is exactly as spec'd or not.

(I do not now have, or have I in the past had, any affiliation with Prestige Films, Photosync, any tint manufacturer or installer, or any one or anything to do with the automotive industry.)

I would rather not have the tinted look. Do you notice a major difference between your Volt and Model S with the different tint levels in terms of heat? I would think with the remote cooling (mobile app) the less effective tint would still be enough.

 

[DaveT]

Liuping, would you mind posting some pics of the volt from the side and your Model S from the side? I'm debating between Photsync 45 or 55 on the side and am curious how 65 looks vs 45.

 

[lloyds]

S4Life, I do agree that there should be skepticism. I too was skeptical until due diligence was completed on my part and went far and above to research. If I'm not mistaken, Prestige has been around for quite some time, but only entered into the USA recently. I also compared specs and noticed that photosynchs are better, so I opted for it. I was partially skeptical until I scheduled and had it at the top shop around here - Premiere Protection Films. It is rare that one could drive a $120k car into a shop only to find that it is at the bottom of the price scale inside the shop. And all of the cars there were getting photosynch. I even met another fellow + owner on my day of the appointment and he returned to get his windshield done because of how impressed he was with photosynch.

Confirmation of my decision for getting the + tinted with photosynch was to get some drive time. All I can say is that this product beats out what I have on the BMW M with how well it keeps the heat out. Afterall, that's what really matters for us - how we feel.

To your comment about Prestige's limitation in tinters, this is where I do not agree. I'm in wealth management and work with people with assets starting at $35 million. I had a chance to go with one of my client to visit the McLaren Dealer as he has a P1 on order and was then told about their waitlist yada yada. Sorry for side tracking, but McLaren only has 2 dealers in California. I don't proclaim to know why Prestige only has a limited number of photosynch tinters, but I presume it is for the same reason of McLaren not having more dealerships.

I liken this comparison with Tesla as well. Traditionally cars were sold at a mass franchise level throughout the US. However, Tesla came and disrupt this whole business model by selling it direct to us consumers. I remember the very early days of the MS, there were so many critics and shorts that not a week goes by without hearing about it on the business news channels.

Disclaimer like others, I'm not associated with photosynch. Just a very happy user.

 

[liuping]

Liuping, would you mind posting some pics of the volt from the side and your Model S from the side? I'm debating between Photosync 45 or 55 on the side and am curious how 65 looks vs 45.

I'll try to get some pics this weekend.

65 is very light. 45 is not really all that dark. I was afraid of going too dark and reducing night visions, etc. but it turns out I could have gone 35.

Also, there are a lot of good pictures earlier in this thread: Model S - Window Tinting - Page 46

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I would rather not have the tinted look. Do you notice a major difference between your Volt and Model S with the different tint levels in terms of heat? I would think with the remote cooling (mobile app) the less effective tint would still be enough.

I think in general the Tesla is cooler. But I have not done any side by side tests and the Model S is white, while the Volt is dark grey, so that probably does not help

 

[S4Life]

S4Life, I do agree that there should be skepticism. I too was skeptical until due diligence was completed on my part and went far and above to research. If I'm not mistaken, Prestige has been around for quite some time, but only entered into the USA recently. I also compared specs and noticed that photosynchs are better, so I opted for it. I was partially skeptical until I scheduled and had it at the top shop around here - Premiere Protection Films. It is rare that one could drive a $120k car into a shop only to find that it is at the bottom of the price scale inside the shop. And all of the cars there were getting photosynch. I even met another fellow + owner on my day of the appointment and he returned to get his windshield done because of how impressed he was with photosynch.

Confirmation of my decision for getting the + tinted with photosynch was to get some drive time. All I can say is that this product beats out what I have on the BMW M with how well it keeps the heat out. Afterall, that's what really matters for us - how we feel.

To your comment about Prestige's limitation in tinters, this is where I do not agree. I'm in wealth management and work with people with assets starting at $35 million. I had a chance to go with one of my client to visit the McLaren Dealer as he has a P1 on order and was then told about their waitlist yada yada. Sorry for side tracking, but McLaren only has 2 dealers in California. I don't proclaim to know why Prestige only has a limited number of photosynch tinters, but I presume it is for the same reason of McLaren not having more dealerships.

I liken this comparison with Tesla as well. Traditionally cars were sold at a mass franchise level throughout the US. However, Tesla came and disrupt this whole business model by selling it direct to us consumers. I remember the very early days of the MS, there were so many critics and shorts that not a week goes by without hearing about it on the business news channels.

Disclaimer like others, I'm not associated with photosynch. Just a very happy user.

lloyds,

Happy to hear your happy with it as thats what truly counts. Curious to what was on your Beemer? Kind of hard to compare a rare car with a film company as thats a pretty far stretch. McLaren is not obtainable for most so no need for more than 2 dealers in this state. I think its probably more about distribution based on my interaction with them, so they probably don't have the ability to do more. I mean they don't even have any reps so support can't be all that good currently. I have no problem with a company breaking the mold but don't see how that applies with window film. Most consumers of film are not going to drive more than 10 miles from their home in Cali to get tint done. They will go local and for you their was a local company that installed it, thats not going to be the case for most. I know that does not apply to Tesla owners as we are a rare breed :-D, but Prestige is losing out on 95% of the consumers because of lack of installation locations. If they had the capacity they would be selling it to way more tint shops as nobody, specially someone newer to the game is going to leave all that money on the table. After all this a multi billion dollar industry.

I did not bring it up before but will now that a couple others have pointed this out to me. The photochromic properties of a film like this don't usually last more than 5 years due to cycling of the VLT. It will be interesting to see how this holds up in say 3-5 years. Guess us Telsa owners are used to that game like the battery degradation.

 

[liuping]

Guess us Telsa owners are used to that game like the battery degradation.

10-20% battery degradation in 10 years? Yeah I'm fine with that.

It's better than my old ICE car, it used to "wear out" gasoline at the rate of about 1 gallon every 20 miles.

 

[S4Life]

10-20% battery degradation in 10 years? Yeah I'm fine with that.

It's better than my old ICE car, it used to "wear out" gasoline at the rate of about 1 gallon every 20 miles.

Yep. agreed. Long as I don't have to go to a gas station ever again I can take that kind of degradation!

 

[lloyds]

lloyds,

Happy to hear your happy with it as thats what truly counts. Curious to what was on your Beemer? Kind of hard to compare a rare car with a film company as thats a pretty far stretch. McLaren is not obtainable for most so no need for more than 2 dealers in this state. I think its probably more about distribution based on my interaction with them, so they probably don't have the ability to do more. I mean they don't even have any reps so support can't be all that good currently. I have no problem with a company breaking the mold but don't see how that applies with window film. Most consumers of film are not going to drive more than 10 miles from their home in Cali to get tint done. They will go local and for you their was a local company that installed it, thats not going to be the case for most. I know that does not apply to Tesla owners as we are a rare breed :-D, but Prestige is losing out on 95% of the consumers because of lack of installation locations. If they had the capacity they would be selling it to way more tint shops as nobody, specially someone newer to the game is going to leave all that money on the table. After all this a multi billion dollar industry.

I did not bring it up before but will now that a couple others have pointed this out to me. The photochromic properties of a film like this don't usually last more than 5 years due to cycling of the VLT. It will be interesting to see how this holds up in say 3-5 years. Guess us Telsa owners are used to that game like the battery degradation.

The fella I met with the MS during my white + appointment was from Oregon. When we picked up our 2nd + (gray) late last year, I brought it to Premeire and they had 3 other MSs there, and I met with another gentleman who was from Central California, so I'd dare say that's quite a bit further than 10 miles. On the same day of the white + getting tint, I saw a truck delivering a Bugatti and that was from New York if I remember correctly. What I'm saying is that those of us who deem quality as a priority would travel to get the best product with the best service. On my M3, I have Huper done by the local tint shop Automall Tint. No issues with the work, but I never cared for the mirrorish look to it. I can't comment on support from Prestige as I've never had to deal with them, but my installer was and is great. I have over 30k on the white + and now almost 20k with the gray +, no problemos there with photosynch. Very happy with it and if I weren't getting rid of the M3, I would have replaced the Huper with phootsynch.

 

[EarlyAdopter]

@EarlyAdopter:

Who did you get to install this in Seattle?

Northwest Auto Salon.

 

[Cole Avenue]

Spectra Photosync 75% on the windshield and 35% all around. Stock 19" wheels plasti-dipped black.

 

[IanH88]

looks fantastic....not a huge fan of the white, but this makes it looks great

 

[AmpedRealtor]

I have the PhotoSync and I would recommend it. My Wh/mi have dropped since getting it, presumably due to lowered AC demand. I have it on all windows - 35% all around plus 70% (or 75%, I don't remember) 3M Crystalline on the windshield. Installer recommended AGAINST PhotoSync on windshield due to rainbow effects when using polarized sunglasses. The 3M Crystalline still rainbows, but not as much as the PhotoSync.

 

[S4Life]

I have the PhotoSync and I would recommend it. My Wh/mi have dropped since getting it, presumably due to lowered AC demand. I have it on all windows - 35% all around plus 70% (or 75%, I don't remember) 3M Crystalline on the windshield. Installer recommended AGAINST PhotoSync on windshield due to rainbow effects when using polarized sunglasses. The 3M Crystalline still rainbows, but not as much as the PhotoSync.

I just installed Air Blue 80 on my front windshield. I wear polarized Oakleys, no rainbow effect for me and the clarity is outstanding. No orange peel at all.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

I just installed Air Blue 80 on my front windshield. I wear polarized Oakleys, no rainbow effect for me and the clarity is outstanding. No orange peel at all.

I don't believe the tint you mention does much IR blocking. That's where the heat comes from.

 

[NuclearPowered]

I just installed Air Blue 80 on my front windshield. I wear polarized Oakleys, no rainbow effect for me and the clarity is outstanding. No orange peel at all.

Air blue on windshield is very nice. I had it on my 2007 Prius and it does block a significant amount of heat. Llumar specs say 43% total solar energy rejected. any tint is illegal on windshield in az, so don't want to attract attention with a charcoal color.

http://cdn.llumar.com/drupal/north_america_automotive_window_film_specs.pdf