I had my windows tinted in February at a place recommended by my salesman. Actually, it was about the only place to be found which I thought to be strange in a city of 50,000 and seeing all kinds of vehicles with tinted windows. The place doesn't ordinarily do tinting, but does a lot of upscale mods. The tinting was done by one of the owners and he was a very friendly and nice guy and told me that the job was basically guaranteed for life and to just bring it back if I had any problems and to leave it in the sun for awhile until the bubbles went out.

Well, the bubbles never really went out. All of the windows on the sides have many small bubbles and the rear window has a few large bubbles. When I took the car back last week he told me that the bubbles in the side happened when he put on the tint and there was stuff in the air. He said he worked for awhile to get the bubbles in the back window out, but couldn't. He said he could not promise that my rear defroster would not be messed up if he took off the tint, but to bring it in on Monday, May 7th to see what he could do.

Is this normal? Damn, I paid over $200 for this and would be happy with that if it turned out well, but it seems like I'm getting the "too bad, so sad" attitude from a very friendly guy. If he says he can't do anything, what are my options? A crappy tint job is worse than none at all.

TIA

 

A lesson learned--don't call a plumber to do electrical work...........Did you get a receipt or anything in writing telling what if any warranty was made?

 

Plumber-electrician, not a good analogy. This place is a very well respected business which does custom auto mods, but does not regularly do tinting. There was a place which did tinting which was recommended by the Toyota service department and others I asked, but they "did" tinting and don't anymore. I do have a receipt, so I'll see how it turns out. I just didn't know if it was usual or normal to have bubbles in the tint.

 

not normal to have bubbles... though after installation, there can be few traces of some small bubbles that typically go away after sitting in the sun for a while..

these bubbles are and should be water bubbles... any air or other stuff is bad.

ideally, you would want no bubbles after installation.... but seeing as how this was back in february, i would have him redo it.

 

try using sharp edge knife poke a little hole on the bubble then squeeze it. it might work.

 

Thats why i never recommend people getting their window tinted in FEBRUARY!! Especially if you are in Wisconsin! You need to do it when it is hot and sunny man!

 

NOOO!! no poking holes in tint!

doesn't look good and it'll end up looking worse over time... it's fine for doing vinyl work, but not for tint.

 

Unfortunately, nobody ever said a word about this anywhere, not even the guy who installed it. It may not have been summer, but my car got lots of direct sunlight for many days.

 

No, I wasn't considering doing anything like that when it was still under warranty. Nice to know it was not a good idea anyways.

 

I was told today that the problem with the bubbles was debris in the air. The installer said he had better lighting, but still needed a cleaner room. He said that he would look for one and give me a call or he would remove the tint ant refund my money. I told him to give it another try. If that does not work, then I will get the refund and it was nice that the suggestion about a refund came from him. He did say that he had consulted with some people about the installation process.

 

aplumber?

 

usually tint shops will have a warrenty, you can go back and have them fix it for you. get a credit card and try to push the air bubbles out?

 

Try a hair dryer on a small spot, make sure you keep moving the hair dryer back and forth, mine had bubbles but I was told to park it in the sun, and after two days they disappeared

 

A clean environment is necessary for a perfect tint job. That being said, there's really no such thing as a perfect tint job (at least in my experience) because you have to move that tint from the workspace to the car while the tint is soaking wet, and during that movement the adhesive is exposed to the dust in the air. I don't think the tinter is trying to screw you - but he may not really be set up for the quality that you're expecting.

are the bubbles reflective at all? I mean are they kinda silver? if so then they are air bubbles. If they are the almost the same color as the tint itself then they are water and can be expected to go away over time, but that takes summer heat and direct sunlight. 2 months seems a little long.

As far as the rear defroster goes, in my experience it's not usually a huge deal. They do have to cover their own butt, because it's possible they could break one of the lines - but since your tint has only been on a couple of months, the adhesive probably hasn't cured so completely that he would have to take a razor blade to get it off, just an abrasive sponge, which shouldn't do anything to your defroster.

One other thing I'll mention is to make sure that the brand film he's using uses no dye. This is the stuff that turns purple over time. Quality film uses no dye (it's all metal) and won't fade. I'm sure there are alot of brands that are like this, but I only know of one and that is Llumar. I'm a noob to this board, so I hope I don't get flamed for plugging them.

I'd let him give it another try - sounds like a fairly reputable business.