Title:DIY Window Tinting

Introduction: Hello, welcome to my little tech article. I recently tinted my windows and I feel I should share the knowledge I now have of tinting. I had thought many times about tinting the windows to my white '88 IROC-Z Convertible, but I could never bring myself to spend the money locally on having it professionally done for $140 (my lowest price). I would have to travel about 90 minutes to get it done for $85 which I still don't think its worth it. I finally brought myself to the parts store to pick up the tint even though all my friends warned me not to try tinting. All of them had failed miserably and they had a fun time removing the tint because they messed up.

Tools Needed:

• Stainless steel razor blades (won't scratch glass)
• Window tint in the darkness you have chosen. You will need 2 rolls of 2x6.5 or whatever length you can find
• A 3 or 4 inch wide squeegee (I found it easier to use a big one than a smaller one)
• An empty spray bottle
• A bottle of baby shampoo (or film spray)
• Your wife/girlfriend's blow drier (or heat gun if you have one)
• Scotch tape, or first-aid tape (haha I didn't have scotch tape!)

Tip: Make sure you slept good because you're going to need patience if you mess up

Directions:

Prepare your to-be tinted windows. I sprayed my windows with the water/baby shampoo mixture and scraped the window clean of any debris that I couldn't see, using the stainless steel razor. Before I started working on this project I swept my garage and made sure no dust would be kicking around in the process.

I practiced before I started on my car by cutting a little piece of tint off and spraying the water/baby shampoo mixture on mirror in my bathroom, and I squeegeed it free of bubbles. It will be different on your car if you have curved windows.

1) Start by literally SOAKING the outside of the window you plan to tint. Place the tint on the window and cut it down to size, but leave about a half inch of extra tint all around or whatever your comfortable with. Make sure when you're test fitting the tint on the outside of the window that there are no bubbles or creases. I was lucky and didn't have this problem - but I could imagine because of the shape of 3rd gen windows it could be tedious. Remember to leave some extra tint on the BOTTOM of your window because that will be put underneath the window seals.

2) Now soak the INSIDE of your window with the water/baby shampoo mixture. Take two pieces of scotch tape and attach them to BOTH sides of your window tint. Quickly pull and it will remove the static protective layer off and expose the sticky side of the tint. Place the tint on the hood of your car and soak the sticky side with the water/baby shampoo mixture. Quickly spray your window again and slap the sticky side on the INSIDE of your window, this is so you can reposition the tint for a few minutes before you're ready to squeegee. Make sure you don't take longer than 5 minutes.

3) I have only tinted once, but I managed to tint my windows without bubbles so I'm guessing my method works. I started by taking a credit card and sliding the little tint I left behind from the first step underneath the window seal on the door. Then I started by using the squeegee to move the bubbles UPWARDS being careful at first not to move or shift the tint.

4) I then took my heat gun and applied a LITTLE heat around the edges of the window to adhere the tint to the edges so I could have a nice smooth/flush edge around the window. I did this so it wouldn't stick out past the window edge because I imagine it would be easy for the tint to get caught on the weather stripping while it was still drying and get yanked off and ruin the project.

Tip: If you're having trouble getting rid of creases or bubbles try to move them down to the corner closest to side mirrors. That way you can hide them easier. But if you leave creases don't panic. If you are really unsatisfied with what you did, try to peel it off before it dries. If any glue gets stuck on the window go to your local hardware store and look for a glue remover.

5) After the tint started drying to the window I took a fresh razor blade and carefully trimmed the excess tint that already had a nice smooth finish because of the heat gun. Like I stated above, if you don't have access to a heat gun use a blow drier. All in all it only took me about 15 minutes PER window. But plan to spend an hour on two windows.

6) Now here is the worst part of it all. You can't use your windows for 2-3 days. What I did was start my car and turn the heat on high (the heat helps the tint adhere to the window) and I would leave it on for about 5 minutes to get my interior nice and hot and I would shut my car off. I have had my tint on for 1 day and I have rolled down the window once and had no problems (but I still don't recommend it) Remember... Don't be too intimidated to try this. It cost me 16 bucks for the two rolls of tint and 4 dollars for the squeegee and spray bottle. I spent 20 bucks on a near professional window tint job. If you're having difficulty don't get discouraged. Don't forget that MANY people mess up because they didn't follow directions. Many people just can't get the creases or bubbles out. But it's still easy to have problems occur even if you do follow this tech article. It's worth it to try it yourself and hope to save some cash, or end up wasting $20 bucks on the whole project. $20 doesn't really hurt that much, especially if you get it right the first time and save $100+ on a professional doing it.

Suggestions.. If you have a better method of applying the tint, or solutions to getting rid of air bubbles at the seams of the tint you can e-mail me at Dan@crashin.com Compliments and constructive criticism is welcome. I would like to know what I did wrong or anything of that sort. GOOD LUCK TINTING!!!

Reproduced with permission from GMperformance.org