I know he uses "Llumar" something. That is what the large box that he rolls the film out from says, plus the sticker he puts in the door jam says the same thing. The rear window will not have the stuff in it that causes problems with the radio antennas. The side windows will.
All I know is that whatever he uses, I've never had a problem with his products or service. Now that I think of it, I counted cars and of the last seven cars, this will be the fifth car I've had him do. (two at a slightly more expensive place).
Bob, I hope you don't think I am picking on you, but...
Llumar makes about 10 different tint films, that vary in price from inexpensive (simple dyed film) to moderate (metallic) to expensive (
ceramic).
With regard to a tint job, there two basic things to be concerned about:
1. The
quality of the installation is important. No one wants a tint job with obvious defects or problems. But some films are easier install than others. The simple dyed films are the easiest because they stretch around slightly curved glass without a problem. Metallic and especially
ceramic films are much harder to stretch, and therefore require more labor hours and higher skilled labor. Although the Genesis is not the most difficult install around, the rear glass does have a slight curve that makes it a little harder to install very high end films like Huper Optik
Ceramic which have almost no give to them.
2. The
type and quality of the film is very important to most people (but not everyone). If the desired effect is to simply provide privacy and reduce glare, then a moderately dark dyed film is fine and it is usually cheap. But if you want to reduce the amount of heat inside your car on a sunny day, a product that actually reflects solar energy is important (a dyed film merely absorbs the sun's energy on the film surface and does little to reflect the heat outside your car). To really keep your car cool in the sun, without making it overly dark, sophisticated films that have embedded metallic or
ceramic particles to reflect the solar energy are often used. These high tech products are expensive and sometimes very expensive.
To say that one "has never had a problem" with a tint job does not mean that it does a good job of reflecting solar energy. I assume it just means the tint did not fade, or peel, or develop other defects over time. These are important considerations, but there is no way a cheap dye film can come close to matching the reflection of solar energy that a good metallic or
ceramic film can provide, and these cost more than $120 for material and labor.
Ceramic films have the added advantage over metallic in that they do not interfere with electrontic signals (radio reception, GPS, Smart Keys, cell phones, etc).
So before we go around bragging about how little we paid for a tint job, let's make sure we are comparing apples to apples.
. My wife found a place that will do llumar tint for $150. They did her dads Acura RL and did a great job on it.
