Teach me about window tint

[4.0B2]

Mine is the same colors as yours was originally.

I want to keep the color scheme going.

I can't remember if mine was blue and silver or blue and white?

 

[shane96ranger]

Also, they list it as fitting 88 BII, all trim, 2.9L OHV naturally aspirated. If I put this stuff on and then put a supercharger or a 4.0 in it later will that make the window tint work right anymore?

Be really careful buying tint. Some of it won't work with the ethanol mix we are getting in gasoline now.


I've had a dickens of a time trying to find me a pre-cut clear bra for my Mustang. I would imagine it is difficult for pre-cut tint as well.

 

[Mark_88]

If you have a rear window defroster I'd advise against tinting...it's a pita to remove without scratching away half the defroster lines...which can be repaired as I found out.

But, funny this should come up, I just saw an ad for some new car that has built-in sun screens for windows...they roll up and down as required.

I liked the bluish-purple that I had on my Tempo...until it blistered and I had to remove it because I couldn't see anything out of the windows...that's when I discovered that tinting defrosters wasn't such a great idea...

Why not just buy the boy a sun visor cap? Cheaper, easy to remove, and you can still enjoy that panoramic view that BII's have and everybody wants...

Edit: Oh, yeah, and I must add that backing up with tinted windows is a real problem...it's OK if you always go forward...but I lost count of the number of times I "swore off tinting"...or is that swore at?

 

[clvanhorn]

Here is a quick rundown of what I know about tint:
1) don't use Walmart black magic. Turns purple in a year or two depending on how much sun it sees

2) colored tints from eBay are junk and fade very quickly I.e. 6 months

3) don't go past 20% on a dd. makes it a pita to see at night

4) water lightly mixed with dawn soap in a spray
Bottle (a drop or three) is your best friend. Too much is not an issue when installing cuz you can always squeegee it out/ off

5) I have had great results with gila brand from advance auto parts. Mine has stayed black for 3 years plus.

Good luck!

 

[shane96ranger]

Here in Utah, you can have it as dark as you want behind the driver as long as you have both door mirrors in tact. The tint can't have the mirror look to it though.

The first law that led to the very welcomed changes started with windows with defrost for the very reason you speak of Mark.

 

[adsm08]

Rear defrost is not an issue. I have it, but the lines are already half gone, and since I would need about a gallon of the repair paint to make it work again I am somewhat less than worried about it.

I also want to ditch it for a split-gate once I get the shell straightened out.

 

[MastuhWaffles]

If anything you can go down to a shop that does tinting and you might have better luck. It usually costs around $100-150 for everything.

 

[Schnot]

I have 35% on my front windows on my f350 and 5% the rest of the way around. I've never been bothered here in PA with that set up. We use lavender baby shampoo and water in a spray bottle. Doesn't foam as much as dawn and smells better. Don't be afraid to spray too much. More is better.

As stated above, don't waste money on Walmart tint. Fades out to ugly purple in little time. Get gila from advance and get the better grade stuff.

Removing the door panels makes life lots easier as well. And get a helping hand. Preferably someone who has done tint before.


Sent from my iPhone.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I actually had looked into the tint laws for PA and spoke with a few people not so knowledgeable and a number of people that were pretty knowledgeable. Basically what it comes down to is that trucks and SUVs follow different tint guidelines than cars. Trucks were on their own at first until the SUV started becoming popular then it was just kind of pushed into the same category. A pickup can have any window behind the drivers seat literally painted black and still be legal. The reasoning is because you can load items into the bed and legally haul them that are so big they block the drivers view out that window. Thus there is no issue with tinting the window as dark as you want. SUVs get classed the same.

My Ranger had factory tint on the rear windows. I didn't like it so I put 5% over top of it, which got it almost as dark as I wanted it (wish I would have gone 2.5%). I also put 20% on the doors, which was fine until I got stopped for exceeding the speed limit. Then it became an issue.

My F-150 had no tint on the back glass. I stuck some 5% on it because it's what I had on hand. I still wish I would have just bought some 2.5% for it but I'm not about to rip it off and do it over, I have more important stuff to do. I started putting 35% on my doors but never finished it.

If you have no factory tint on the back windows of the BII, I'd put at least 20% on 'em. It'll help out too if you run A/C at all. Just tinting the back window of my F-150 made a noticeable improvement in cooling in the summer. Pre-cut stuff may be hard to find, but you can buy tint wide enough to do the job, trim it roughly to length, spray the window and stick the tint on there (clear film side towards the glass on the inside of the vehicle) and with care and a sharp razor blade, trim it to fit. Then pull the film off, clean the glass (take care to scrape the whole window with a razor blade to make sure nothing is stuck and clean it good). Then wet the window and peel off the clear backing and fit the tint in place. For doing those windows, you'll want an extra set of hands to get the tint on there. Use lots of spray on the window before sticking the tint on it, then spray the tint to lube up the squeegee and work your way along pushing the water out from between the tint and glass. Best to do it on a cooler morning so you have some time to work with it. Then keep the windows up and let it bake in the sun for a couple days.

For the spray, I just use a regular spray bottle and a couple drops of dawn with clean water. Works great. I also have a couple of the hard rubber squeegees they sell for doing tint and an old credit card for working in tight spots.

 

[SenorNoob]

Not to threadjack, but; does anybody make a window tint that doesn't have glue? I'm thinking like those little vinyl decorations people put on their windows. Static cling I guess is the word for it.

 

[shane96ranger]

Yes, Gila makes a static cling window film. So does Black Magic.

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