The other day I had 3M's Crystalline series tint installed on my car. When I first bought my car last year, the factory tint that was still on there was completely degenerating and turning very 'gummy'. It was a coating as opposed to a tint. So I took some brake cleaner and removed all of the old stuff, which left me with regular glass. There were times where I felt like there was a 300,000 pound fat kid holding a magnifying glass right over my car. It was unreal. To the point where I thought that there might be a problem with my AC. Truth was, so much heat was getting inside the car and the AC, even though working great, was having trouble taking care of it. Enter: 3M's Crystalline.
I installed 40% all around the sides and I also put 70% on the windshield. Their lightest is 90% and 70% is second darkest. The thing is, darkness doesn't even factor into it. 90% is invisible and 70% is recognizable but only when you get right up on it and at that, it looks no different than the UV windshield DMCH offers. But I wasn't about to go for a new windshield just for this. The heat rejection between the 90 and the 70 is significant, so I went with the 70.
40% is the darkest in the Crystalline series, compared to Limo-tint which is about 9%. 40% Crystalline will still reject more heat and keep you cooler compared to 9% Limo. The stats on Crystalline are located on the bottom of this link:
http://www.epdwindowfilm.com/Page.as...Specifications
The difference was amazing. Unreal. I was driving to a friend's birthday party the other day in Canoga Park, right in the middle of the Valley, and it was about 90 degrees. I had my windows down a little bit, just up enough to keep the sun off my forearm, and I had only the fan on at speed 3. I was fine. I never even turned on the AC. It was definitely warm, but it was fine. It was an interesting experiment.
So you might want to check it out. What's that, you ask? The Southern California price tag?
$999. Ouch.
I've seen prices swing wildly depending on your location, but this stuff is awesome.
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