Window Tinting

[DougE]

I live in NC, it gets very hot and humid here. I was thinking about having the side windows tinted in my coupe. It really makes a difference in the interior temp when you close off part of the green house. My a/c works as well as can be expected, it's measuring 54 degrees at the vent but that just helps dry the sweat off of your brow. The tint is not permanent (it is a pain in the ass to remove) and aside from the utility I think it looks kind of cool.

What say you?

Doug

 

[rb1971]

My car is very lightly tinted (brown, to match the interior, actually). This pic shows that it is tinted, although since it was under fluorescent lights inside it looks a lot darker than it is in real life.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7058/7037391357_c4349188a6_b.jpg

 

[61porsche]

54 degrees

at the vent, means something's up. You should be getting 42-45 even on an original system. You can read the pressure differential with a set of guages on the system to give you some indication of a restriction. But that difference usually is low gas by 1/2 a lb. or more. It will sit like that until at least that much is put in . Then all of a sudden, it drops. Don't go by the sight guage.

Disconnect/ bypass the heater core.

Air bleed from vent.
Heater bleed.
Temperature switch not calibrated.
Little low on gas.

More, but that's a start.

Obscure, but important is air leaking inside the cabin. Seals, doors, cards, hole for the window motor. Stick a fan inside the cabin and go around the car to see if you can feel the air escaping or someone with a heat gun/ hair dryer inside.

 

[thehackmechanic]

tintint rear window extremely difficult

Be aware that it is extremely difficult to tint the curved rear glass in a car like an E9, as the tint material has to be shrink-fitted. Most modern cars have dead-flat rear windshields; making it fit in a car like ours is an art. Read my experience at

http://www.tintdude.com/forum/index.php/topic/58756-tinting-1973-bmw-with-curved-rear-windshield/

If you do choose to tint, I'd recommend that you find a shop that does it professionally, not a detail shop that does tinting on the side.

All that having been said, with time, I love the way it looks. Here are the before and afters.