Accord Euro tinting woes

[yfin]

Have people with tinted Euros had any problems?

I had mine tinted recently and each window that can be opened has vertical scratches on it. I took it back to the tint shop and they had look at it.

They said that there is no felt on the inner side of the door (there is on the outer glass). They said Honda are cheap bastards for doing this. When dirt gets on the inside of the glass it sticks to the rubber and scratches the tint when the windows are opened.

Apparently there are two solutions to this - first Honda may have a felt insert that can be put on the inner windows of the Euro (does anyone know the answer to this?). Second - cut the inner rubber so it does not touch the glass.

The second option apparently is not advisable as it is possible the windows may "whistle" when driving at freeway speeds.

What should I do? I would prefer not to stick with scratched windows....
:cry: Any advice greatly appreciated as this is very frustrating!

[bigteethygrin]

I'd double check the felt story.. second if its true i'd get a second opinion from other tint ppl as the tint you got may be cheap dodgey stuff... third check with honda if they will do a tint for you.

[yfin]

They are right about the felt as they showed me - there is none on the inside of the glass.

The tint is a fully metallised tint from Tint Professor. They claim to do a lot of dealership cars from BMW, Alfa, Subaru, etc, etc in their area. www.tintprofessor.com.au

I don't think they are dodgy.. There are testimonials on their website from dealers.

[euro77]

My euro was tinted from the dealership, didn't have any scratches so far.

[bigteethygrin]

i dont know about tint ppl.. but I've seen companies that do nothing but cheap out and make excuses for the rest of the year on the job.. I'd get ya money back and go elsewhere.. maybe follow euro 77's example and go get a dealership job done hey.

[neilmacdonald]

sounds like crap to me, why would honda not put felt in the inner when pretty much every modern car does; there are so many tint places and so many variances in tint quality.

I got quotes anywhere from $199 to $700 for tinting. Aftrer doing some reaserch (3M, Cancer Council and elesewhere) I ended up going to Motor One (formerly Ming) to get their SPF50 tint (30% is the maxium allowable in QLD).

Having had a number of cars I have used the following tints
- Land Rover: Ming - very good
- Jeep: TVP - absolute crap
- Pajero: Solar Tint - again total crap, did not keep the vehicle cool at all.
- Honda: Motor One (Ming) - best yest

Check with the dealer, but keep in mind that the dealer will be charging comission on the tint most likely. A lot of dealers try to sell paint protection, fabric protection etc as well as tint. It costs them next to nothing and they sell it to unsuspecting buyers at enourmous mark up.

You would be best to go direct to the tinters (IMHO).

[euro77]

Yes, I totally agree that the dealer will charge a fortune for tint. but at least if something wrong happen with the tint (because of the car factor, not the tint itself), you are 100% protected. Mine was tinted for $249 I think.

[Slugoid]

Yep, my Euro is also tinted from the dealer, and there's no problems whatsoever.

[yfin]

The Honda dealers don't tint the cars themselves. They send them to a local tint shop like Tint-a-car, Tint professor, etc.

Neil - there is no felt on the inner window. Wind down your rear window and take a look! There is only felt on the outer side of the window.

When I say "scratches" they are not deep. They are fine lines on the inner side of the window. You need to look carefully from the inside and in full sun - they are not visible from the outside.

I will ring Tint-a car today and see whether they have seen this problem before.

[yfin]

Spoke to Tint A Car - they tint all the Honda cars at the dealership I purchased my Euro.

When they first tinted Euros every single one of them was coming back with scratches..... They said the same thing Tint Professor said - there is no felt on the inner side of the window. Honda - what the hell are you doing??!

The solution they came up with? They bend the top of the door metal of the door over. This stops the dirt getting trapped between the inner rubber and the window..

Hmmm. I am not too keen on any solution that involves "bending" a door or cutting rubbers. There doesn't, however, look like there is anything else I can do.

Honda has definately tried to cut cost of building the Euro here... Pity.

[hot_honda911]

No problems with Tint Professor. Very professional organisation. I had my girls civic done there about 3 weeks ago. She got a courtesy car and they picked up and delivered the car after tint done. Can definitely recommend them actually. Had tints on other cars over years done by other companies and these guys in my experience have done the best job out of all of them.

Very interesting topic though as I was going to get my euro tinted also. Will check this out. Thanks for the info.

[yfin]

Tint Professor are "ok". They tried to push the scratching of the tint back to me though - despite the life time warranty spiel. They eventually installed felt which has fixed the problem --- it took a bit of arguing to get them to do it though. I found they do not have the best service when responding to issues.

My advice is don't even think about tinting a euro unless you are 100% sure they will install felt on the inside of the window. If they say the car doesn't need the felt - go somewhere else.