When you want to save money doing some auto upgrades, it can be tempting to go for a DIY auto window tint project instead of taking your car to a professional. However, DIY tinting is not easy. It will take a lot of your time, and you are likely to run into problems. Poorly installed window tint looks bad and compromises your safety on the road. Trust us when we tell you that the price of a professional tint job is worth the result. It maintains your safety, keeps your car interior cool, and lasts for years.
Understanding Local Tinting Regulations
Many states, such as Georgia, have their own laws and regulations surrounding how dark your car window tint can be. The reason for this is safety. First, if your windows are tinted too dark, it can reduce your visibility while driving. You need to be able to see your side mirrors and make eye contact with pedestrians and other drivers. Additionally, law enforcement needs to be able to see inside a vehicle when making a traffic stop. Professional window tinting shops know these regulations and will darken your windows without causing you any legal trouble.
Installation Problems With DIY Window Tint Kits
Online videos and tutorials may make DIY tinting seem easy, but it isn’t. The film is sticky and hard to work with if you aren’t familiar with it. Plus, you need a dust-free indoor space to get the best result, and few people have that option at home. Here are some of the installation problems people run into:
Crinkling and Folding
Unless you’ve bought one of the most expensive DIY window tinting kits, you’ll find the thin film is prone to crinkling and creasing. If you’re installing your tint outdoors, a small breeze can create big problems.
Gaps and Uneven Lines
It takes professional skill to get the tint film to the very edges of your window. More likely, you’ll end up with gaps where the tint doesn’t reach all the way, or unevenness at the top and sides of your windows where you didn’t install the film straight.
Trapped Dust or Dirt
Car window tinting film is very sticky, so it adheres to your windows for the long haul. However, that stickiness means floating dust or debris can stick to the film as you’re applying it to your windows. Additionally, it can be hard to get your window perfectly clean of all dust and dirt. You’re left with debris trapped under the film that causes spots or bubbles.
No Room for Error
With DIY tinting kits, you have one shot at getting the film installed correctly. You can’t take your car back to the shop if a problem arises, meaning you have to peel it off and do it over yourself. That’s a lot of pressure for someone unfamiliar with the process. If you mess up, you have to peel it off and start with a new piece of film. Do this a few times, and you can rack up a cost similar to what you would’ve paid to have it done professionally.
Quality Problems With DIY Window Tint Kits
A major reason to go to the professionals for tinting is to get a high-quality job. A low-quality tint installation looks ugly and can compromise your safety while driving for these reasons:
Formation of Bubbles
The reason you should want a clean tint installation has to do with your safety. Perhaps having a couple of bubbles in your tinting doesn’t bother you, but those bubbles can inhibit your vision and distract you from what’s happening on the road. The problem is especially bad at night. A safe trip in your car is worth more than a cheap DIY tint installation.
Peeling Films
While it’s not unusual for an old tint job to start peeling years after it’s been installed, DIY tint jobs can start peeling days or weeks later. Professionals have all the right products to clean and prime your windows before installing auto tint. If you don’t prime your windows correctly, your tint might not last long at all.
Sticky Windows
If you’re removing an old tint before putting in a new one, that old tint will leave a sticky residue behind. Getting the residue off your windows is a big hassle if you don’t have the right products to remove it. Using typical household cleaners isn’t going to work, and in the attempt, you might create a cloudy residue on your windows that makes it hard to see through them.
Blurry, Hazy Views
After the tint has been installed, it’s normal for the tint to blur or haze a little as the film finishes drying. However, you can’t drive under those conditions, and it can take anywhere from a day to several weeks for the blurriness to fully dissipate. Professionals use heat lamps to fully dry the tint so you don’t drive away with your vision impeded.
No Warranties or Returns
At Universal Tint Pros, we provide a lifetime warranty on our auto window tint jobs. If something goes wrong with your tint, like peeling or bubbling, you can bring back your car, and we’ll fix the problem at no charge. The same cannot be said of kits you order off the internet. Once you’ve used the tint in those kits, even if it doesn’t work the way you wanted it to, you can’t just peel it off and send it back.
Affordable, Professional Window Tinting
Ultimately, unless you have experience tinting windows, you can save a lot of time and hassle by coming to Universal Tint Pros to have your windows tinted. DIY window tinting isn’t the great money-saving idea it sounds like because poor tinting can cause safety problems. Nobody will get into a fender bender if you don’t paint an accent wall in your living room perfectly, but you could compromise yourself and others on the road if you’re squinting through bad tinting. So save the DIY for a different project and give us a call at one of our three convenient locations (Pensacola, FL, PeachTree Corners, GA, and Birmingham, AL) for the best tinting for your car windows.