Scratched tint!?

[JCtx]

Originally Posted by Swancoat

So far badfish is the only one to mention the problem with an E92. Everyone else seems to have E90. I'd say E92 guys can go for it.

Apparently true. My tint guy told me this afternoon he hasn't had any problems with E92s, but he recommended 3M ($125) rather than sun tek ($95), which I have on my other cars. It's more scratch resistant, so might be a good idea to pay extra for the piece of mind. Take care.

[Dannys M3]

Originally Posted by Swancoat

So far badfish is the only one to mention the problem with an E92. Everyone else seems to have E90. I'd say E92 guys can go for it.

I disagree, I've owned two 335i's and now the M3. All of them E92 and they've all made scratch marks on the window. Neither of the 335i's had the tint permanently scratch due to good tint, however the scratch marks are annoying. I've also ordered the moleskin stuff.

[badfish]

I'm not sure that it's real scratching because I seem to be able to wipe it off. It's some kind of residue being left on the glass IMO. Still, it's annoying as heck...

[MMMorish]

Sooo, if what I'm reading is correct, then us e92 guys don't have this issue?

[jam9]

I have an E92 with Llumar tinting. Seven months so far and no problems.

[wheelman]

Originally Posted by badfish

I have a problem with my car, too. I bought some moleskin from http://tintprotector.com/ and I will probably install it within the next few week sand post a DIY. My car went to one of the best tinters in SoCal for Huper Optik (Song's). Nothing they could really do to mess it up, it's a problem with the door design for sure. Huper is thicker film so it might be more prone to this than other films.

I'm looking forward to hearing about your results and your DIY.

[badfish]

Originally Posted by MMMorish

Sooo, if what I'm reading is correct, then us e92 guys don't have this issue?

What you are reading is correct but the way you are reading is incorrect. e92s do have this issue but maybe to a lesser extent.

[schadenfreude]

I specifically asked my F1 Pinnacle dealer about this today before my install. He assured me that the Pinnacle (allegedly scratch resistant) will not have a problem given the style of gaskets on the E90. I guess if this problem shows up he'll get to fix it.

[achenator]

I had problems with the Huper ceramic scratching on my e90 m3. My tinter (a really small company) was really nervous about installing felt on my lower seals. He was nervous about pulling the door panels so I did it. I got the instrutions to pull off the panels from somewhere on this site. While he re-tinted the scratched windows, I pulled the panels and put felt strips on the lower seals. No problems since.

[Gladius]

I'm not convinced it's the seals that are trapping dirt and causing the scratching. I speculate that it may be something inside the window, like the guides for the window regulators...

[Ben335]

Originally Posted by schadenfreude

I specifically asked my F1 Pinnacle dealer about this today before my install. He assured me that the Pinnacle (allegedly scratch resistant) will not have a problem given the style of gaskets on the E90. I guess if this problem shows up he'll get to fix it.

Not true. I have F1 Pinnacle and have scratching. Taking it back to the tint shop to have them look at it.

[achenator]

Originally Posted by Gladius

I'm not convinced it's the seals that are trapping dirt and causing the scratching. I speculate that it may be something inside the window, like the guides for the window regulators...

Ok then ,why have my windows been perfect ever since applying felt to the seals?

[SQ5]

It's the hard plastic weather seals that cause the tint to streak. If just one piece of sand gets in between the weather strip and the tint it will start to make a grove in the tint.

Tint Protector has a forum members special $5 off their kit.
http://www.tintprotector.com/forummembers/

[riyatch]

just got my windows tinted. my installer told me that the felt can eventually come off and that its best to just cut the portion of the window gasket that does not have felt on it. so we pulled out the gasket and showed it to me and cut the lower rubber/plastic gasket. we will see if this works. anyone else have this done? any problems?

[SQ5]

I have two friends who did just that. They cut the weather strip out and after a month one of them noticed a weird smell coming from the door panel. It turned out water was getting in from the rain and there was mold growing inside his door panel. Yuuuuck!

I noticed wind noise was louder at speed. Seemed like wind was getting in since the seal wasn't tight anymore.

I would rather spend $30 for the moleskin above then cut the weather strip seals out of my 50k car. JMHO

[riyatch]

Originally Posted by fastsupra

I have two friends who did just that. They cut the weather strip out and after a month one of them noticed a weird smell coming from the door panel. It turned out water was getting in from the rain and there was mold growing inside his door panel. Yuuuuck!

I noticed wind noise was louder at speed. Seemed like wind was getting in since the seal wasn't tight anymore.

I would rather spend $30 for the moleskin above then cut the weather strip seals out of my 50k car. JMHO

you are right. DO NOT CUT THE GASKET! i have increased wind noise and its pissing me off. i have already went and ordered new seals to replace them which is costing around $120 for all four doors. luckily the shop that did my tint is paying for the seals and putting them in for me. stand up guy who owns the shop. he said hes done this on other bmw's without any problems though. now im debating weather to get the tint protector stuff and put it on the new seals or just put the new seals in a see what happens.

[badfish]

This afternoon I decided to document the moleskin installation on my E92 M3. The instructions that came with the kit were pretty good. This is what you get...



I started off with my GF taking pictures of me removing the door panel. After I removed the doorpanel, I removed the strip. It wasn't easy because of this rubber seal that runs along the top side of the door. You kinda have to figure this part out. Basically, the rubber part on the side pops out and you lift on that side of strip to get it out of the door. The outer strip will have to come up part of the way to make room for this strip to come out. Here's a picture...



The instructions indicate that I would find a hard plastic piece on the strip. You're supposed to sand it down and then stick the moleskin on it. Well, guess what? There is no hard plastic part, it's all soft felt lined and nowhere to stick the moleskin. So all of this was a waste of time. The moleskin kit I did order specifically for an E92. Turns out at least that my 2008 M3 doesn't need it. Here's a picture of the felt lined strip...



I'm still not convinced that my tint is being scratched but I do know that it's leaving what looks like scratch marks on the tint but I can wipe them off. It's leaving some kind of a residue. Anyhow, hope that helps. Anyone in SoCal area need a moleskin kit for an E92???

[JCtx]

Somebody previously mentioned that only E90s have hard rubber. Seems to be true. It doesn't get any better than your molding, so at least for '08 owners, we can put that issue to rest. However, if you had grease/rubber marks, something is touching the window inside the door. Now that you have the panels off, can you take a look and let us know what you found? Thanks for the heads up man.

[badfish]

Originally Posted by elp_jc

Somebody previously mentioned that only E90s have hard rubber. Seems to be true. It doesn't get any better than your molding, so at least for '08 owners, we can put that issue to rest. However, if you had grease/rubber marks, something is touching the window inside the door. Now that you have the panels off, can you take a look and let us know what you found? Thanks for the heads up man.

You can't really see in the door panel too well without removing the moisture barrier. I didn't want to do that. My door is back together again.

Whatever it is in there putting whatever residue it is on the tint, I'm not going to mess with it. As long as it isn't scratching my tint and it isn't a simple fix like the moleskin, I'm more than happy to clean the marks off when they appear. Funny thing was today I had the windows down and no marks appeared. I don't think it's a grease either because it doesn't smear around like I would expect it to.

[Ben335]

Ok, So I visited my tint shop and they pulled the strips. On the E90s or maybe I will say my 09 E90 M3, the strip has two parts. A top and bottom strip. The top is felt covered the bottom is hard plastic/harder rubber. The hard plastic/rubber is the problem. Does anyone has access to the BMW ETK and can look up wether the weather strip has changed and maybe a retrofit can be done from an E46 or something that has felt on both parts.

[TIMBO_M3]

I recently went to a Tint shop and was told this for the first time as well. I thought it was all BS until I read this thread.

I hear that it is pretty random on whether the molding on the inside is rubber or vinyl. Lady at the tint shop told me she did an E90 and 2 doors had rubber and 2 doors had vinyl. WTF??....I didn't believe her at all. Then she said, to "prepare" the moldings was an extra $50 which she was going to throw in for free. But who knows...."prepare" could mean cutting the molding which doesn't seem like the right way to go.

My appt to get my tint on my E92 is Thurs at another shop. I'll see if I can get a look at what kind of molding it has. When I mentioned it to the owner of the shop, he said they haven't seen any scratches due to this. Guess we'll see.

[Ben335]

I ordered the Tint protector moleskin tonight. I am going to see what can be done to get some strips from BMW that have felt on both parts. If not, then I am going to go with the felt to see if that solves the problem.