Tint

Mine will be tinted shortly

Tinting is one of the first things I'm having done. I live in South Florida so it's a must. I want to get reflective tint as it's the most effective, and my last 2 cars had reflective on it and it was fine. But somebody mentioned it may now be illegal in florida, so I have to look into it again.

My old mazda mx6 had custom tinting, I had 35 (I think you could go as low as 20 on reflective legally) percent reflective tint on it so it was quite good and got rid of lots of heat, and during the day it was very hard to see into the car which I liked. But at night when the reflection didn't work as good, you could see in. This is why some people choose to go with the illegal 5 percent limo tinting, as it's so dark nobody can see in at night or day, but it's less effective than reflecting in heat removal. Anyway, I had another 30 percent normal dark tinting put on top of the my reflective tinting (tint on tint), and now during the day it was reflective and useful, and at night it was just as dark (maybe a tad lighter) as 5 percent limo tinting. So I had the best of both worlds, all the qualities of reflective (can't see in during the day, plus great heat fightint capabilities) and limo tinting (can't see in at night). I'm tempted to do the same on my Insight.

Recommendation though, with the tint on tint idea, only do that 2nd layer on the side Windows. It's also dark seeing outwards, so when you get your rear window tinted, you only want to use reflective tinting, don't make it so dark that you can't see clearly straight out your back. I'm thinking I'll go with 20 percent reflective on the back, 35 percent reflective on the sides with a 30 percent normal dark tint on top of that, and a 6" strip in the front. Legally you can only do 6" on the sides of the front window, it curves inwards to be like 4" in the middle of the front windshield, but I always have them make it 6" in the middle, so it's like 8" at the sides. If a cop asks, I'll say the law says 6" so when I installed it I made it 6" in the middle. I didn't know it had to be 6" at the sides. It may or may not work. My car before that, a Honda Prelude, also had pretty dark tinting. I've never been in trouble with tinting in the 5 years I've had it on my cars.

Important tint information...

I'm also having my windows tinted.

I think the heat rejection factor is pretty important to everyone who tints, and I've looked into it a lot. Ceramic tint is the way to go.

I think anybody who is tinting their Insight should look into ceramic tint. The shop I go to has a setup with a heatlamp. You put one hand under the lamp and slide different types and darknesses of regular tint between the lamp and your hand. The regular tints block some heat, but the difference with even a light ceramic is amazing. And, since it isn't metallic, like most films, it won't corrode. This is important in coastal areas.

I'm going to have Huber Optik ceramic film installed on my car--38% in the back, 60% up front. I live in California, so the front windows have to be light.

California only allows 88% film up front (and that only recently). Lumar makes an 88% film, and I have it on my 280zx. It blocks UV light, and helps a small amount with heat, but I want more. The Huber Optik films offer greater transparency at the lighter levels, but still reject heat VERY well. Their 60% film offers 45% heat rejection, which is similar to Lumar's 38% film. The darker films offer really high heat rejection. It is a very noticeable difference.

The owner of the shop I go to is serious about not wanting to violate the tint law. Usually he will not install anything but the Lumar 88% up front. However, he thinks the Huber Optik 60% may be a good option that law enforcement will not object to given its greater transparency. This may be a good option for California Insight owners.

The shop that is installing the Huber Optik for me has been in business in the same location for 20 years, and offers a lifetime warranty on all films, including Huber Optik. They have had great success with it.

Finding a good, long-lived shop with a lifetime warranty is really important. And you have to have top-quality film installed. A bad tint job will ruin your ownership experience like few things can. Just try to find someone who can get the tint off the back window without destroying the defogger lines.

Tint on a Silver Insight

We had Formula One "Performance Automotive Film" (CP Films Inc.), Martinsville, VA 24115; 540-627-3000, Fax 540.627.3032, http://www.formulaone.com ) 35% Premier Series applied to our Insight, which gives the glass a very complimentary and cool silver sheen and prevents people from looking into the interior when parked 8) . This is NOT a highly reflective film like you see in buildings, it's more subtle than that, and police can see in when you drive and they pull you over to see your strange, cool ride (yes, it's happened to us... no tickets). But when it's parked and you try to see in, you see your reflection more than anything instead of our stuff scattered about. And it makes a huge difference in heat management. I can put my hand above the open window, then move it down behind the glass, and feel a distinct difference in warmth. Don't forget the little lowest-back window, it makes a difference when you look out back. It looks cool, Earmark installed it for us (Dallas area electronics and tint store... may not be in your neighborhood? Check the website for your area installer) for less than $180 labor, tax and all, and as with all Formula One films, has a lifetime guarantee. This stuff does not turn purple or bubble up ever, this is our fifth car with it and we swear by it. Disclaimer: Not affiliated with Earmark or Formula One in any way, just a happy customer...

I got mine tinted yesterday

Well first official mod to my car, I got it tinted yesterday. I went with LLumar reflective tint, it's the best at reflecting heat. It's 20% so it's dark enough. It comes in 35% (slightly lighter than 20%) and 20% and so for legality reasons I had 20% done on the back 2 little windows and the rear hatchback window and the front 6" strip. The driver side and passenger window was done in the 35% reflective. From the outside you can't tell it's lighter than the rest of the car.

I had a very difficult time finding any shop that dealt with the ceramic tint, most haven't heard of it. I will do my research and if I can find somebody that has it, I'll do the tint on tint thing and put ceramic tint underneath my reflective. So I'll have all the properties of reflective, and what heat does get through would be dissipated by the 20%/30% darkness and what gets through that would have to make it through the cermic tint layer I'll add later. It should be a good setup, if Ceramic is lighter and does a good job it shouldn't be noticeably that much darker sitting on top of normal reflective tint.

Anyway, my silver insight looks sharp with reflective. It's gorgeous. I have lifetime warranty with no-fault as well, if I scratch it on accident myself, they'll replace it.

My only thing was they told me that the little/smaller window in the back, the one that lets you see the grills of cars behind you better, it's plexiglass vs glass like all the other windows. They said they couldn't tint it and if they did you'd never get it off. So every window is tinted except that one little area. I don't like people being able to see into my cargo area so easily so I'm doing some more research or tempted to see just how bad it would be to tint w/ no possibility of removing it. I'll post pictures later.

I got mine tinted yesterday, too...

Glitch--

I also had my windows tinted yesterday, but with Huber Optik ceramic tint. I know reflective tint is best at rejecting heat among (regular) metallic tints, but it cannot match the heat rejection of ceramic tint. It costs a lot more ($125 over regular tinting; I paid $350 total), but it is worth it. If anyone is interested in the exact heat rejection numbers, I can probably get them from the shop that did my tint.

When I drove home yesterday afternoon I was amazed by the difference. With just a 60% on the front windows (30% in back), I could hold my arm up to the front window in direct sunlight and feel virtually no heat. If you can find someone who installs ceramic in your area and put it on also, you will truly have the most heat rejection possible.

I had found another dealer who carries Huber Optik here, but he tried to talk me out of it saying the optical qualities on it are poor (which definitely isn't true). The installer who did my tint said the other dealer probably told me that because he either had no experience installing Huber Optik in cars (which the other dealer had admitted) or because the Huber Optik film is so much thicker and more difficult to work with in the confines of a car. The installer said he had to attempt the rear window 3 times before getting it right (he had never tinted an Insight before).

Huber Optik is primarily a residential film. The shop I went to does mostly homes and businesses, though they have been in business over 20 years and tinting cars the entire time (they give a lifetime warranty and will be there to honor it). I don't think you'll find Huber Optik in any shops that only do auto tinting.

I do like the look of the reflective tint. But while it is legal in California, I'm not sure it will continue to be. The tint laws here are already too strict. I could see the legislature decide that its reflectivity in sunlight is dangerous.

As to that small bottom window, why bother? It's already much darker than the other windows. Tinting it won't make much of a difference when it comes to looking in your hatch.

I took before pictures and I'll take the after pictures soon and post both.

I believe that they didn't inspect that little window enough. He only tapped it from the outside and from the outside it did appear plastic/plexiglass. It didn't feel like the other glass windows. I suspect if he'd tapped it from the inside it'd feel more like glass. There may be a plastic/plexiglass layer on top of that glass window, so from the outside it isn't glass, but since tint is done from the inside it can probably be installed. I have full warranty, so if it can be tinted I may have them do it, should be no charge. I'll let you know. Has anybody felt that little window from the outside vs the inside?

Reflective is nice, but it sounds like ceramic may be good also, albeit expensive. I'll hunt around, I want the best protection. To go cheaper (since it is apparently more expensive) I'll only have it done on the rear windows, the 2 small ones and the hatch back. That's where the batteries and/or cargo is anyway. I'll leave the front driver/passenger door with just reflective; The extra darkness created by the extra layer of ceramic tint may make the front windows illegal. But the back can be as dark as I want it. So 20% reflective along with ceramic = awesome heat rejection. My batteries/cargo should be able to handle the hottest of the Florida sun.

Insighter, do you realize that you and I are on par with one another? We both got 2003 CVT insights around the same time and somehow we both managed to get our Tints done on the same day, or at least within 1 day of each other. My next project is buying the super shoebox sub, but it'll be a while for me to be able to afford to buy amps and a nice deck to power up the system. On the bright side I sold my Infinity Kappa component speakers for $150.00 and the MB Quarts speakers I want are $120 so I actually made $30, give or take S&H and such.

San Diego Tinting...

The guy I used for tinting is REALLY uptight about tinting front windows as anything darker than that clear 88% tint is illegal. He asked that I not tell anyone that his shop did it.

I do know of a shop in Oceanside that will come to you. They are very talented and do top-notch work. The film you want is Huber-Optik ceramic. I used 60%, which I don't think I'll ever get pulled over for because I don't think it is that noticeable. It makes the car much more comfortable.

This shop doesn't tint cars with ceramic, though (not enough people know about it so there isn't much demand for it), so you'll have to tell them the tint you want (they can get it).

If you want more info, email me and I'll try to track down the phone number of the shop I'm talking about and the exact name of the film (I think Huber Optik has different types of ceramic tint).