Car Tint Questions

The only sure thing is that the sellers of this stuff online won't tell you what you really need to know. Its best to visit a local shop with a good reputation and talk it over. I'm only familiar with the 3M films.

ONLY tinted films will limit the amount of heat generated inside the car from the sun's rays. ONLY tinted films will limit glare from the outside. Thermal rejection refers to infra-red energy coming from outside - heat in other words. UV protection is great, but has no effect on temperatures in the car.

What you NEED is determined by your location and use of the car. the numbers in the names of those films refer to the amount of light allowed through. 5%, 20%, 35%, etc. IOW, how dark they are.

The metalized films can interfere with phones and your smart key system.

 

Step one should be to know the law in your area of the universe. Do not tint in excess of that law.

Assuming the US of A:

Welcome to TintLaws.com
is a brief summary of the law

 

Worth looking at, especially if you do a lot of traveling. Tinting one or more of the windows is illegal in some states (e.g. NJ). I know because my relatives got a ticket for it a long time ago.

 

Apples and oranges to a degree. The ceramic films are much thicker, expensive and take a lot longer to install. They are able to reflect most of the external infra-red energy, but absent the same tint as say a 20% they won't cool the interior as well. So the glass will feel cooler, but the suns rays will still heat the interior. I haven't seen any test results on which approach actually lowers the temp of interior surfaces the most, which makes me wonder if the sellers of the film don't want us to know. It sounds impressive to say your film blocks all the infra-red energy, but its the visible sunlight that actually heats interior surfaces.

It's my belief that the ceramic films were developed for residential and commercial windows, and later pushed into the automotive market.