Taking my car to get PPF tonight, help me decide about tint ?

[acarney]

So I'm dropping my car off in about 7 hours to get some Xpel PPF applied to the car, I already know the game plan for that... BUT, I'm also considering tint. Could you guys post some pictures of your tinted cars and let me know what VLT amount the tint is?

The installer (before I got my car) originally suggested 20% all around with a 70%+ (clear) on the windshield. The total solar energy rejection between the "clear" 70% and a 20% is fairly small (52% rejected to 66% rejected). So heat wise I don't really feel like I need to go as DARK as possible, like a lot of people seem to like. I like the style and look, but I don't want it to feel like I'm in a cave or greatly reduce side visibility during dark nights.

I'm thinking maybe going XR Plus 35 or XR Plus 45 (38% visible light transmission or 45% visible light transmission) but that's just a wild guess for me because XR Plus 20 seems really dark...

I wasn't planning on tinting any of the top glass or rear window, it already seems to do a good job of heat rejection and I don't want ANY reason for Tesla to try to deny a replacement if I have cracking issues down the road. Do you think the car will look horrible with that "small" clear area on the rear window but also a side tint?

 

[AndrewAllen]

What color is your interior?

 

[AndrewAllen]

This is exactly what your PPF guy recommended. 20% sides and back with 70+ front. It’s perfect for white interior. I personally would do full back window but there are people on here who haven’t and don’t mind it.

I saw a black interior model 3 there and it seemed really dark.

 

[acarney]

This is exactly what your PPF guy recommended. 20% sides and back with 70+ front. It’s perfect for white interior. I personally would do full back window but there are people on here who haven’t and don’t mind it.

I saw a black interior model 3 there and it seemed really dark.

View attachment 447087

Oh wow, I've got a deep blue metallic with the white interior... yours doesn't look nearly as dark as some of the pictures I've seen. I guess black interiors really play a huge part, or people are getting like 5%.

Yours actually looks really good. How's it at night? Any issue with seeing out the side windows or rear window, especially say in a parking lot where people might be around (rather then car headlights).

 

[AndrewAllen]

No issues at night for me and I don’t like dark tint. The side mirrors are auto dimming but I can still see.

The black interior car that was there also had 20% 70% same as mine and it looked like a cave inside. I think it was way too dark.

I have another picture that shows it a little darker. Let me find it.

 

[AndrewAllen]

Just a different angle.

 

[AndrewAllen]

The nice thing about ceramic tint is it still works great, even if it’s not as dark. The front window is a huge help. It’s hot in AZ and without tint you can still feel the heat come in.

 

[acarney]

The nice thing about ceramic tint is it still works great, even if it’s not as dark. The front window is a huge help. It’s hot in AZ and without tint you can still feel the heat come in.

Right, which is why I starting thinking about going less dark since you still get pretty good heat rejection...

I'm going to have to look around for some pictures with the rear window non-tinted. For one, I don't want to pay a bunch to tint it and then maybe have a crack issue and it gets replaced anyway. Two, I don't want Tesla to be fed up with replacing bad glass and start to claim it's because of additional tint being applied. Third, I kinda wouldn't mind saving some bucks (and I do love the great viability out the back)... I'm already spending $1600+ on the PPF and just had Tesla order a second set of aero wheels for me to get ready for winter (probably will be $2k once I order tires *cry*)

 

[AndrewAllen]

You must not be PPF’ing the entire car? Otherwise $1600 is a smoking deal.

I did tint, PPF front bumper/mirrors, and ceramic coating. It was like $2500.

We were up in the mountains and I got tree sap all over the car. It wiped right up and didn’t etch the paint at all. Any type of protection is great.

If you are worried I would go lighter. That way you only have to do it once.

 

[BOBEDIGITL]

Go darker than 30%! I made the mistake of doing 30% and I wish I had gone 20%

 

[acarney]

Go darker than 30%! I made the mistake of doing 30% and I wish I had gone 20%

Do you have the black or white interior? Have any pictures of your car?

 

[acarney]

You must not be PPF’ing the entire car? Otherwise $1600 is a smoking deal.

I did tint, PPF front bumper/mirrors, and ceramic coating. It was like $2500.

We were up in the mountains and I got tree sap all over the car. It wiped right up and didn’t etch the paint at all. Any type of protection is great.

If you are worried I would go lighter. That way you only have to do it once.

Nope, just full front (I think that's front bumper, headlights, full front hood, front quarter panels back to the front wheels, and maybe back of mirrors) and was quoted ~$1600, but I'll chat tonight and get specifics. I might ask about having some areas right behind the wheels done as well or the full lower side trim. I think I was quoted $1500 for full tint (all glass on the car) so we'll see how much less it is if I don't tint the top or rear window...

Edit: I'll probably get ceramic at some point, but if I can make it till spring without the sides/trunk looking bad (or just requiring a small amount of touch up) I might get them PPFed once the wallet recovers some from brand new car + this detail work + second set of wheels, lol. Doing full PPF on the car now would be $5000+ and once you ceramic you basically can't PPF without a lot of extra work

 

[AndrewAllen]

$1500 is pretty steep for tint. I paid $750 including front and rear windows. Not sure where you’re located.

 

[acarney]

$1500 is pretty steep for tint. I paid $750 including front and rear windows. Not sure where you’re located.

Eastern side of Washington state. We don't have to many tint places around here, or at least places that really specialize in auto tinting. I don't trust like the industrial rental places that also advertise window tinting service. This original quote was for Xpel XR Plus tint on all windows, and I'm fairly certain he mentioned the full rear and top. They do a single sheet on the rear and have worked on a bunch of Model 3s, so I felt pretty good about that. If that rear window (and possibly) top window greatly increased the price then maybe just the front + sides will be a much better price, still steep for the amount of glass tinted, but there's also convenience in dropping the car off at one place to have it all done and picking it up a couple days later. I've also heard some mixed results from a couple of the other places in town when it comes to other detail work and this place is "approved" or whatever by Xpel, so if anything does go wrong and they won't stand behind their work, I think Xpel will stand behind it. I was also told that they usually can give a package discount if I do tint and PPF, so we'll see what that might bring my total to...

Still not 100% decided on this, I haven't actually had issues with the sun beating down on me, and I do like how bright an open the cabin feels. I guess I just want the nice look from the outside, lol

 

[r1200gs4ok]

I got 3M Crystalline....70% windshield.....50% drivers and passengers side glass and 50% on the moon roof.....40$ on the Rea glass and back trunk window.....great product....cuts down heat very well and is distortion free.....

EDIT: Believe I paid $1350

 

[BOBEDIGITL]

Do you have the black or white interior? Have any pictures of your car?

I have Suntek CIR with black interior.



interactive rolling dice

 

[AndrewAllen]

Eastern side of Washington state. We don't have to many tint places around here, or at least places that really specialize in auto tinting. I don't trust like the industrial rental places that also advertise window tinting service. This original quote was for Xpel XR Plus tint on all windows, and I'm fairly certain he mentioned the full rear and top. They do a single sheet on the rear and have worked on a bunch of Model 3s, so I felt pretty good about that. If that rear window (and possibly) top window greatly increased the price then maybe just the front + sides will be a much better price, still steep for the amount of glass tinted, but there's also convenience in dropping the car off at one place to have it all done and picking it up a couple days later. I've also heard some mixed results from a couple of the other places in town when it comes to other detail work and this place is "approved" or whatever by Xpel, so if anything does go wrong and they won't stand behind their work, I think Xpel will stand behind it. I was also told that they usually can give a package discount if I do tint and PPF, so we'll see what that might bring my total to...

Still not 100% decided on this, I haven't actually had issues with the sun beating down on me, and I do like how bright an open the cabin feels. I guess I just want the nice look from the outside, lol

If I didn’t live here I would leave the tint off. I love the white.

 

[joebruin77]

I have the same exterior and interior color combination as you. Personally, I love how light and bright the white interior is and I did not want to do anything to darken it. Also, when looking at the car from the outside, I like how the white of the 20" wheels matches with the white of the interior. If the windows were tinted super dark, you would not see this combination.

Bottom line, I think it is a personal preference. I wanted the tint for heat reduction, not privacy . So I went with Xpel Prime XR Plus 55%. I have noticed a definite improvement in how hot the car gets and yet I love how I can still see the inside of the car when looking in from the outside.

I understand your concerns about damage to the rear window, but if you find a shop that has lots of experience doing Model 3's, I would not be that concerned. I had my rear window done in one piece with no problems. Keep in mind that the factory tinting on the rear window may reduce the light coming in, but it does not have the heat reduction properties of higher end ceramic tints. So if your goal is to reduce heat in the car, then I think doing the large rear window is a must.

I did have concerns about driving at night with a very dark tint. In my state, it is illegal to tint the front windows and I would be concerned about liability issues if you got into an accident at night. The other driver might notice your very dark windows and then claim that you were at fault because you could not see out the window due to the illegal tinting (if that applies in your state).

Here is a helpful video that made me have second thoughts about going very dark:

And in case you were curious about what a 55% tint looks like, here is another helpful video (not on a Tesla, but still helpful):

 

[acarney]

So went PPF with full front (bumper and quarter panels back to the wheels, headlights, full front hood, mirrors), A pillar, rocker panel/side skirts or whatever you want to call them. All side windows 30% XR+ tint, front windshield 70% XR+. Total was about $2400 plus tax.

 

[joebruin77]

So went PPF with full front (bumper and quarter panels back to the wheels, headlights, full front hood, mirrors), A pillar, rocker panel/side skirts or whatever you want to call them. All side windows 30% XR+ tint, front windshield 70% XR+. Total was about $2400 plus tax.

Congrats. You made a great choice!