Ok engineers... Question (tint, UV)

[ex300SRT8]

Originally Posted by rawlus®

i spent the extra money on professionally-installed nano-ceramic tint made by Huper Optik. the ceramic seems to block significantly and noticeably more radiant heat than plain metalized film or tinted plastic.

the added bonus is that the ceramic tint is extremely high-quality and OEM-looking in appearance. there is no metallic, shiny or reflective quality that is an indicator of aftermarket. optical clarity is superior to just about any other material i have seen as well. there is no dye or metallic material to degrade over time, it's warrantied for 10 years IIRC.

the laws here in MA permit no less than 35% light transmission - the specific material i went with was X3 Ceramic 40

• visible light transmission - 42 (this is because the OEM glass already has about a 7% tint, so 42% gets me to 35% combined and allowed by law)
• visible light reflectance - 9% (this is the low "mirror" effect)
• total solar transmission - 29%
• infrared rejection - 80%
• UVa/b/c rejection - 99%
• solar energy rejection - 55%

many of the installers have a display with a bulb in a cube and with th etint applied on one side of the cube but not the other - or different levels of ceramic tint applied to each side, you can actually feel the heat reduction y touching the different sides.

it is plenty dark enough for me - nighttime driving is not compromised, and heat absorption is significantly reduced - which was my primary motivation for tint in the first place.

to answer the original question more directly, glass (and most other transparent materials) blocks (or more appropriately, absorbs) the shorter wavelength UV-b and UV-C wavelengths, those that would cause a sunburn for instance, but it transmits the longer UV-A radiation. SUnburn and skin cancer are commonly associated with UV-B, but some tanning and sunburn is still possible with UV-A depending upon the conditions.

Tanning lamps typically produce most of their energy in the UV-A range and do not produce sunburn except for fairly long exposure times.

but most auto glass is safety glass of some sort, laminated with plastic or other materials so even if a small amount of UV-B were to be transmitted through the glass, it would be absorbed by the laminate materials.

Great post, thanks! After a long, hot summer and a black on black car that is parked outside at work, I'm giving this serious thought. Thanks again for such great information!

[jediknight36]

Texas Window Tint Law
Texas Tint Law Enacted: 2003
HOW DARK CAN WINDOW TINT BE IN TEXAS?

Darkness of tint is measured by Visible Light Transmission percentage (VLT%). In Texas, this percentage refers to percentage of visible light allowed in through the combination of film and the window.
Windshield Non-reflective tint is allowed along the top of the windshield above the manufacturer's AS-1 line.
Front Side Windows Must allow more than 25% of light in.
Back Side Windows Must allow more than 25% of light in.
Rear Window Any darkness can be used.

HOW REFLECTIVE CAN THE TINT BE IN TEXAS?

Similar to sunglass lenses, some tinting film contain metallic elements that help in reflecting incoming light and reducing the glare and heat generated by visible light.
Front Side Windows Must not be more than 25% reflective.
Back Side Windows Must not be more than 25% reflective.

OTHER TEXAS RULES AND REGULATIONS
Restricted Colors The tint color(s) of RED BLUE AMBER are not legal by state law.
Side Mirrors Dual side mirrors are required if back window is tinted.
Certificate Requirements Manufacturers of film need to certify the film they sell in the state. Ask your dealer if they are using ceritified film.
Sticker Requirements The sticker to identify legal tinting is required between the film & glass on the driver’s side window.
Medical Exemption State allows medical exemptions for special tint. For more details about the specific terms of the exemption, consult your state law.

[jediknight36]

Thanks for adding the (tint, UV) to the title MODs!

[rawlus®]

Originally Posted by jediknight36

OK! There is at lest one place in DFW that will do the hubrik optik tint nd its Pro-Tint!

yes. huper optik is not avail direct to consumers, generally only through very good pro installers. the installer i used here also does the state police cruisers and they do large commercial buildings and such as well.

took about an hour to do the smart - the tint was first pre-cut on a computerized plotter-cutter CAD system so there are no hand-cut trim lines, it's an exact fit size-wise for each window - then they soap up the exterior of all windows, and heat-shrink each piece of ceramic tint to exactly fit the curvature of the glass without wrinkles or overlaps - from what they told me and what i observed, the little bubble window behind the main window on the smart's doors present a challenge for two reasons, one because it is slightly parabolic, requiring careful molding in two axis to get it just right and two because the rubber around the window is completely flush, there is no fudge-factor for fitting it.

once each piece has been heat-molded to the exact curvature of the 5 windows, they are carefully transferred to the inside of the glass, fit carefully and squeegeed out for perfect OEM-looking fit.

initial curing was about 48 hours that i did not roll down the windows or do anything that might alter their placement - after that all was good. full curing takes a few weeks as the ceramic film is significantly thicker than most others and as such, takes much more time to fully dry. they recommend parking it in full sun - the more sun and heat it gets initially, the quicker it will cure. they said it may bubble a bit during curing but that it would go away once fully cured - i never got any bubbles regardless.

their install was also guaranteed so if anything went wrong, they would re-do it at their expense. great quality shop to work with. for those in the MA/New England area, the installer was tint-king.com/

i paid about $325 for the ceramic (4 side windows and a one-piece rear window)

while i was there they also did an escalade, 2 porsches and a ferrari.

they had the pattern to do the roof window as well, but i opted to leave that as-is.

[jediknight36]

Originally Posted by rawlus®

they had the pattern to do the roof window as well, but i opted to leave that as-is.

Why not the top?

[jwight]

Fred posted earlier that he's tried the tint on the Lexan roof panel and apparently there was too much expansion/contraction for the tint to stay flat. Or something like along those lines.

My tint installer did not want to tine my clear roof...even called 3M and they both decided it a bad Idea...

During the install of 35% on the glass I insisted they try....

High quality computer cut piece was installed..... each cool night it would wrinkle and lift...each morning I would squeegee it back flat... one week of that was enough and I peeled the film off.... it never did set to the polycarbonate...and fortunately NO adhesive residue needed cleaning off the poly roof......

Bottom line is I know first hand that film type tints are a waste of time on the Poly roof...

Most of us are using a mechanical solution.... solid opaque silvered mylar film slid on top of the closed sun shade...down side of this method is crinkling noise from wind with windows down

some members got the thin foam core poster board and cut to fit and glued silver reflective film on top.... caution with this method... the sun shade is a delicate device and you can hose it up badly if the foam core board tries to get rolled up in the roller

[rawlus®]

because for me, the roof is already tinted dark enough and i didn't need it darker - in new england it never really gets that hot and so the sunshade is open 99% of the time to allow light in and to be able to experience the open-ness feeling of seeing the blue sky and clouds.

i had also read that applying tint to the inside of horizontal surfaces poses specific challenges in adhesion, and because the roof is polycarb and not glass, the gas-off of plastics may cause issues under certain conditions. best to talk with a pro installer about it first, address any concerns and bring up these points if your intention is to do the roof as well - if they feel they have the material that will work in that application and they will guarantee the install against delamination and/or bubbles or whatever, then go for it if it's something you think will be good for you comfort-wise and aesthetically.

most of the above wasn't really a concern for me because i didn't want to tint the roof period. if i did, i would review the above points carefully with the installer and make sure both he and i were confident it would provide satisfactory results for the long-term.