So many of you have emailed asking us to take a deep dive into window tint.
Some of you just want the cool look dark windows all around, others of you want yourself and your kids to be safe from ultra violet light and what it does to your skin, and others I wanna keep the inside of your car beautifully preserved because you paid a lot for it, yet you want clear windows so that you can be seen in your hot ride.
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To the casual glance, window tint looks like pretty simple stuff, a sheet of dyed plastic.
And that's all it used to be.
But if you visit the 3M labs, you will find today's tint film, pack a bunch of tech in a thin see through package.
This film is the thickness.
Literally the sheet of paper of a posted note they tell me.
I'm peeling off the backing here and this stuff is like almost not there, but inside there, apparently 200 nano technology layers of materials that given the sort of polarizing effect where it does its magic.
Now aside from convertibles worth owning and weekend drives worth doing, sunlight is just the enemy of cars, it has three components you wanna tackle with tint.
One is UV which is ultra violet
One is Visible Light and the other one is IR which Infrared.
Ultraviolet typically only represent very small amount, 3% in general.
So it's very negligible.
That's a very important factor.
It does the most damage in terms of contribution to the fading of the interior And also skin [INAUDIBLE].
You may feel pretty smuggled by yourself when you slather on that SPF 50, but 3M says a modern window tint can hit SPF 1000.
And even if UV is a small percent of all stuff hitting your car, it causes the most damage to interiors.
Paint those black plastic trim parts, the outside of your tyres and of course, your skin.
Choosing the right radiation technology is one big factor for you when you choose a tint but let's face it, lifestyle's another.
We have a group of people that are more care about their aesthetics.
They want to have dark film, as dark as they can get away with.
And then of course the esthetics also include people that own exotic cars and or classic cars.
They want to maintain the authenticity of the look of the car.
And so therefore they don't want the [INAUDIBLE] but yet they want the performance of the film.
Now if you saw our recent video on getting a great tint installed, that was using a 3M film called Crystalline 70
Crystal and it's their name for technology that can block light without necessarily being dark and the 70 part means it lets in that percent of visible light.
That's part of a trend in the industry to decoupled darkness of tint from effectiveness that blocking radiation Check the tech before you buy the tint.
First, pick the darkness you like.
Let's face it, if you don't like the way it looks everything else is off.
Research the rejection rate of the shade you want across visible, infrared and ultraviolet.
Ask pointedly if the film is signal friendly and won't degrade wireless signals in and out of the car.
Know what degree of tint your car has in it's glass from the factory.
That may be hard to research, but assume 20% if you need a rule of thumb.
Add that amount to whatever film you're considering, and then check that against state laws.
Which have a say in how dark you can go.
So for example, in the state of Minnesota, it's net 50, what that means is that you start with the window that's at a visible light transmission
And you add the window tint, the window film on top of it, the net result has to be 50% or higher visible light transmission to be legal.
That Crystalline 70 we were talking about allows 70% of visible light to pass, 30% is blocked.
Well, add that 30 to a car with 20 from the factory, and now you've got 50.
Well within the law in New Mexico.
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Just legally in Minnesota and breaking the law in California.
By the way, factory window tend is a different animal than the film you get applied after market.
And it may do nothing to block UV and IR.
Just give you privacy.
And finally you wanna be aware of which windows you can tint in your state.
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Then make sure you watch our video about how to get a good tint job done once you've picked the right film.
