Please help: What tint percentage is this? Not happy...

[elisekelly]

Hi guys,
I just tinted my 2010 BMW 135i at sunshield glass tinting in sherman oaks. They were highly recommended by the forums and on yelp, so I figured they would do a good job.

The only problem is that the tint is way too dark. I asked for 35% all around, and it looks like they gave me 15% or 20% all around. It's not their 3M, Llumar, or ceramic tint - just their regular "high performance" stuff. It cost me $125 total.

What percentage tint do you guys think this is? Will it get lighter as it dries? I got it tinted 3 hours ago. I'm frustrated because it looks like they gave a super dark tint when all I wanted was 35%. If they did use the wrong percentage, then I want them to remove the too dark tint and put the right one on for free since they messed it up in the first place.

Thanks for the help ahead of time.

[f1rst 1]

wow, that's way dark....I'd go back, that's WAY more than 35% tint. I've never seen tint lighten up as it dries either....that sucks man.

[elisekelly]

thank you for the help. i'm pretty sad right now... i parked it out in the sun (it's normally garaged) in the hopes that it will dry lighter. when I asked them why it looked so dark they didn't say anything. I got the distinct impression that because I'm a girl they don't take me seriously or something

[DriveHard]

35% may appear darker espically if you have black interior..

It is dark... but maybe not the tints fault...

just bring it back and ask what it is.. they prob have a meter to show you..

[f1rst 1]

it's hard to tell on mine, this pic was taken at the dealer I bought mine from last week, but this is about 20% or so on mine....you can def see thru it in the sunlight and mine is supposed to be darker than what you ordered (35% right?) Yours almost looks limo dark.....

[elisekelly]

thanks f1rst 1!

Yeah mine definitely looks 20% or darker... I ordered 35% and right now I'm hoping it just needs to dry or something. Anyways congrats on the 1 purchase your car looks nice!

[SpaceG135i]

Originally Posted by elisekelly

thanks f1rst 1!

Yeah mine definitely looks 20% or darker... I ordered 35% and right now I'm hoping it just needs to dry or something. Anyways congrats on the 1 purchase your car looks nice!

You Def got 15% because thats how my car looked, sunshield is pretty good but you should of went to Solar Eclipse in Woodland hills.

a little late now so i would def go back and tell them to do the right job.

[Eric@e2design]

+1 on 15% cause I have 20% on the daily and 5% (limo) on my other car and yours falls in between lol

[135roller]

i dont think thats 35%, i have full limo all around and this looks darker! go back nd see whats up!

[elisekelly]

I parked it out in the sun and it looks a tiny bit lighter now but still nowhere near 35%. I took it to another tint shop closer to my house and the owner said that it was definitely 20% based off of 3M tint. I'm going to go back friday and either have them re do or take it off and refund my money. Hopefully they don't give me a hard time about it because it's definitely way too dark.

[strati1]

I work at SDtint, that is between 10 and 15 percent. im guessing a 13 percent generic film.

[pinmagic]

If you have something in writing specifying the tint, and they refuse to fix it, just challenge it on your credit card. (Hopefully you paid by credit card.)

[Aries932]

That is definitely 20%...you can see it looks the exact same as my car...and my car is 20%.

[SpaceG135i]

Originally Posted by Aries932

That is definitely 20%...you can see it looks the exact same as my car...and my car is 20%.

IDK man seems a little dark

http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37427

Check out this link, they have a picture showing the difference between the tints.

[elisekelly]

thank you for all your help! the camaro link was helpful too. we called a bunch of tint places in LA looking for a tint meter, and startronics has one. so this friday i'm going to have them test the tint with the meter and then go back up to sunshield and yell at their asses... anyone know other tint shops that have the meters? I don't think a lot of places have them because they are expensive. we even called the cops and they don't carry them either, haha.

will post more pics today as the tint is a little bit lighter.

[Aries932]

Originally Posted by SpaceG135i

IDK man seems a little dark

http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37427

Check out this link, they have a picture showing the difference between the tints.

No mine is definitely 20%..it is a bit lighter if you look at it from a different angle. The shop I went to does very high quality work though so I know it is 20%.

[elisekelly]

So I finally found a tint shop with a tint meter, and the meter reading said the tint was 25%. I knew that it was too dark. I'm going back to sunshield at 8am tomorrow morning and hopefully they will take it off for free and refund my money... you guys were all right!

For the record I would not recommend sunshield to tint your car, I felt like cattle at the airport since they had so many appointments. You get what you pay for definitely. They also didn't clean around my doors and now the leather has all the streaks from where they sprayed stuff.

[infinitekidM2C]

That's messed up. Good luck and it's nice to see a girl with a 135!

[cooler2442]

Originally Posted by elisekelly

So I finally found a tint shop with a tint meter, and the meter reading said the tint was 25%. I knew that it was too dark. I'm going back to sunshield at 8am tomorrow morning and hopefully they will take it off for free and refund my money... you guys were all right!

For the record I would not recommend sunshield to tint your car, I felt like cattle at the airport since they had so many appointments. You get what you pay for definitely. They also didn't clean around my doors and now the leather has all the streaks from where they sprayed stuff.

Hope you paid with a credit card because if you did then you have another option. Call your card company and say they delivered the wrong product and not the one that was promised.

Thanks for the heads up though, I am in the Valley as well and was looking to get tint since I just picked up the car an '11 on Tuesday. So I will avoid that place in Sherman Oaks.

[eleven11]

That's really dark, man. Hope you get things corrected. Sorry for going slightly OT, but...

I've yet to have mine tinted, and unfortunately haven't seen a 1 close up with tint. I'm curious about f1rst 1's tint (see above) behind the B pillar - what are those outlines? I don't recall noticing that in others' pics. Was it just cut shy of the margins? Thanks.

[elisekelly]

So we went back to sunshield this morning and the first thing the owner, Hamid, says to me: "You were supposed to come yesterday." Really? Is that the first thing you have to say? Well, f*** you. I know that this wasn't going to end well after that.

We tell him that the tint is way too dark and that it's not 35%. Inside the shop, he has a display board with all the tint percentages so you can choose what you want. The problem is that the board misrepresents the actual color- when you put the tint on your car, it's way darker. The 35% on the board (that I choose) looks nothing like what was put on my car. He proceeds to argue with me for 15 minutes (!) about all this bullshit, until we finally pull out a picture of my window and a tint meter, which shows 25%. Hamid, the shady owner, then says that the tint meter is a lie (Really? Nice argument there) and goes on and on about the tint. By now he's yelling at us and blatantly lying, which I didn't appreciate. I didn't go all the way back to the valley to argue with this loser, I want him to admit that he screwed up and refund my money.

He kept saying that he would take off the tint on my window and then compare it to the board, which is 35%. Yet that does nothing to solve the actual problem- why does the tint meter say its 25% then? I have never experienced such horrible customer service in my life. I actually left the place in tears because I was so frustrated by his lack of respect towards his customers, and most of all me.

I think this is obvious, but do not go to sunshield glass tinting. They run a shady business that focuses on quantity, not quality. They spent 40 minutes actually tinting my car and I think we all know that a good tint job takes longer than that. His little fake blonde wife schedules the appointments too close together so you basically feel like cattle at the airport, just being herded around. The price is cheap, but the quality is also cheap so beware of this.

To make matters worse, my boyfriend had to take the tint off and remove all the glue and gunk on the windows. He's still working on it right now. Hamid did not offer to remove the tint free of charge, he told us that we had to pay for it. I'm not about to pay for his mistake. I've called my credit card company and disputed the charge, so at least I get my money back. Still, this has left a really sour taste in my mouth and i'm disgusted that places like sunshield are still in business. Horrible business practice!

[benrappaport]

i can digg it