Southern California Tint

[gregthegr8]

Hey guys. I'm wondering if anybody knows a good place to get a quality tint job and also if there would be any possibility of getting any kind of group discount if a bunch of us go to the same place to get our 1ers tinted there. Mine doesn't come for a few more weeks, but that will be one of the first things I do and don't know any good places around here. Any insight/help would be greatly appreciated. Now if only the Maersk Wave moved as quickly as the cars inside it!

[gargoyal]

Mike's tint shop in northern OC (city of orange).

One on the best and they have good prices. They have been around for a long time so the warrenty is worth the extra. They do dealer work too, so I'm guessing you could set up a group buy.

[morscode]

not sure where you're at, but Solar Eclipse has always done a great job for me. It's in the valley on De Soto and Vanowen.

[gregthegr8]

Thanks everyone. I'm in West LA but considering I have no experience with tint places in LA, I'd be willing to drive a little further to go somewhere that someone highly recommends. Anyone know how much it'd cost to do the tint on the 1's?

[mrgoochio]

I wouldn't pay more than $200 for tint..

[morscode]

I've tinted my 3 previous cars
92 Mistu Eclipse $110
02 Nissan Maxima $130
05 BMW Z4 $95

They'll give you a price, and you can talk em down a bit.

[rrobello]

I cant believe how cheap it is to get tint in LA, I realize there is a lot of competition but the stuff costs a lot, my distributor just upped the prices again.

[DRosS]

I heard that illegal tint is now a moving violation...anybody know anything about that?

[gargoyal]

Originally Posted by Blowndaily

I heard that illegal tint is now a moving violation...anybody know anything about that?

It's no longer a fix it ticket (fix it and you don't pay or pay a low fine like $20), but you don't get points like a moving violation. The change was done to collect more money IMHO. I got one last year and had to pay about $200, but didn't have to remove the tint.

[DRosS]

Well I guess it saves you the hassle of removing the tint and paying to get it back on...thats almost a better deal - except I would rather give money to the hard working tint guy then to the court.

[aus]

I thought you could still remove it and not pay, or not remove it and pay. You just have to go to court now instead of just showing any police officier who's willing to sign it off.

[gargoyal]

Originally Posted by aus

I thought you could still remove it and not pay, or not remove it and pay. You just have to go to court now instead of just showing any police officier who's willing to sign it off.

You pay less if you go to court. It was not a freebie. I think it was about $100. you still had to get it removed, get a cop to sign it off and then go to court. I will try to find the ticket and I'll post the bail and other info. I could be off it was a year ago.

[Bosco412]

We got our tint done at Sunshield out in Sherman Oaks. They do tints for some BMW Dealerships, etc. They did a great job on ours and give a lifetime warranty against peeling, cracking and bubbling.

[xbook]

+1 more for sunshield.

Had our 2 MINIs done there, planning to go back for the 135.

[one-35]

For those of you who have tinted:

Do you have ANY small bubbles or tiny particles trapped anywhere. I was told there is usually 1-3% imperfections meaning a couple small bubbles or dust particles may get caught during the tint installation.

I had a very expensive Huper Optik tint installed, and after several redo's... there remains 1 small particle/bubble trapped in the rear window. I left it since it's not noticeable at all while driving.

I just wanted to know if other people's tints are PERFECT. And I mean PERFECT... I'm kind of OCD.

[akak1997]

I think our rear window is a bitch to tint, it's very hard to get to coz of the steep angle. Mine has a piece of lint in it that shape like a S and a small crease on the bottom passenger side. I might gonna have it redo coz I can't see clearly thru my rear window at night. It seems cloudy and light seems to be scattered all over the place.

The other windows "Dot Matrix" is also pretty bad. I can see film detached spots on all the windows.

Paid $110 for the 35% all around, Johnson Film. Not a happy camper here. Hope they could fix it.

[MObimmer]

I used Dwayne Wycoff, 818-266-9546. I met him at the Beemer dealer in bev hills, he comes to your house or office, he did a great job, all five windows on my convert, for $200. 5 year warranty, he's been doing windows for 20 years..I'll post photos soon...MO

[akak1997]

I just came back from the tint shop ProMax in Alhambra. They said it is because of the BMW glass was laminated and the radiator lines are thicker than other cars, so the film will scatter light. So, anyone who're researching for tint, stay away from Johnson Film, unless you want the scattered light look, which I doubt anyone would. I also notice it is particularly bad when a car with HID behind me, the whole window appears blue, it's almost like a halo on the entire glass. Gonna get it retinted with something better when I get back from vacation.

[bimmerbum]

just received a tint ticket about 2 months ago.....it was a fix it ticket in the OC

[lamini]

how do you guys like driving at night or in rain with tinted windows?

[bimmerbum]

hey I live right off crown valley and marguerite....thats just down the street from me

[Feyd]

i got mine done at Al and Ed's on the corner of La Cienega and Santa Monica in West Hollywood. I figured they'd do a decent job since a 135 is on the low end of what is usually getting working on in there.

Today there was an LP640/Smart Car/SL 65 AMG all in various stages of dismantled...

They did an amazing job on my car. A bit pricy though, but worth it I think. They also had the ceramic tint as an option. Just couldn't pull the trigger though.. partly because of the price $599, but mostly because they only had it in 20% and 40%. Too dark and too light for my tastes....

I ended up doing 35% all around and I think it look perfect.