Dealing With Curved Windows When Car Window Tinting

Quick and Dirty Tips For Dealing With Curved Windows

Curvature is one of the things you will learn to deal with early on in your car window tinting career, if you have undergone any sort of formal training, you will no doubt have spent the first few days of your training heat shrinking rear windows. I remember back to my first training session, the instructor grabed a window from a Renault clio, which at the time was one of the most difficult rear windows to shrink, he was just showing off basically that he could shrink the film in a few minutes, I was pretty blown away when i saw that to be honest.

I spent a good 2 days powder shrinking windows with talc, that was the technique we used and i continued powder shrinking for at least another 5 years, now I use a different method using Soap, but if I had to go back to using that damn powder shrink method I would not be a happy bunny. You can see my previous post on soap shrinking here. Although I found that I could shrink curved windows OK with powder but once I migrated to soap shrinking, the time taken when it came to heat shrinking pretty much halved overnight.

So what are the differences between the 2 methods?
When powder shinking, you use the powder to stop the film from sticking to the glass,  the powder sort of allows the film to float on the layer of powder and when you shrink the film with the heatgun, it doesnt stick to the glass.

The technique for powder shrinking is completely different to soap shrinking, when you powder shrunk, you still anchor the film in the 'H' pattern but then use a small circular motion with the heatgun as you flow left and right and dont focus so much on the fingers in the film like you would when wet shinking., it takes time to shrink a complete window, I would say around 20 minutes when you are a beginner, and thats for a fairly standard window, then you must perform a wet check, here you flush the powder out from under the film and smooth the film out with your hands, be careful as if you have'nt shrunk the film well, you may get a crease at this point.

With the soap shrink method, you tend to shrink a larger area of film at one time, not the small circles like when powder shrinking, and there is no need for a wet check either, as when you use a hard card with a felt edge, you can pin the film to the glass and make the film like a tight skin, you will get far fewer fingers popping up on the inside when you install the film. I just wish i discovered soap shrinking earlier in my carerre, the guys that are coming into the game now have it easy if they get a good trainer, one who taches tinting with door panels in place and soap shrinking. You can find out more on soap shrinking here.

When dealing with extreme curvature on back windows you may need to learn another technique as powder shrinking has it's limts and although I find you can do some pretty urved windows in soap, you will need to learn the Lift & Pull technique. this is a mix of wet shrinking and pulling, you need to leave the film longer than normal as you will need to pull the film by hand, i will try and find a video of the lift and pull method as a video can explain it better than I can.


Forgot to mention - to the guy who is using my articles and passing them off as his own, I am onto you! I dont write articles for you to rank your own site with!

0 comments:

How To Avoid Water Damage When Tinting The Windows On High End Cars

In this blog I will give you some tips and tricks for keeping it safe when tinting High End motor vehicles and please do watch the included video for the best ways to protect the vehicle from damage.


Water damage is something that can prove to be very expensive and if you don't take precautions before you carry out your installations you are heading for big trouble!

The main causes of water damage are two fold, its a bit of a catch 22 situation for the serious car window tinting installer. As a professional they will know that you can get very clean results by flushing down the window with either clean water or even their slippy window film mounting solution. Take this to the limit though and you can end up damaging electric window switches , airbag connectors and even ultra expensive amplifiers that are mounted in the trunk area.

Just the other day i tinted a brand new 2012 Mercedes Benz E Class, a nice car for sure and the customer was a picky type of person, I could tell that before I started the job so i knew I had to be on my best game and make sure he had no reason at all to complain, some of these customers can be really picky but if you meet their levels of expectation and become very picky about the finished product you deliver back to them, they will be happy customers for life and will tell every man and his dog what a good job you did.


So, what do you need to consider before you start tinting windows on some high end vehicles, well I will say limit your water usage for sure, mix up a slippier mounting solution than normal and install the windows on the dry side, I like to buff mine with a micro fibre cloth and then blow them dry with my heat gun, then  just flush down the edges slightly and maybe a quick mist in the main area of the window, then soak your film, I even install film with the windows completely dry sometimes ( with the film soaked only), you will be amazed how clean you can get your installations using this method. This method works well for quarter windows and drop glasses but what is the best way to tackle a back window in a sedan/saloon vehicle.

Look in the trunk area and on lots of cars they have side pockets, if you open these you may see a fusebox, or amplifier or sat nave unit or something else electronic. Take a towel or sham-wow cloth and cover all the electronics. I know on some of the Audi models the amplifier has an air intake, this faces upwards and and water just drips right into it, i have heard of quite a few tinters who have damaged these and must pay to replace them, at a cost of well over $1000.

Be careful - thats the first thing, don't go ploughing in soaking everything, tape off the C Pillar trims with masking tape as these can get wet and may get stained depending on what slip solution you are using. Only mist the back glass, don't flush it down, and when squegeeing out to the sides, be careful you push slowly, if you just flush lots of water into the 'C' panel area, on the BMW's they have the aerial/antenna amplifier in that area and they can get wet and that again can cost you money to put right. If in doubt and you can pull the trim away from the vehicle, try and have a quick look to see if their are any electonic components in the area in quetsion, and do what is needed to keep them dry. Cars are becoming more and more loaded with lecetrocnics and you need to be smart and get the knowledge as to what cars can cause a headache!

When I was doing a Mercedes Benz this week I decided to share with you what I do, I used my iphone and I made a quick video showing you how I avoid water damage when window tinting, all it takes is a towel, a few rags or I like to use a ShamWow cloth which is very absorbant and you are playing it safe and keeping out of trouble.

Watch this video for more information


So the bottom line is pay attention and do some research on the vehicle in question before commencing the installation, this information is not meant to scare you but give you an idea of what to look out for when you are working with high end vehicles and the pitfalls you may come across on your journey as a professional window tinter.

Here is a post on my technique for reverse rolling rear windows.

0 comments:

How to close more deals when dealing with female customers


I know this might be a strange topic for this blog but over the last 10 years of tinting cars I have had my fair share of female customers and I used to make a point of asking them why they chose to come to my business over going to one of my competitors. Always engage the customer at every opportunity without coming across as a smart ass, they don't like that. Try and build some confidence that you are the best person for the job and use your sales spiel to get the sale.

Be respectful: yeh, I think if my wife read this blog she would disagree and say I don't respect women enough…especially her!!, but if you want to close the deal and get the car window tinting job on their car then you have to respect them. They may not have the knowledge of some of the male customers, they may not have done any research into the subject or let you know they want an nano-ceramic non reflective film at 15% transparency but they do want window tinting from you all the same.

Talk a good job: One of the things I hear about from female customers is that some of my competitors will not give them the time of day, just like all other sales enquiries, take the 5 minutes or whatever it takes to ask the right questions, one of the best ways to close the sale is to focus on the benefits that car window film will bring to the rear seat passengers, and that's most likely going to be Kids. So sell on the heat rejection benefits of the film and how much protection it can offer. For more info on the benefits of car window film see this blog post from last week.

Marketing for Girls: Your sales message you deliver via your marketing materials can attract a varied audience and you will find that pitching your products to women is a good thing, a lot of the time they will control the purse strings and will make the buying decisions in the household. Poor old hubby is out at work all day and she may be doing lunch with the girls and keep her happy and she will happily gab to her lunch companions that you are the go-to guy for window tinting in your area.

You may need specific marketing pieces that target both male and female audience, do a little bit of market research with your female customers and just ask the question - "what made you choose us today"? - I am sure you will be surprised by some of the answers you will receive, store these in the mental marking bank - your brain, or write them down so you can be better equipped for your next marketing piece - its always nice to score with the girls and if you can make some nice money at the same time - double bonus!







0 comments:

Save the world with window film.


If you are wondering if tinting your cars windows is the right thing to do please read on, in this article I will be discussing the ideas that never came to your mind when window tinting. As you may know there are many benefits from having your car windows tinted. One that you may never have thought of is the fact that when you apply the car window tinting you will be fighting global warming. That is right, this is because when the window film is in place you will have a cooler car. This allows you to use less energy to cool the car on hot days. This reduction in energy also provides a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Great isn’t it?

If you thought that was great, there are more benefits as well. What about safety? The film used in car window tinting will help to ensure the window does not separate and shatter if you ever get into a collision. Yes, people take auto glass for granted and don't realise that tempered car glass when broken will shatter into small pieces, but with the window film installed will give you another layer of protection in this instance.

When the car window tint is applied to the window, the product will use quality adhesive. This ensures the likeliness of the glass shattering drops drastically. This means that when you get this product installed into your car you will be improving the overall safety rating of your car to ensure that you and your passengers are as safe as possible while in your vehicle.

Something that has become a major player in many people’s eyes is the subject of skin cancer. Many who spend a lot of time in cars will know that the prolonged exposure to the sun can cause many problems. In the sunny climates all over the world this is even more prevalent. Many people know that if you go out into the sun you wear sunscreen. However, this is not so when people think about driving. This lessened use of sunscreen in automobiles can cause problems. Car window tinting can help to reduce the exposure of the harmful UV rays that have been proven to cause cancer. This means that you do not have to worry as much about your exposure levels.
On top of your skin thanking you for this, your car will as well. The extended exposure of the UV rays from the sun on the inside of the car cause the parts to dull and lose their new look. It can also make leather crack. The window tinting is yet another layer of protection you can add to your car’s interior to reduce these risks.

Then you get to another reason that many people already know. Car window tinting will increase the level of privacy within your car. This means that people will not be able to look into your back seat and see what is there. If a potential thief does not know what is in the cab of your car you will lessen the chance of becoming a target. This safety precaution is good not only for the items in the car, but your car’s windows as well.


0 comments: