I was just wondering if its possible to put on the film without getting bubbles. I know you get what you pay for, so im not expecting it to be perfect, but i want it to look good. If you know any tips for tinting your own windows, let me know.

 

I have only tinted 4 vehicles but have never installed tint in a curved rear window of a sedan, the curved windows are the most troublesome. I hear that proffesionals use 4 inch wide strips of tint to do the curved windows.
Auto Zone sells those Arizona Tint co. packs of tint and accessory tools. I already have all of that stuff which takes an hour to find in the garage.
Make sure your truck is washed inside and out. Any spec of dust will show up like a high school pimple. Find a clean spray bottle that has only had water in it to spray on the back side of the film, put a tiny bit of dish soap in the water. Its better to have an assistant hold the film while you position it on the window. Be sure to leave plenty of film on the lower part because when you roll up the window there is going to be at least an inch or two ofo material needed. Dont install in direct sunlight, do it on a cloudy day ir inside of a clean building, have a clean table nearby. After the film is on carefully squeege the water/ soap mixture from between the glass and the film.
After you roll up the windows, dont roll them down for a couple days, never wash the windows with amonia cleaner again, to clean the film, use only dish soap and water. If you srew up, clean off the film with vinager.

 

Patients is the best reccomendation. I did the rear windows on my 88' Supercab. They are fairly square and easy if you follow the directions. I bought my cheap-*** tint at Advance Auto Parts, along with the application fluid.

1) get windows VERY clean! Start with just 1.
2) pre-trim a window with 1-2 inches extra all the way around.
3) spray window with plenty of application fluid with water.
4) peel a side back part way and stick it to the window (don't worry you can't slide it around if you have enough fluid)
5) once you have the whole window applied, slide it into position.
6) then using a hard rubber squeegee (spelling?) work out towards the edges and squeeze the water/air out. go slow and press hard.
7) trim the edge with a razor and clean up.

Using plenty of fluid will be your best tip, and also, work slow. Have fun.

 

Alright, thanx for the info. I will either get to it tomorrow night, or saturday after work. About how long will it take for 7 windows if i take my time? (4 side, and the rear which is 3 parts) 3 or 4 hours? I have to go to a college open house tomorrow and i dont want to have to stop half way through.

 

Sounds about right. If you have to, do the back ones first so if you have to stop it won't be a big deal. And like thesaintoc said, don't roll down any tinted windows for at least 24hrs.

 

A friend does this for a living, and he always uses Johnson Baby Shampoo instead of dish soap. Not sure if it really makes much difference, but thought I would pass that along.

 

I would do one window first so you can see how it turns out looking in a day before doing all of them.

 

Yeah, if you do it yourself for the first time, i can allready guarntee you it will have errors in it. Your doing your truck right?, i believe the extended cab windows have those black matrix dot things on them dont they? There will allready be a line of bubbles around them. But it all looks pretty uniform so it doesnt look that bad.

 

Yeah, i was going to ask about those. I figured they would make bubbles, but like you said it will be uniform all the way around and shouldn't look to bad.

Thanx for the baby oil tip. Someone else told me that, but they didnt know why either.

Yeah, im doing my truck. I wouldnt start on someone elses and mess it up without doing it before, but then again, a little practice before i do my truck might be pretty good.

 

Don't use baby oil, use baby shampoo!!!

 

i didn't have any "shampoo", but i had bath stuff that could be used as a "mild shampoo". Its basicaly the same thing, but your right its not oil.

I did the two small windows on the back doors. You were right about the dot matrix stuff. I had to trim it to fit the inside. It doesnt look bad except a few places where i trimmed it about 1/8 inch too much. Unless you know where to look you cant see it.
But thats why i started on the small ones. It really wont matter too much since my windows are normally dirty

But thanx for all the help.

 

Glad to heart things went good, let us know how the rest of the windows turn out.

 

I will have some time tomorrow, so maybe i can at least get the back ones finished. Ill take some pictures when im finished so you can see what it looks like.

 

Ok, i got the back one donea dn they look really good. With every window i tint i am getting beter, but now to the tricky ones. The front side windows.

You know when you roll down the window you can see that piece at the top that you couldn't tint. Well i was ondering if there was any way i could slide the tint into the seal or not. I know i could leave the window down a little bit, but i cant roll them up or down for about 3 days. Any suggestions are appreciated.

BTW thanx for all the help you've already given me.

 

Good question.
I have always rolled the windows down enough so that I can apply the film from the top down, leave at least an inch of slackat the bottom. After I sqeegee the water out of the top %95 of the window then I roll up the windows, taking care not to "taco " the top part of the film. Then sqeegee on the bottom portion. I did a new Mazda Protege a while back and did not leave enough film at the bottom, after I rolled up the windows I had more than an inch of bare window. Had to re-do two side windows due to that inattention. I use both a Stanly slash knife and an Exacto small disposable blade. The Exactos go dull real fast.