Re: [DML] Mirrored Tint

["Walter Coe" <Whalt@xxxx>]

I did a Yahoo poll on what people's opinion is on window tinting. You might
want to check it out if you haven't already. I was planning on using the
mirrored film, but ended up using black. The installer told me that older
cars and cars that have been previously tinted tend to show a lot of
imperfections with the mirrored film (mainly as scratches). In his showroom
he has a dark booth with a window covered with swatches of film. The
mirrored variety was almost invisible from the inside -- meaning that it was
hard to tell that it was even on the glass compared to the bare, untinted
area. This was mainly due to the fact that it did not block UV very well or
much visible light for that matter. (This mirror film is different from
what the industry calls "limo tint" which is highly reflective and illegal
to use on front windows.) Of all the varieties he had, I liked the black
the best (and that is what he liked best too), so that is what I had him
use. The brand I'm talking about is Llummar. He demonstrated 3 basic
varieties: black, charcoal & mirror in different percentages of darkness.
(The mirror tint only came in one shade since it works by reflection and not
absorption.) I ended up tinting the quarter panel windows and leaving the
rear window untinted. Another option was tinting both the rear window and
quarter panel windows with something lighter so that looking through both
pieces of glass wouldn't be too dark, but that would have looked slightly
uneven from the outside and the combined darkness would have restricted
visibility too much for my tastes. If you are using mirrored tint, it would
be wasted on the back window because this stuff depends on reflected light
to make it hard to see in. With the rear louvers, there wouldn't be much
light to reflect. It also doesn't do much at night (meaning that people can
still see you in the car.) It would be interesting to see a brand that
combines mirror tint with UV metallic but Llummar doesn't make it.

I used my car for a while with only the drivers side tinted from the
previous owner, but I removed it all from the passenger side. It was
interesting driving around seeing the difference. I much prefer the
DeLorean with tinted windows because then all the gawkers can't tell when I
notice them. Then they point and stare without inhibition. But if they
know I'm aware of them then they usually try to play it cool. From the
inside, the tint is more noticeable in daylight, and at night there was very
little difference. People argue that window tint isn't safe at night, and
to that I can say that what is legal for the front windows is fine, but any
darker is too dark to be safe at night. When I had the new film put on the
passenger side, I left the driver's side for until I can get around to
re-gluing the window frame that is slightly loose. The new film is a nice
improvement since it is a metallic film that blocks UV instead of the old
film that uses dye pigments that tend to bleach out to a purple color with
continued sun exposure. It will be interesting to see what shows up at
Memphis. I'm bringing my camera.

Walt Tampa, FL