Anyone have pics of 25 or 30 tints?

[mrspecter]

I've made an appointment next week to tint my car and I've narrowed it down to either 25 or 30 because my last car had 35s and I felt it was a little too light for my taste. I have 20s on two of the cars at my house and I think they are a bit darker than what I'd prefer, especially at night time.

I've browsed through some of the old tint threads, but can't find too many good pictures of 25 or 30 tints because these are less common shades.

If anyone has some nice pictures (preferably a direct sideview profile) of their cars with 25s or 30s it would be greatly appreciated.

[Teufel_Hunden]

18% on LMB.

[dparm]

Originally Posted by mrspecter

I've made an appointment next week to tint my car and I've narrowed it down to either 25 or 30 because my last car had 35s and I felt it was a little too light for my taste. I have 20s on two of the cars at my house and I think they are a bit darker than what I'd prefer, especially at night time.

I've browsed through some of the old tint threads, but can't find too many good pictures of 25 or 30 tints because these are less common shades.

If anyone has some nice pictures (preferably a direct sideview profile) of their cars with 25s or 30s it would be greatly appreciated.

Your tint shop should have samples on pieces of glass/plastic. It's hard to photograph tint consistently because of the ambient light, interior color, the construction of the film, camera settings, etc, so any photos posted here are going to be of limited use. I'd say go to the shop before your appointment and see how they look in the sunlight. Ask if you can borrow the sample and take it home for a nighttime test. Even better: ask if the shop has appointments for the % you're considering and return right when they're finishing those up so you can see how they look in-person.

Basic logic would dictate that if you found 35 too light, and 20 too dark, pick something in between. Which tint will you be getting, and which tint do you have on your existing cars? There's a ton of choices and not all are created equal. You might even want to consider something like Spectra PhotoSync which is photochromic; it will darken during the day and lighten at night. It's not totally clear at night, but it will be lighter and should improve visibility versus a typical "dark" tint. It costs about 20-30% more than the regular high-end tints, FYI.

[dparm]

Originally Posted by Teufel_Hunden

18% on LMB.

How does this help the OP? He said he wants 25 or 30 -- because 20 and 35 were too dark and too light, respectively. You posted 18...

[Teufel_Hunden]

% also matters with what color car you have. just trying to help the guy out...:

[doogee]

Here is 3M 35%

[mrspecter]

Originally Posted by dparm

Your tint shop should have samples on pieces of glass/plastic. It's hard to photograph tint consistently because of the ambient light, interior color, the construction of the film, camera settings, etc, so any photos posted here are going to be of limited use. I'd say go to the shop before your appointment and see how they look in the sunlight. Ask if you can borrow the sample and take it home for a nighttime test. Even better: ask if the shop has appointments for the % you're considering and return right when they're finishing those up so you can see how they look in-person.

Basic logic would dictate that if you found 35 too light, and 20 too dark, pick something in between. Which tint will you be getting, and which tint do you have on your existing cars? There's a ton of choices and not all are created equal. You might even want to consider something like Spectra PhotoSync which is photochromic; it will darken during the day and lighten at night. It's not totally clear at night, but it will be lighter and should improve visibility versus a typical "dark" tint. It costs about 20-30% more than the regular high-end tints, FYI.

My existing cars have 3M color stable and 3M standard films, but in order to get the shades of 25 or 30 that I'm looking for I'm considering other brands like Suntek and Llumar.

Spectra PhotoSync sounds like something I might be interested in if it really does have this photochromic quality. I need to do some more research on it. Do you have experience with this film? I'm guessing its comparable to 3M crystalline which is probably one of the best films out there right now.

I did a quick google search and I found this white M3 coupe in Spectra Photosync 35. I will say that it does look pretty close to the shade I want if it was just slightly darker, but I'm definitely going to consider it.

The other day, I stopped by another shop and this guy had 3M crystalline 20s on the front windows of his jeep and it looks amazing with this bluish tint and the film doesn't make the car look too dark considering their 20s. He quoted me $650 to tint my car (excluding windshield). Any idea if Spectra PhotoSync prices are similar?

[mrspecter]

Originally Posted by doogee

Here is 3M 35%

I assume you have a dark interior? Do you like the 35s or would you have gone darker?

[doogee]

Originally Posted by mrspecter

I assume you have a dark interior? Do you like the 35s or would you have gone darker?

Fox Red


I definitely would not want anything darker.

[mrspecter]

Originally Posted by Teufel_Hunden

18% on LMB.

I don't mind you posting your LMB with 18s, but at least give me a better picture than that. That picture really doesn't help anything.

[Teufel_Hunden]

Originally Posted by mrspecter

I don't mind you posting your LMB with 18s, but at least give me a better picture than that. That picture really doesn't help anything.

I uploaded with my phone and it may not look the best.

[dparm]

Originally Posted by mrspecter

My existing cars have 3M color stable and 3M standard films, but in order to get the shades of 25 or 30 that I'm looking for I'm considering other brands like Suntek and Llumar.

Spectra PhotoSync sounds like something I might be interested in if it really does have this photochromic quality. I need to do some more research on it. Do you have experience with this film? I'm guessing its comparable to 3M crystalline which is probably one of the best films out there right now.

I did a quick google search and I found this white M3 coupe in Spectra Photosync 35. I will say that it does look pretty close to the shade I want if it was just slightly darker, but I'm definitely going to consider it.

The other day, I stopped by another shop and this guy had 3M crystalline 20s on the front windows of his jeep and it looks amazing with this bluish tint and the film doesn't make the car look too dark considering their 20s. He quoted me $650 to tint my car (excluding windshield). Any idea if Spectra PhotoSync prices are similar?

I don't have experience with Spectra PhotoSync, but the Tesla guys love it. Check their owner forums.

I actually have 3M Crystalline on my Corvette, but I went with a very light one (70). It barely looks tinted (very slight blue cast) but actually blocks almost as much heat/solar energy as a 35-40% film! It's cheaper than the Spectra stuff but more expensive than the mainstream Llumar/Suntek ceramic tints. I think I paid like $400-450. The car has pretty small windows to begin with, and an all-black interior, but most people don't even know that it's tinted. If you look closely, you can see the very slight blue color since the windows are cracked.

Here's the datasheet for it in case you want to look up the specs on light transmission, etc:
https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/...s-brochure.pdf

Here's the sheet for Photosync. As you can see, the visible light transmission difference between the dark and light "modes" is <10%.
http://www.autosupershield.com/pdfs/...nical-Data.pdf

[burtonsbs5114]

Here are some pics of 30% on Jerez Black. Personally, I think 30 is perfect.

[USCTROJANSFIGHTON]

20% with the sun behind it.,

[Iyzmi]

Here are a couple pics of my car with 30%:





I've had 20% and 35% on other cars before. 20% is a bit too dark for my liking and screams "illegal" if the cops around you care about that type of thing. I actually got a ticket for it and had it redone with 35%. 30% is just slightly darker than 35% and I think it's perfect.

[jpra923]

Using a brand called Llumar 20. Technically it's 23%. The installer said after it's laid down and cured it's more like 19%.

The tint is slightly lighter than what the picture shows. I think the camera on my Samsung phone was focusing on the white so it made all the blacks a tiny bit darker.

[6ixSpd]

As many have said, photos are horrible at depicting how tint looks. There are so many factors to consider how dark or light tint appears in a photo.

Anyways, heres 35% Pinnacle on my M3 in various lighting/angles. Sometimes I wish I had gone a bit lighter as I'm not a fan of dark tint anymore.

[Desertshark43]

Here's mine. 4% tint on both side windows. Have no idea what rear is but it's dark. Front I think is 20 or 30

[Conzyo]

M3 is 30%, GTR is 20%
M3 has all the rear shades up also.

[BigApple]

Originally Posted by USCTROJANSFIGHTON

20% with the sun behind it.,

your frames look great no silver looking dot matrix .. how did you achieve that ?

[Bimmer-ish]

I’m tinting my windows tomorrow. Going like 10% on the sides and 20 in the rear. Front I’m probably only doing the 5” AS line.

I’m also freaked about some of the tint prices I saw. I was quoted about $250 for full ceramic. I saw a $650. I think I should ask what type of tint they will be using. I don’t want them to be garbage.