Tinting woes

[dennn]

A few days ago I brought my car to a shop for tinting. This shop is quite popular locally and I've read many positive reviews about this place. I have never seen the works of this shop; the reviews I read are all purely from the internet.



Here's the deal:



I brought my car to the shop, which is owned and run by a few Asian University students. By the time my car is finished, I was not asked to inspect the car prior to pick up. Instead, I was asked to pay immediately. When I got back to my car I couldn't find any problem with it, so that was a relief.



There are a couple of bubbles that remained, and they SEEM to be disappearing. According to the young Asian shop keeper, the bubbles will disappear on their own.



Today I noticed that there's a crack or scratch on the tinting films on one of the windows. It is not a bubble and will not go away with time.

While I was at it, I noticed some marring on the rear quarter panel and the trunk lid that were caused during the tinting job:

So yeah, there's nothing I could do about the marring, but to polish it out myself with a rotary. But about the few bubbles that have yet disappear and the scratch on the tining film, I will have to ask them to fix it.



Also, this time I will demand that I attend the location where the tinting job takes place.





The sad part is that I actually know of a few other individuals (mobile and home-based) that do quality tint installations. I have seen the installations and the works performed by these individuals, and they are all top notch. They charge a little more money than the shop aforementioned above. I went to a reputable shop thinking that they would do a top notch job, but I was wrong. Turns out that the home-based and mobile tint guys are actually more reliable. Oh well.

 

[coryl]

Don't bring it back to them for a fix unless you stay the entire time. Likely they don't even have insurance so if they were to smash your car good luck in getting that fixed! Never leave your car with someone you don't know is credible, because that's one sure way to have your car destroyed, and your insurance rates go to the moon. Check companies out in the BBB. There are so many of these rip-off companies out there, that we have to check them out beforehand. Good luck!

 

[coryl]

I forgot to add...make sure it's you that's driving your car and not them, for reasons explained.

 

[dennn]

Yeah, my plan will be to attend the entire installation process when I bring it back for warranty repairs.



The place is actually BBB certified and is insured. It is also a local BMW store authorized tint installer. It also installs tints for homes and offices. I thought all these would make my experience pleasant, but I was wrong.



I am extremely disappointed with the scratches and marrings caused by them. Next time I will tape newspaper to my trunk and rear quarter. I am extremely pissed.



The moral of the story is this: sometimes it is better to hire a home-based or mobile guy and oversee the entire process instead of letting someone leave with your car out of sight.

 

[POPPAJ]

Let's see, you know people that do TOP NOTCH work, but you take your baby to a stranger and then never inspect it before you pay. Shame on you, I hope that your baby forgives you.



PS. The BBB works for the Company not the Consumer!

 

[Dan]

Let's see, you know people that do TOP NOTCH work, but you take your baby to a stranger and then never inspect it before you pay. Shame on you, I hope that your baby forgives you.



PS. The BBB works for the Company not the Consumer!

Yup, that's what I was thinking. Yeah, it sucks your car was messed up, but if you know someone that does good work, stick with them. In just about any line of business, there are 9 crackpots, and one decent guy, if you find the decent guy, stick with him.

 

[topnotchtouch]

I had an issue with a tint job that was done at my local Ford dealer back in 1999 I guess it was. I had a 1998 Ford Contour at the time. When I picked up the car it looked great, the tint job was flawless but the driver side door panel had a gash in it that could have only come from the tint job.



Fortunately it was done at the dealership, took the car back and complained to the dealer and they compelled the third party tint shop to replace the $400 door panel.

 

[dennn]

Yup, that's what I was thinking. Yeah, it sucks your car was messed up, but if you know someone that does good work, stick with them. In just about any line of business, there are 9 crackpots, and one decent guy, if you find the decent guy, stick with him.

Yup, you guys are right, I should have hired one of the guys that I trust, instead of hiring a shop that I've never visited before.



One of the reliable guys I know of is on vacation, and the other one was unreachable at the time, so I went to the shop that had the best reviews on the net. Turns out that the job wasn't done so well.



Because this shop offers a lifetime warranty, it will redo the problematic window(s) for me. I have an appointment tomorrow at 9am, so let's hope things go well from there. I requested that I will enter the shop with them and oversee the tinting process.



I will also show them the scratches they instilled on the trunk, and tape towels over the trunk of my car before I let them commence work on it. I have also laid bed sheets on the back seats and placed paper floor mats on the floor. Goddamnit, I cannot believe they freaking scratched my trunk during the tinting process. That's ridiculous.





And wow, rjstaaf that sounds outrageous. At least an interior door panel is easily replaceable!





I wish I could go buff out those scratches, but I have to show the scratches to the shop, as to demonstrate my disappointment to them.

 

[dennn]

Okay guys, the shop fixed the bubble this morning.



I am now in the process of buffing out those scratches and marring from the trunk lid and rear quarter (no jewelling, just to remove the eye sores for now) using M105/M205 and a rotary.



I haven't touched my buffing tools for over 2 months now! Feels so good to hold the buffer again!.

 

[Dan]

Cool, glad you got it all fixed. Were they gracious about their mistake?

 

[dennn]

Thanks! Yeah they are actually very flexible and easy to work with when it comes to fixing bubbles. They offer a lifetime warranty on their installation and tint films. They also offered to buff out the scratches for me, but I told them that I could do it myself.



Anyway here are some pictures:



After M105 + PFW @ 1300rpm Makita + IPA Wipedown:

You can see the haziness caused by M105 and wool. It's not extremely bad, but it's still there.





After M205 + White Polishing Pad @ Speed 5 DAXP + IPA Wipedown:

Looks pretty good, for now, but nowhere near the gloss and reflectivity of finishing pad + PO85RD.

It's not a perfect job; no jewelling was performed. I just wanted to get rid of the eye sores without spending too much time on it.



Sadly, even with the hard paint, M205 + LC White Polishing Pad do not come out as smoothly as I wanted. I am too used to looking at the car after it was jewelled with PO85RD. M205 + Polishing Pad is nowhere near LSP for me.



I will do a complete polish and jewelling this spring.