DustinS

Does anyone have a tint shop recommendation in the Northern Virginia or DC area?

I'm looking to get ceramic tint and the dealer mentioned California Tint in Tysons. The only ceramic tint they have is Johnson Ceramic 40% in cyan. I was hoping to get something a little darker, and not sure if I want to get cyan color.

(I know it's a very specific request, but thought maybe there's someone in the area that might have a good recommendation)

Dustin

LeadToRome

well it's not NoVa but it's not the other side of the world...I'm going tomorrow to Performance Window Tinting and Detailing in Columbia, MD (right off 95) to get a ceramic Huper Optik tint applied. It's a high-end product, it might be the best available, it's in the ballpark anyway. I found Performance by searching the forums here andon AZ, they got more raves than anybody else I saw in the metro area. I'll post up here and let you know how it goes.

foodplz

I had mine done at performance window tint and got the huper optik. be aware that they only use the single layer huper and not the nicer dual layer version.

Also, make sure that when they put on the side windows they don't shoot it with heat. when they get lazy and shrink down the bubbles with heat, it causes it to make these optical defects. Happened to me. And when i told them about it, they said it was ghosting and its normal. except its not ghosting and they are just being bastards. refused to fix it.

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in other news, i like LA tints thats in alexandria. they do a really good job. they use pinnacle f1 and if you ask for a discount they usually give you like 30-40 bucks off.

my brother got his 335xi done there. did a great job.

LeadToRome

Damn, now I'm worried, I thought I had this scoped out. Should I bag it tomorrow and go to LA tints?

foodplz

I mean I can only tell you from my own experience. my driverside turned out okay. but my passengerside has these little rainbow colored "squigglies". And these happen when they push the tint down the bottom and don't spend the time to lay it down flat using the squeegee... but instead shrink the wrinkles with a heat gun. and when it shrinks... the optics of the tint changes and it ends up looking like little rainbows under the sun.

As far as i can tell, my brother and his 335 doesn't have this problem from the pinnacle. My brother got the 35% pinnacle and i think it looks pretty good.

The squiggles bothered me a lot in the beginning... but after a while, i got used to it being there. I do like the way the huper looks. its got a little more reflection in the tint. so the 45% looks pretty dark without it actually being so.

LeadToRome

Thanks man, I just spent thet last half-hour doing some more research. It seems that both products (HO and Pinnacle F1) have strong and weak points, like anything really I guess.

I'm gonna stick with the plan and stand right there to make sure they don't break out the heat gun, wish me luck!

UmIsThisThingOn

I'm probably going with Sun-Pro in Manssas/Winchester ($440).
I know a guy who had his B6 S4 done and had good things to say about Dave there.
http://www.sunprotinting.com/price.html

TNT also does Huper Optik, but it was a little too pricey for me ($600).
http://www.tnttint.net

DustinS

Thanks for the replies.. LeadToRome, let me know how it goes. I'll check out their site and reviews online.

UmIsThisThingOn, are you going to get your tinted soon? I'm in the same boat, I haven't read any positive reviews of TNT.

I might end up going to Skyline Tint in Springfield.. but I need to do a little more research on them. They use LLumar.. is there a big difference between LLumar and HuperOptik?

But if LeadtoRome has a good experience, I wouldn't mind driving to MD.

Brooklyn

I used Winner's Tint in Rockville on my B6 S4, and just had them do my B8 on Monday. They carry Llumar products I believe, and I got the ceramic version in 35% installed for $245. Only time I saw a heat gun used was on the outside glass. They used the squeegie thing the lay it down on the inside and they were cognizant of the potential problems if they used too much water on the rear window. I can't comment on the final outcome yet as I won't be able to clear the car and windows until this weekend at the earliest, but based on the results with my B6 and what I'm seeing so far, I'm not anticipating any problems. I've used LA Tint before and found them overpriced. They tinted my B6 A4 and after using Winner's to do my subsequent B6 S4, noticed no difference in the quality of the tint or the overall installation.

LeadToRome

Literally just got back from Performance with the tint. I'm no expert but it looks awesome to me, there's no optical prolems that I noticed. So from here I give Performance Tinting and HuperOptik a big thumbs up. Went with 45%, btw. They do detailing too, so I had them wash and wax the car, that also looks great, it's a sharp-looking machine right now.