Crystalline Window Tint by 3M

[kings1527]

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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[Silverbullet]

Looks great!... Seems like it will be worth it in the summer, to cut down on the solar heat.

Craig

[kings1527]

Looks great!... Seems like it will be worth it in the summer, to cut down on the solar heat.

Craig

It came out looking real good. And you don't have that 'blacked out' look. There's still personality to the car since you can still see inside. The installer was asking about removing the rear view mirror but of course I didn't want him to touch it out of fear of cracking the windshield. So there's a tiny splice running from the top of the mirror mount to the top of the windshield. You can't see it from the inside and you can only see it from the outside if someone points it out.

[Ryan S.]

Thanks for posting. Looks very nice. I am getting mine done this weekend. It will be 3M but I don't think it's crystalline.
Is 40% legal for front sides? I don't want any fix it tickets later.
Thanks

[kings1527]

Thanks for posting. Looks very nice. I am getting mine done this weekend. It will be 3M but I don't think it's crystalline.
Is 40% legal for front sides? I don't want any fix it tickets later.
Thanks

Per CA law, the tint has to let more than 70% light in for the front windows. So by definition, even 70% would be too dark for CA. I decided to go ahead and go with 40% anyways and worry about it later. Here's a great website that details each state's tint laws:

http://www.tintlaws.com/

[Rich]

Just to be clear, so to speak and as already mentioned in this thread, in California there is NO tinting allowed on the windshield below the 4 inch line at the top and the 40% in the side glass is also forbidden.

The IR-reflecting windshield from DMCH does comply with all federal and state regs. It meets current OEM windshield rules for visible transmission. It uses a different technology than that found in 3M Crystalline so it can reflect lots of IR while letting in most of the visible light.

Tinting below regulations may look neat and improve comfort vs. following the tine rules BUT it also compromises your safety and that of others because in low-light situations you will not see what's out there. If you cause an accident and your car was illegally modified you could open yourself to a big(ger) lawsuit.

And cops hate illegal tints because they need to see what your hands are doing when they walk up alongside the car to talk with you...

[wrkey]

So I've been comtemplating tinting on Della seeing how I'm fighting the South East Texas sun every friggin day....

Here's my quandry for all to comment on. Della has 15,000 miles on her and is extremely close to original and I have decided to keep her that way and slowly fix/replace the non-original stuff. In this line of thinking, how does window tint fit in to the 'keep it original' mode of thinking?

Thanks for any and all comments. Great topic by the for if I decide to tint I'll be looking here for advice.

[kings1527]

So I've been comtemplating tinting on Della seeing how I'm fighting the South East Texas sun every friggin day....

Here's my quandry for all to comment on. Della has 15,000 miles on her and is extremely close to original and I have decided to keep her that way and slowly fix/replace the non-original stuff. In this line of thinking, how does window tint fit in to the 'keep it original' mode of thinking?

Thanks for any and all comments. Great topic by the for if I decide to tint I'll be looking here for advice.

I was in the same situation with you. I just located and installed NOS seat covers and completely redid my interior with a repro carpet set and re-dyed the vinyl. I didn't want to have to worry about parking it outside or have to always put up a sunshade on the dashboard. Tinting the car turned out to be the best way to go for me.

There are two things that will hurt your interior: 1) UV rays, and 2) heat. 3M has several different tints available for cars but the Crystalline series, although extremely expensive, worked best for me due to the heat rejection that was available. Crystalline's 40% rejects up to 59% of incoming heat and has 99.9% UV blockage. That's the darkest tint Crystalline has available yet visibility is outstanding, either day or night. The link from my previous post will show you all of the different heat rejection percentages for 3M's various lines of tint. But in general, to get the heat rejection that Crystalline has to offer with a different series, you'd have to go with a much darker tint and significantly reduced visibility. And at that, depending on the line of tint you still may not get the same heat rejection as Crystalline.

A car's AC system works by removing heat from the passenger compartment so the less heat that's in there to remove in the first place, then the cooler the car will be and the less AC you'll have to use.

I think the biggest benefits are a cooler interior, less AC, cooler AC, and keeping the interior in better shape by reducing exposure to UV rays (which reduces fading and drying/cracking of the seats). The only downside I see is the $$ to do it.

[Farrar]

When I first bought my car last year, the factory tint that was still on there

DeLoreans were tinted at the factory? I've never heard this before!

[dmc6960]

DeLoreans were tinted at the factory? I've never heard this before!

There is an extremely slight darkening of the factory glass, but its not really any kind of tint. What Alex described was just a previous tint film which had been applied to the windows of his car.

Curious what you (Alex) did with the 50?