awdinut

I am thinking about having it done with 70% material...I wat to cut the heat but not much of the light, and thats the clearest product I have found. It will cost $500, so I am doing some research to decide if its worth the extra cost. I would appreciate feedback from those who have ceramic tint. Does it make a large difference in the heat factor?

carsany

worth every penny imo. I have huper optik on both my 2007 a3 and S8 and now have Formula One Ceramic on my new S8. Huper seems to work better on heat rejection, but the F1 looks better. I even did the windshield with the huper. crystal clear. can't tell it's even there.

MP4.2+6.0

V Cool in front and then Suntek HP on rear sides and rear window.

Went to a guy who is known for HuperOptik and Audis, but agreed w/ him these were better choices. A combination of tint level, color of car vs. film, and flexibility of the substrate (rear window is the toughest with arcs in both dimensions).

My car is a brilliant black w/ amaretto interior. Thus a tint that is toward gray or very slight bronze makes more sense than one that is toward green. Depending on your car color, you may start to see some of the same. Different tints and brands will vary in their basic color/tint look. Bigger point than I thought until the guy showed me some real world examples.

Also found V Cool really cuts down the infrared. Using the "practical" test, the 70% front easily reduces the infrared feel on the skin as much or more than the more conventional 50% further back on the car. In fact, if I did it again, I might do VCool 70% throughout. By the way, the net look on my car is in bright sun it is hard to tell the front windows are done. Only near sunset or with more indirect light do you get a bit more reflectance that is a clue. Similarly, at 50% in the rear, it's nothing like blacked out a la limo look or most SUV's and minivans; hardly even looks graduated from front to rear actually; very subtle. Thus, close to stock, but richens up the overall appearance while doing its thing light wise.

Besides the points you mention, I actually focused on long term upholstery maintenance. Having owned Audis or passed them on to family members, by ten years the interior takes a sun beating and materials start to deteriorate. Slowing that down for a beautiful interior was definitely an objective.

I've posted before on this, but to really do it right in the rear is difficult w/out removing the rear upholstery, which is a lot of work. Notice the rear hat shelf is visible at the bottom of the glass and is flush to it. Similarly, the little rear triangle windows between the C and D posts are really hard to access, as you may know if you ever simply tried to clean them, let alone lay film down clean and flat, and with the edges beyond the visible part of the glass from outside.

Emauss

I have 30% all around and was stopped recently. The officer used a light better of some sort to actually test my windows. Although 30% is legal in NY there is about 15% from the factory...so the total result of my tinting was almost 50% reduction in light.
I have a friend who actually had to show proof of removal of the tinting!

awdinut

thanks for taking the time to type such an in-depth reply!

MP4.2+6.0

but since the common tint job is limo dark, including pretty dark even in the front (like 30% not uncomonly), or is simply a bad purple bubbly type job. My percentages by the way are light transmitted, not light blocked to be clear. A 70% hardly even rings the bell (any you can debate them on the 30% allowed exception though that is net of factory tint in reality, especially when you aren't using it to hide being on a cell phone or Blackberry--tinting seems to be a bit on the rise to hide that too.

CA is a no inspection, very low pull over state for vehicle equipment stuff, unleas they are looking for a reason anyway.

Emauss

In reality, I can debate them all I like, but the law is specific and I have an illegal tint. Whatever the starting frame of reference, the percent of light detected by a meter is the percent of light detected by a meter.
I was able to get out of it, but not by any legal maneuvering. It was a matter of "who you know, not what you know".

Sccpmusc26

Just a FYI, you CAN'T get pulled over because your windows are too dark... you can get pulled over for speeding, and then the cop can cite you for windows... but just because the cop had a suspicion that your windows were too dark, does not justify him pulling you over. This is coming from my BF, a K9 officer here in the state of SC.

Brozee

I got my tint done last year and didn't regret it. I didn't regret it because I got a good quality film. On my last car I just went to my local auto glass shop to get it done, and they installed a good looking film; but it scratched very easily with the rolling down of windows.

Let me start off with saying the details of the tint on my A8: $525 price, includes insurance to if I get pulled over I get a remove and replace of the tint no charge. The tint is the highest quality tint they offered and is carbon based to increase durability. Compared prices and other tint jobs with a few buddies cars including the ceramic ones and the carbon based ones and I have found no difference in look or heat pass through of the tint, so far same durability and scratch proof-ism across all friends cars.. I have not one single scratch on any of my windows. And to say how much I have my windows rolled down, well I have a girlfriend who hates A/C and always rolls down the windows and still no scratches. Car looks great with a deep black.

So far, had the tint for one year, limo on the back windows and 15% on the front windows. I don't know if the car has factory tint at all already in the windows? But so far no pull-overs etc. Usually the cops go for the kids in the grand am-s or similar kid cars. Now I know its true a cop is supposed to not pull you over for just tint but they sure as hell will. If you do the smallest thing and they want to pull you over they will. They will give another reason but then nail you on the tint. But obviously I'm not a teenage punk driving with my speakers blasting jigaboo music, but hey I enjoy my ears and those around me

Hope it helped!!

Emauss

That might be true in SC, but in NYC it is not the case. There is no other stipulation in the law. It can be the primary (and only) reason for the traffic stop.