anyone tint their windows?

Most quality tints have a lifetime warranty. Some of the dye-only tints have a more limited 3 to 5 year warranty, though. Just make sure you get it in writing.

 

A Huper Optik dealer near Raleigh emailed me, and offered a $100 discount through April.

When I asked for a quote on a Prius, and for Saturday hours to allow me to do it in April, I never heard back. Not sure it was the car type, or the need to know the cost that discouraged them. Maybe other Huper Optik customers don't ask such petty questions.

So I guess I'll have to go back to thinking 3M or something...

 

Hey Erick.. can you post the pics of your new and improved prius? I'm trying to deceide if I will do it or not. Since I can't do the front 2 windows (california doesn't like much tint in front) i'm not sure if it's worth it. I had a quote for $175 for the back 5 windows. I think the guy said he would do the whole car for like $250.. so if I want to take a chance I could go dark all the way around. hmmmm....


-peter b

 

Tinting the rear windows will help keep the battery compartment cooler.

 

I did it as soon as I bought the Prius. Looks very nice.

 

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Yeah, it is kinda risky doing dark all around. I think most cops won't bother to pull over a Prius for dark tint, though. Maybe if you were driving a little crazy they would... I've been driving with dark tint on my front windows for 15 years and I've only gotten pulled over once - on the 10 freeway near the Vermont entrance, in my black Mustang, with the limo tint the previous owner installed. I was asking to be pulled over in that car but a Prius??? I do not know. I do think 15% is a little too dark. I should have gone with 35% but oh well... I will try and post up some pictures soon... BTW, the guy who did my car charged $150 for the Solargard HP Charcoal and is in Culver City (Venice & Motor). They were GREAT to work with and did the job fast as promised. I can get you the # if you want...

 

Glad to hear you havn't really had any problems Erick. $150 seems like a pretty good deal... that was just in the back or all around? I'd love to get that #. I think the Al & ed's guy was more expensive and I'm not sure how their quality is.

thanks,

peter b
prberg2 at yahoo.com

 

The dealership I'm buying my car from is offering $225 for all windows (except windshield) with SolarGard Quantum. How does this compare with other tint jobs you know out there? Thanks.

 

Huper Optic is the best and runs 400$ or all but the windshield.

 

We got our windows tinted about a month ago in Lubbock, TX at AltaMere for $139 with Llumar film with lifetime warranty. It is the legal limit in Texas, but I can't remember what the percentages are.

 

Well I went for it. After seeing all the nice looking tinted prii I brought mine in yesterday to be tinted. Thanks to Erick for all the suggestions. Always helps to get a recomendation before bringing your car in.

I'm really happy with the new tint. My first reacations, it looks great and the interior felt cooler right away. It also seemed to be a little more 'insulated'. There seemed to be less 'noise' in the cabin. I went with Solar Gard HP Charcoal film. It cost $150. I went a little darker than I origianlly planed. I went with 35% in front and 15% in rear. I wanted to go lighter in front (because of California law) but 50% didn't even really seem worth it (because it was so light). So I think 35% provides a good level of protection but is not too dark. The 15% in the back does look dark. But hopefully it will help keep the car and battery cooler. I was actually quite suprised how easy it was to see out through the film. I was concered that this tinting job might reduce my visablility. During the day I could hardly tell the tint was on. At night it seems to cut down the visability a little bit (only the back half) but I don't think it will be a big deal.

I don't have a GPS but I did notice that my cell phone seemed un-affected by the semi-metalic film. So that's good. One note about the warranty. It is lifetime but only covers bubbles, cracking, and peeling. Does not cover fading (at least this color does not). I guess I'm a little concerned about that, since I plan to keep the car for a long time I don't want to have a purple faded window in a few years. Wonder how long it will take to start to fade?

I included a few pictures. My camera phone is not that great. Let me know if anyone wants to see more pictures (I'll get my real camera out this time). The pictures are a little deceiving. It looks REALLY dark in the picture but I think it's not quite that dark in real life.

Well I just wanted to let everyone know of my experience. I will have to make sure I drive safely (I should do that anyways, but don't need to draw extra attention to my 'illegal' car. I will have to stop the 105mph high speed 'testing') but otherwise I am quite satisfied with the experience.

Thanks everybody,

Peter B

 

I almost bought a blue Prius at first but my wife did not like it. We bought a black one then

 

I really wanted a black one too! But I was on a rental car and at that point Prii were hard to find (nov. 2003). I actually passed on a white one.. but blue was my second choice so when one came up I had to snatch it up. Black would look pretty sweet though. Anyone want to trade?

 

I just got my Tideland Pearl, and I really like the Solargard Quantum tint (35 front and back, 14 rear). Unfortunately, the Huper-Optik was not offered by my dealer, and I wanted to get everything done before driving the car off the lot.

 

I got the huper optik - cost 550.00 because they DID THE FRONT WINDSHIELD!! I am sooo happy with it. especially the front windshield - ALOT of heat comes in through there. To me the extra cost for the superior ceramic product was worth every penny. Here are some pics:

http://mailer.fsu.edu/~rsams/newe/prius/

 

forgot to mention I live IN FLORIDA so its an absolute MUST

 

Last December I had mine done with Huper Optik Ceramic 30 all around except the windshield where we used Ceramic 60. I think I paid about the same as you, $449 plus $150 for the windshield less 10% coupon from the Yellow Pages. I wanted to use V-Kool on the windshield but it cut the GPS signal to nothing.

 

Rocco- good to see you post again. Do ya'll have registration or inspection stickers on your windsheild. How do you plan to handle that? How about you Bill?

 

In Florida we don't have inspection stickers that would go on our windshield. They quit doing emissions a few years ago but even when they did that there were no stickers put on the windshield.

 

no, no inspection stickers but there IS those pesky bump things near the rearview mirror. He just "cut around" them and it looks ok. I imagine you would just either cut out a place to put that sticker or just stick it on top and hope for the best