Window Tint Advice

[murf]

I went with the solarguard film: bronze 20% for the fronts, then 35% charcoal over the rest of the windows.

Fyi, I tried several variations and attempts. Each time stripping off the film and trying something else - even a mirrored film in front of a bronze (wasn't good). It is very hard to get the color tone and mirroring to match the factory tint exactly. The above is what I ended up with as closest match. At least the tone was the bronze and had some mirroring to it. The charcoal 35% slightly darkened the factory tinted glass on the rest of the Cruiser and made an overall better match.

 

[LFD2037]

murf, I think if you went darker on the front 2 it'd make the reflection stronger & match even more. But IDK what the tint law is where your @. In Texas it's stupid: you can pass inspection w/20% but can get a ticket for having darker than 25%. I've had 5% on about 7-8 vehicles, only pulled over once & never ticketed.

 

[tarheel40]

Murf that looks as good as any match job I've seen, glad to know I didn't miss much by trying to lay down a layer of reflective charcoal first though. The tint laws in NC keep you to 35% in the front, had 20% up front on my 4runner for 7 or 8 years and never got a ticket but it was getting harder and harder to find a shop that would pass my inspection since they can get in trouble for if you tint is illegal, finally replaced the front with 35% and did 20% over the rear factory tint.

I've been out a few times today in the cruiser and I'm honestly pleased with the tint, looks pretty good in most lights and I like it a lot better than no tint at all. I don't plan to tint the rear windows any darker, like I mentioned my 4runner is pretty dark and I'm kind of enjoying the lighter, more classic and factory looking tint on the cruiser. Who knows, may switch it up down the road but gonna roll as is for now.

 

[Luke111]

I just had the rear hatch glass replaced with non OEM glass so it did not have the factory tint reflected finish....... there's a thread here that recommends which tint to use but decided to wing it.. So we are tinting all the rear side and rear hatch glass with the same tint and I'm not to concerned because the tire and gas can carrier block most of the rear window.. We'll move the truck outside and put up samples to get an acceptable tint for the front windows.
In VA there are laws regarding how dark front side windows can be and also how much reflective properties a tint has.

 

[tarheel40]

Took a few pictures today in more direct sunlight as promised, I would definitely recommend anyone in the area giving Dedona a try - I think their bronze Suntek tint matches about as well as the Llumar film does from the pictures I've seen and was definitely cheaper than doing a custom order since I couldn't find anyone local that stocks bronze Llumar film.

 

[masperk]

I had mine done last month here in Denver. Like you, I wanted the closest match and read all the tint threads here. I put this off for a long while cause I really don't care for non-matching tint jobs. I found a local shop who has plenty of the Llumar 30% bronze tint and it was $90 installed. As far as a color match, i see no difference. It does not have the same reflective quality, however so it does look different in that way. I'm happy with it.

I know this is an old thread but do you remember the name of the shop? Thanks

 

[John Mc]

I installed precut 35% bronze from SnapTint.com on the front windows. I think it looks pretty good. We'll see how they hold up, but for $40 shipped I think it's worth it.