Grrrr....a rant and the need for tint shop suggestions in Detroit area.

Well, here is the deal...

I had my '96 done at a local tint shop and it came out PERFECT. I was VERY happy with it. It came out perfect, even where the dots are on the top of the back hatch.

So, when I get my 2002, naturally I go to the same place. This time, it turned out pretty good, but at the top of the back hatch where the dots are, it didn't turn out so good. It is blotchy where the tint didn't adhere. You see this all the time when people have their rear hatch tininted cheaply. They said they sanded the dots down and prepped they area as best as they could. I took the car back to them and they whipped out the heat gun and tried to get the tint to adhere and tried to get the bubbles and such out. It worked a little bit, but not enough to make me feel I had gotten my money's worth. So, I asked if I could make an appointment for them to peel the tint off and give it another try. They said they would have to charge me for it and even then they couldn't guarantee that it would work a second time. Not getting it to work a second time is understandable, but charging me another $150 to take the risk after I already dropped over $450 on the tint job in the fist place? Yes, $450. Titanium film tint, had to do the driver side window twice because there was a flaw in the glass and I had to have it relpaced.

But anyway, the price is not the point. I was happy with their service a few years ago and was willing to pay for that service.

The point is, I am not all that happy with how it turned out and I can't fault them for that as I know it is a hard area to tint, however...for as much as I dropped on having them tint the car to begin with, I think I deserve to have them give it another shot. Heck, I'd be willing to pay for the film or even half price for the install, but I was never offered that. It was pretty point blank.

So, I can either take a $150 gamble on it again or I can find a new tint shop to do it right.

Needless to say, I need a new tint shop that does quality work. I am hoping to find someone who can do the back hatch right and be willing to try more than once in case it doesn't work out.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

I went to Zeibart and I had a $150 coupon. They did the sides and the hatch, one piece, perfect. But I got charged $199 or $189 because they charge more for big windows like the camaro

Maybe you can get them to put a piece of black plastic over the dots

Yes to what Robvas said - I have seen this done where the defroster lines are along the edge of the window. Has a much cleaner look and no worries about the tint bubbling up later.

I had my window painted black down to the first defroster line, looks alot better than tint over the dots IMHO. No place will guarantee the tint to stick to the "dot matrix".

damn.. i paid 25$ each for the side windows(which is now gone) and 75$ for my back hatch...

youre nuts

where did you go jason?

i had my titanium done at shaders in troy.....very expensive as well but i made it a point that i would pay whatever they asked but it had to be perfect. 2 years now with no problems.....

however, i've heard of people having bad experiences there as well. sometimes the smaller deals that are more personal put out a better effort so you might want to try that route.

jeff

Did you try talking to the manager of the place?

I don't understand why they won't at least give you a price-break on it the second time. They seem to have made enough of a profit off of you already.

i had mine done at a shop once that was alot of talk. had the windows done and then the car went into the paint booth 1 (4 weeks) months later.....sat for 7 months and when i got it back and rolled the windows down the tint came off. they said it was my problem and wouldn't give me any breaks and they were just as expensive.

just because a place is high dolar doesn't mean much nowdays.

the trim shoppe in windsor, they do the back window in one piece! don't know about titanium but couldn't hurt to call and ask.

I got 20% on my side windows and 5% on the hatch. All it costed me was $200 CND. Came out perfect, altho that doesn't help you any ;)

Jason call Fred Lavery Porsche in Birmingham and ask for service. Ask them for the place that does there tint. They did great work but again not cheap.
Also Bill Cook in Farmington Hills there is a lady that comes in and does tint work. Call and ask for Dave Smith and tell him I told you to call. I worked there for 10 years and never had any problem with her work.

I went to sunshade also, $250 and no problems for 5 years, it is just now recently starting to fade, a little bit.

Other than that call this guy: 313-268-2378, name is Tom, he does all in one pice @ his home for $160, if you've seen Dave I. from SLP u know the work he does is quality.
If that # doesnt work I will try and get u the right one.
-Steve

chris at XDC(xtreme detroit concepts) does great work, he'll tint as dark as you want and the windshield as well. gratiot and like 11 mile is where its at. adn sunshade on maple in troy sucks, their tint is cheaper than the stuff you buy at autozone, my dad had his jeep done there and his tint turned purple :(

Windex usually causes this


Originally posted by 30587z28
chris at XDC(xtreme detroit concepts) does great work, he'll tint as dark as you want and the windshield as well. gratiot and like 11 mile is where its at. adn sunshade on maple in troy sucks, their tint is cheaper than the stuff you buy at autozone, my dad had his jeep done there and his tint turned purple :(

What makes titanium tint better than normal tint?

Originally posted by kandied91z
where did you go jason?


I don't want to bash the place publicly. Sometimes this is how things go. They did a great job on the other windows. I just hope they don't turn purple...

Originally posted by 95 Z-28 LT1
Did you try talking to the manager of the place?

It is owned and run by two guys...the same two guys who did the install and I was dealing with. I could tell it was going to be pointless to argue. They just had that stance on things.

I don't understand why they won't at least give you a price-break on it the second time. They seem to have made enough of a profit off of you already.

Yeah...that's MY point also. After that much money, you would think they would be happy to try to make me happy. Oh well...screw them.

Originally posted by Pentatonic
What makes titanium tint better than normal tint?

It reflects heat a bit more and it sounds cool. :):) There is probably another benefit to it.

I called Scott at Club Conceptz (a buddy of mine) and he had me call his tint guy who wants to take a look at my tint and see if he can fix it. We'll see what happens.

Thank you for the suggestions.

I just asked Scott about tinting the other day, and he says his guy does excellent work. Let me know how it turns out if you go with him, cause right now he's my first choice for tinting and I'm as picky (if not more so) than you. :p

Originally posted by Birdie2000
I just asked Scott about tinting the other day, and he says his guy does excellent work. Let me know how it turns out if you go with him, cause right now he's my first choice for tinting and I'm as picky (if not more so) than you. :p

Sure, I will keep you posted. I already talked to him once, and he seemed to be very nice and in tune to my problem.

And in no way are you as picky as me. Ask Dave, or Frez, or Hink, or Eric, or Tom, or my wife, or my boss, or my mailman, or....

Originally posted by CPFarhood
I had my window painted black down to the first defroster line, looks alot better than tint over the dots IMHO. No place will guarantee the tint to stick to the "dot matrix".

Do you have pics of what the window looks like from the outside?

Does it look weird but still better than the tint bubbles over the dots (a lesser of two evils) or does it look decent overall?

I am probably going to have the tint removed from the top defroster line up and replaced with a piece of black vinyl. I just want to know how it will look. MY theory is that it will at LEAST look like it was done on purpose and not a screw up.

Anyone else seen it like this? What did you think?

Yes, do the black vinyl. I've seen it on several cars and it looks great.

The black vinyl didn't work out so well as we didn't have the right stuff. However, we did have the paint so we stripped off the bubbly tint down to the top defroster line and did the paint trick.

It turned out decent, it totally blends with the flat black "frame" around the back window and goes smooth right down the the top defroster line. It is a little different looking, but adds to the stealthy look and looks MUCH better than bubbles in the tint. I can't even see it in my rearview mirror when I am driving as it doesn't come down that far.

The way I see it, it doesn't look any worse than the bubbly tint and it looks like it was done on purpose instead of by accident.

I also want to add that we found out that the shop who originally did the tint scratched my glass under the tint when they tried to sand the dots down and carved a nice thin line on the outside when they trimmed the tint. Nice going. It is not all that noticeable and I still say they did a nice job overall, but for the price I paid, they should have taken more care.

If anyone wants to get their car tinted, use the dude that I used to fix my issue. Feel free to e-mail me for info.

Glad that you got that all straightened out.

Just in time for this weekend too.

I guess you won't be going back to the first tint shop anytime soon, huh? ;)

Originally posted by 95 Z-28 LT1
Glad that you got that all straightened out.

Yeah...but at one hell of a price.

Just in time for this weekend too.

I guess you won't be going back to the first tint shop anytime soon, huh? ;)

NO.

No way.

I drive by their place twice a day to and form work and I get a sick feeling in my stomach each time I do. They really stuck it to me.

BTW...Sorry I forgot to call you back last night, I got home late and was beat. It was a nerve racking day.

Don't worry about it, I'll see you Thursday night.

I think the painted top looks way better than any f-body i have ever tinted. Mine on my Firebird turned out perfect with no bubbles and still does not look as good as jasons turned out with the paint. Almost makes me wish mine turned out all bubbly too...lol

It took some time figuering it out since its the first one we did with the paint (plus Jason popped in after hours and never told me we were tinting his windows...I thought we were going out for beers:p ).

Some pictures would be nice ;)