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Are high end Tints worth the price tag?

bentin

Autocross Champion
Location
Austin, TX
Car(s)
23 Golf R - 3 Pedals
has any one used huper optik ceramic black on their mk7?
I had regular HO Ceramic on my old GTI, which does have better IR rejection than the Black Ceramic. I have Llumar Ceramic on this one and it's not as good as the regular HO, but probably closer to the Black in terms of heat rejection. If you live in a hot climate, just do the regular HO ceramic.
 

DiscusInferno

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Kalifornia
Looking to get my R tinted. Tinting Chicago charges $600 for 3M Crystalline for all the windows except the windshield. Seems a bit high?

Chicago area might be an expensive area to do business, so they may charge more for labor. Comparing prices to other regions in the US is apples to oranges comparison.

3M Crystalline isn't inexpensive to begin with.
 

WhiteRabbit_MK7.5

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
GTIForum1
Car(s)
2020 Golf GTI MK7.5
Hello All,

Long story short, I brought home a brand new 19 SE last weekend, and am looking into getting a tint job. I previously owned an Mk7 Gti, which I did tint as well, thru a local shop around town. I never did know what brand/quality of tint they used, but I never had an issue with it, and it cost me around $375 installed all the way around. This time around I am looking into getting tint done by a premium shop in the suburbs around Chicago, and they offer a classic tint, FormulaOne Pinnacle, and FormulaOne Stratos, each with their prices set accordingly. I am not opposed to spending money for quality, but I want to know from those out there if these are worth it? My Gti is a big investment and want what is best to preserve and protect it for many years to come.
I NEEDED to get get my windows tinted since I live in FL, went with 15% Luminex around all 5 windows and with a UV light/ heat rejecter tint on the windshield for $370 ....... BTW don’t tint your sunroof!!!!!! On my post about my tint people told me that the sunroofs have a history of cracking/ blowing up if tinted because of heat retention
 
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IanCH

Autocross Champion
Location
MA
Car(s)
'20 GTI
15% is toooo dark youre not going to be able to see at night lol. Heat rejection doesn't really increase much past 40% if you have ceramic.

But what's done is done, I bet it looks really sick.
 

bentin

Autocross Champion
Location
Austin, TX
Car(s)
23 Golf R - 3 Pedals
Also worth mentioning that if you have an auto dimming mirror, you can turn off the dimming if you have dark tint. I had 15% on the rear window of a previous car and the auto dimming mirror would make it impossible to see anything at night until I killed the dimming.
 

chillax

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Wi
Car(s)
18 GTI SE plaid
I NEEDED to get get my windows tinted since I live in FL, went with 15% Luminex around all 5 windows and with a UV light/ heat rejecter tint on the windshield for $370 ....... BTW don’t tint your sunroof!!!!!! On my post about my tint people told me that the sunroofs have a history of cracking/ blowing up if tinted because of heat retention

I dunno if that is true about the sunroofs. Maybe in extremely hot climates.
 

StorableComa

Autocross Champion
Location
SoCal, USA
Car(s)
17 GSW S FWD
I dunno if that is true about the sunroofs. Maybe in extremely hot climates.
Depends. If the sunroof is tempered most shops around here warn you have to keep it open or at least cracked to allow heat to escape if they'll tint them at all. They claim adding tint over it traps too much heat and makes them go boom if you leave it closed when it's in direct sunlight. The owner of the shop I used offered, but said we'd need to keep it open if we park in the sun for too long. His truck has the same issue, but he leaves it cracked and closed the slider with no issues.
 

WhiteRabbit_MK7.5

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
GTIForum1
Car(s)
2020 Golf GTI MK7.5
15% is toooo dark youre not going to be able to see at night lol. Heat rejection doesn't really increase much past 40% if you have ceramic.

But what's done is done, I bet it looks really sick.
15% is the all round perfect tint here in FL dark enough during the day and 0 issues with visibility at night however It crossed my mind going limo tint cause that would have been perfect for a sunny summer day but limo tint does get sketchy at night ..............btw (shameless plug) the 15% does look sick I have a few pics on mi IG same @ as my username ;p
 

Luva

Go Kart Champion
Location
FL
Car(s)
2020 GTI SE
Nearly everything I read regarding sunroofs with window tint point the finger at faulty glass, not the window tint. Glass cracks mostly from impact, vibration, or differential thermal expansion. The latter is the failure mechanism that some say can cause a tinted sunroof to crack. My understanding is that modern ceramic tints lower the chance for differential thermal expansion of the glass, even more so than metallic tints.

Here's my question, has anyone on the forum experienced a failure of their sunroof glass that had a modern ceramic tint?
 
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