Tinting rear suburban barn doors with Defrost

[WJACKSON11X]

Wanting to tint the rear galss on my barn doors. It has the rear defrost, which I'll probably never use. How are you guys tinting the rear glass with the raised defrost elements in the way?

They are raised pretty high and seems like the tint would just bubble up around it. Kind of hard to expalin if you've never actually seen what I'm talking about. I'll try and get a picture this afternoon.

 

[4xcrazy]

The tint will stick to the glass just fine, obviously some lines are raised a bit more than others, Lexus cars are bad for this too.

Use a quality film that has an aggressive adhesive, I liked to use a brand called Suntek. Really sticky glue. It will not sit down flat for the first couple of days until the tint dries out, but after it has taken hold, you can go back with a hard card and "fine tune" the lines and smash the tint down a bit closer.

Todays modern higher quality films will have no problem sticking to the glass with those defroster lines. I would use a metalized or even better would be a carbon film. Not just darkening the windows but also rejecting heat much better than a standard dyed film.

The windows on these trucks, especially the rear ones are not exactly an easy lick ans stick application though. Precise cutting and trimming are required for a nice, no light leak placement, and that's difficult to do when it's glass into rubber seals. Most all newer vehicles have a black out edge on the glass now, much easier to cut the film and place it without light leaks.

Also because it's glass into rubber seals, it's also extremely difficult to get a perfectly clean install, ANY water left in the sides will transfer any dust and dirt that was missed during cleaning, right back under the film during application. Too much dust will affect the adhesion and just look like crap.

If you have never done this before and want a clean install, I would highly recommend finding someone that has done it for quite awhile and has experience with these types of windows.

I've been tinting vehicle, home and business windows since about 2005, mostly automotive though. Some cars are somewhat easy, others are a real pain in the bootay.

 

[WJACKSON11X]

The tint will stick to the glass just fine, obviously some lines are raised a bit more than others, Lexus cars are bad for this too.

Use a quality film that has an aggressive adhesive, I liked to use a brand called Suntek. Really sticky glue. It will not sit down flat for the first couple of days until the tint dries out, but after it has taken hold, you can go back with a hard card and "fine tune" the lines and smash the tint down a bit closer.

Todays modern higher quality films will have no problem sticking to the glass with those defroster lines. I would use a metalized or even better would be a carbon film. Not just darkening the windows but also rejecting heat much better than a standard dyed film.

The windows on these trucks, especially the rear ones are not exactly an easy lick ans stick application though. Precise cutting and trimming are required for a nice, no light leak placement, and that's difficult to do when it's glass into rubber seals. Most all newer vehicles have a black out edge on the glass now, much easier to cut the film and place it without light leaks.

Also because it's glass into rubber seals, it's also extremely difficult to get a perfectly clean install, ANY water left in the sides will transfer any dust and dirt that was missed during cleaning, right back under the film during application. Too much dust will affect the adhesion and just look like crap.

If you have never done this before and want a clean install, I would highly recommend finding someone that has done it for quite awhile and has experience with these types of windows.

I've been tinting vehicle, home and business windows since about 2005, mostly automotive though. Some cars are somewhat easy, others are a real pain in the bootay.

I have a guy that I have been using for many years and he does great work. I wasn't worried about the orange/brown lines that actually heat up, but the part on the sides where the wiring hooks up. IF you haven't ever seen it, its hard to explain.

 

[4xcrazy]

If I remember right, the orange color is just a coating put on from the factory. A certain area of that will get scraped and cleaned away so the film will stick to the metal better. At any rate, if you have an experienced person tinting it, he should know what to do to make it a clean looking and hassle free install.