DG NOVEMBER 09, 2019   FRAUD INVESTIGATOR MWI Tint Journal

So, you’re calling around for tint pricing, and start asking weather or not the film that the shop uses will cause interference with your vehicles navigation and radio signals and their answer could be,

“Our film will not interfere with wireless signals.”

and they may not be lying!   The reason being, many other shops carry ultra-low grade’s of film, which are nothing more than a dyed-plastic, ordered directly from China over the internet.

And, YES.. these films will NOT interfere with your vehicles wireless RF systems, but (being dyed plastic) they almost always fade and/or turn purple when it starts to break down from the sun’s UV rays.

Another hidden down-fall of buying cheap, Chinese, “budget tint” from tint shops who offer deep discounts, is the film’s optical clarity (or lack thereof).

When inferior film starts to break-down, it starts to get blurry, and eventually huge bubbles begin appear on the rear window where the film is exposed to the most, direct sunlight.

We’ve all seen vehicles that have a purple color hue to the tint.  This isn’t the normal color of the tint, this is caused by the sun bleaching out the yellow dye in the film first, and the lack of yellow dye results in a window film that appears purple, or blue.

Don’t be afraid to ask what grade of tint a shop is putting on your car.. you should even ask to see proof.  Ask to see the box that your film came from, and look at the label on the box carefully.  The label should match the grade of film they sold you over the phone, or at the shop when you check your  your vehicle in.

Another important factor about the film to consider, besides the brand-name, is the actual product-line within that brand.  Some shops will brag about carrying SunTek® brand films, when in reality, they only stock the most basic, lowest priced film that SunTek® manufactures.  Like all companies who make things, film manufacturers offer many different lines of films, which offer different features, and have very different price points.

Not only does SunTek® sell industry-leading, premium films like their Ceramic IR™ (CIR®) and Carbon XP™ (CXP®) series, they also make some very basic, low-cost films, like their Standard/Standard PRO line.  And while both are quality window films, made by a trusted manufacturer, they are often sold AS Carbon (or in some cases) Ceramic to their unsuspecting customers, who are not only trusting them to install the actual film that they think they’re buying, but they’re also trusting them with their vehicle, their personal belongings, and worst of all.. their identity, personal info, and in most cases, access to their car/house keys too!  

Some shops use a product which we in the industry affectionately refer to as “White Box”, which is often passed off as carbon film, when in reality, it’s nothing more than dyed plastic, which is manufactured in China and is basically worthless.  I wouldn’t even use that stuff to line my pantry shelves with!

There are other good films out there, and there are shops that do offer a good product and do not play games, so don’t be afraid to ask.

When looking for a shop, make sure they specialize in what they do, not a shop that does 25 different things because in most cases, shops like that are  hardly good at any of them.