Window Tinting

[dsvetcov]

My son wants to tint windows on my 07 ES350. Anyone have do's and don't specific to front and back windows?

If I let him do it without being involved, it will look like darth vadar! B) B)

Thanks,

David

[AZ08LexusES]

Is he going to do it himself or paying for someone to do it?

[mhawkin1]

I have had a lot of experience with window tinting. If your son does not do window tinting professionally, I would not let him touch your windows.

[1990LS400]

My advice is to have a professional shop use a high quality name brand tint and do not exceed the legal limit: http://www.tintcenter.com/laws/NC/

If you are not familiar with tint shops in your area, you could consult your Lexus dealer or even have them do the work for you - most dealers subcontract the work out.

IMO, 35% tint makes a car far more comfortable - reduces interior heat and glare and reduces the fading of interior materials. I've got a lot of sun damage on my left arm and the beginning of cataracts -- window tint is especially important to me since it sharply reduces UV exposure.

Window tint has to properly cared for. You can't go cleaning it with Windex and paper towels. Special cleaning fluid and a soft non-scratching cloth are usually required. The installer should provide details on how to care for it.

Window tint warranties on quality tint are usually very long. The Llumar tint on our cars have a 10 year warranty but some installers, like the one who does our cars, provide a lifetime warranty.

Unless you go with some exotic ceramic tint, I would expect you to pay from $175 to $250 for the installation of a high quality metalicized tint that is laser cut to perfectly fit your five car windows.

If you park outside during the day, don't forget your windshield. A windshield sunscreen will keep your dash and the leather on your steering wheel from fading. You can buy a very nice folding custom windshield sunscreen that fits your car perfectly for about $50.

[AZ08LexusES]

There was some mention about going with semi-metallic. With the ES350 though, the radio antenna is built into the rear window. So, the metal in the semi-metallic may cause interference to radio reception, especially AM. I have ceramic on mine, which is what the dealer recommended. I had them do it. They took it to the same place where I would have taken it and actually charged less for it! It looks great... The front two windows are AZ legal and the rear 3 are slightly darker.

[SW03ES]

The antenna is in the rear window on Jim's 00 LS400 also. I doubt it would really make all that much of a difference.

[1990LS400]

The antenna is in the rear window on Jim's 00 LS400 also. I doubt it would really make all that much of a difference.

Thanks Steve!!! Now that you mention it, I remember now that the tint shop owner recommended that only non-metalicized tint be installed on the rear window to prevent interference with the radio and phone antennas. The non-metalicized Llumar gray tint he installed on the rear window is a slightly different color shade than the side windows but one has to look very closely to tell.

The tint shop owner told me that he had received several complaints about reduced radio reception when he had installed metalicized tint on rear windows with imprinted radio antennas. Although the less expensive non-metal rear window tint had a shorter manufacturer's warranty, the tint shop owner gave me the same lifetime warranty as for the other windows. Of course, he has been tinting our cars for a lot of years and knows I properly take care of tint.

Off topic, but the phone antenna imprinted on the rear window of my 00 LS continues to provide a significant signal boost to my Nokia phone kit even though AMPS and TDMA has been discontinued by my service provider. I didn't think the imprinted phone antenna would work with a GSM phone but it sure does.

[dsvetcov]

Thank you everyone for your responses. Yes, my son performs car raps and window tinting as a side line and is quite good.

The 35% tint and the information on the rear window was great info.

David

[nlkccom]

I just recently tinted my 2008 ES350, and like someone mentioned, the shop recommended non-metallic tint because of possible interference with the antenna. I live in a 'high-risk' area, at least that's what the shop owner told me. I got 23% all around done, while the legal limit for front side windows is like much higher here in SoCal (60%? 70%?). No problem so far, and since my car has tan color interior instead of black, so it doesn't seems as dark.

[AZ08LexusES]

I just recently tinted my 2008 ES350, and like someone mentioned, the shop recommended non-metallic tint because of possible interference with the antenna. I live in a 'high-risk' area, at least that's what the shop owner told me. I got 23% all around done, while the legal limit for front side windows is like much higher here in SoCal (60%? 70%?). No problem so far, and since my car has tan color interior instead of black, so it doesn't seems as dark.

Did you end up getting the ceramic? If not, any radio interference?

[nlkccom]

I just recently tinted my 2008 ES350, and like someone mentioned, the shop recommended non-metallic tint because of possible interference with the antenna. I live in a 'high-risk' area, at least that's what the shop owner told me. I got 23% all around done, while the legal limit for front side windows is like much higher here in SoCal (60%? 70%?). No problem so far, and since my car has tan color interior instead of black, so it doesn't seems as dark.

Did you end up getting the ceramic? If not, any radio interference?

I got the non-metallic tint. Encountered no problem in radio interference.