Window tint? Best brand?

[44magnum]

Ok so I have decided I need a good window tint on my truck, I grey up in Iowa and never needed it before but damn, Texas is hot and sunny. My main goal it inside temp reduction. I would like to match the rear or be a bit lighter. I haven't done much research yet and I just wanted to know if any of you had any experience with window tint. What brand? DIY or professionally installed? I assume the stuff you get at autozone/advance is crap. I have heard good things about 3M's stuff. And I would like to get enough to do the front windows on my f250, my fathers dodge ram and an RX8. Is it best to do it myself or should I take it somewhere? I'm guessing it would considerably cheaper to do it myself? If you have something different than "normal" tinting please post up a pic. Also what tint on the rear windows? Any input would be great. Thanks in advance.

[Alberta Advantage]

I'm looking at doing the same thing. Getting my front windows tinted to match the factory tint on my back windows and rear windows. I was quoted $200 Canadian, installed for the "premium" tint which includes a lifetime warranty on any bubbling, discoloration, defects, etc. They use 3M film. 3M does not sell the tint directly to consumers in Canada so therefore, installing it myself isn't an option. Then again, I probably wouldn't install it myself. I've seen cars around here with super crappy tint jobs and don't want mine to look like that. I'm assuming with three cars, if you go to the same shop and do them consecutively, one after the other, they'll cut you a deal and work something out.

[wwillmon]

Surprisingly my dad has tinted windows professionally for the past 25 years. He uses Solar Gard and has since hes started, he has tried sun-x and a few other brands but always goes back to solar gard. In Texas you can only have the front two doors to read 35% on the tint meter that police use. Dont know if you want to follow that rule or not but just letting you know. But as for the back 3 windows you can go as dark as you want. I had 5% over the factory privacy glass and it was really dark, very nice during the day but couldnt hardly see out of it at night.

[Fantom]

Any idea what % the rear windows are? Was thinking about getting the fronts done the same as the rear on my truck too.

[nine6stroker]

I have 3M on my truck, and it has a lifetime warranty against bubbling or fading. I know I have an OBS... but tint is tint haha. I would go with 3M any day of the week.

[ROCKETW19]

not sure on brands but I just had my moms windows tinted for her and they had a tint with ceramic in it that just killed the heat. it was in front of a heat lamp and you could not feel the heat at all compared to the regular tint.

I would also pay the 200-300 bucks to have a shop do it. you will prob get a warranty and perfect fit. I am gonna do the ceramic tint very soon as i hate the heat

[44magnum]

Yes I want to stay legal, that wont be a problem as I don't want real dark, I would like to be able to see out at night. I haven't heard about the ceramic one, does that mess with cell signal like the metallic ones can?

[Clayton1985]

Llumar is pretty popular brand.

[Alberta Advantage]

Ceramic tint is non-metallic so there's no signal interference. I don't know too much about it but it seems like the ceramic film is more durable/longer lasting than traditional films. However, if you're getting a premium film, I don't think this makes a huge difference. If it's only a couple of bucks extra, I'd get it but if it's significantly more than a premium film, I don't think it's worth it as most premium films come with the lifetime warranty/guarantee of no discoloration, air bubbles, peeling, or cracking. Hard to justify a significant increase in cost, if there is one.

[Fantom]

From around online I've found that the ceramic tint is nearly double the cost. And considering a shop would charge $200-$300 for a premium tint, $400-$500 is a lot more than I'd be willing to spend for tint. I didn't even spend that for my alarm!