Quote:
Originally Posted by MickieH  Thanks for the tip
I'm not going to be doing it myself - tried once years ago and gave up  |
You'll be surprised how easy it can be, but it's not that easy from the first time.
All you need is a:
- water hose,
- soft rubber pad (yellow),
- hard rubber pad (BlueMax),
- stanley knife with few blades (very important to keep changing blades very often, especially when you trimming film from outside on the glass, keep the blade as flat as possible, then you will almost never scratch the glass, sounds scary but it is not)
- a household bottle spray (with the pump on top) to build up as high pressure as possible (you fill that with water and add a bit of concentrated hand soap or fairy) - this will allow movement on the outside part while you forming the film and very important movements while you are sticking it from inside when is all ready, with just water it will stick and thats it, easy to break the film, VERY IMPORTANT
- a torch or some sort of source of light, even a desk lamp.
- hot air gun, the simple one AMTech one with just 2 settings is absolutely fine, this is to shape the film to the actual shape of the each glass, you do that from outside and you have to make sure that film you bought is the quality one like Sun-Gard which is shrinks when hot air is applied, REMEMBER each quality film shrinks only on 2 of 4 sides, only on the sides of the roll.
- a some sort of table with glass top, of sheet of glass on top for trimming etc. (but thats only if you do the door glass, No need for fixed glass)
- and its good to have a any sort of glass or window standing almost vertically by the wall, washed properly and free of dust and loose stuff - this is for hanging the prepared film, spray water on it and stick the film on, its very easy to remove the protective film on the piece of glass, other way is your teeths and tong, sound stupid, but months of practice to get a grip on it.
The crucial and the most important rule to make sure you wont have any bits between the film and glass when you stick it on is to wash your hands as often as possible, put lots of towels inside and use as much water as possible when you washing the glass from inside, always wash the film several times after each touch (thats where the window or piece of glass comes handy)
Water Water Water.
To wash the windows properly first remove all the stickers and wipe it with the alcohol wipes to remove any glue.
Use the pressure water can spray mixed with soap and take a dish washer sponge.
Spray the screen and go several times around with the green side
Then take (there is a special tool but you can use this) a stanley knife, position it in around 45degree angle on the glass the way the blade touches the glass surface with its own whole sharp part and go all over the glass to remove any micro bits of metal stuck from previous repairs or anything what you can't see or be aware of, but DO NOT USE THAT on heated screens, use just the green side of the sponge.
Then spray once again very properly and slowly going from the top to bottom, make sure that whole glass is well wiped and sprayed even there where the film wont be applied, the black surrounding, to avoid dust pieces sliding down the middle of the glass when you spray the glass just before applying the film on the glass.
When you do that use the soft rubber pad (yellow) and wipe off all the water and foam from left to right top to bottom.
sparay once again and wash with the soft part of the sponge (yellow) properly and spray once again after and wipe off with the soft rubber pad.
Then spray the glass once again, wash your hands, wash the film once again, peel the protective layer off, take it with the tips of your fingers, but wash hands before that once again in case there was something of the water hose when you were washing the film, and go and stick it.
Now the water and soap will allow you to slide it along very smoothly to position it properly.
Take hard rubber pad, do the move from the middle one to the right, one to the left, then from the middle go up to squeeze all the water out, then same from the middle to the bottom. then repeat that with paper towel wrapped around the rubber pad, rememeber to go to the very end of the film, then paper will absorb all the left excess of water preventing from traveling around the glass and coming back under the film. When you do the final moves with the towel wrapped around the Bulemax, make sure you will use as much power as possible.
All what's left now is the Air gun the glass from outside (dont get to close or for to long to any rubber and plastic surrounding trims), 30-60 sec on low speed temp for side windows, 2-4min for the rear windscreen.
When is fairly hot go with the hard rubber bad around the edges to make sure that they will stick permanently to the glass to prevent peeling off in next hour or so.
Any little amount of water or soap left behind may be still visible, cloudy marks, don;t worry, it will all be gone within a day.
Glass cleaner, paper towel, and enjoy
Marc07's Window Tinting Tips 
Re: Marc07's Window Tinting Tips 
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