If you’re considering getting some window tinting, whether it be for your home, car or office, then there are a series of points you should be aware of to ensure you make the right choice for your particular environment and situation.
The number one and undoubtedly the most important thing you need to understand about window film is the difference between good window film and poor film. Here’s why: Good quality window film will last for the lifetime of your windows but bad quality window film will barely last a few years, depending on the rigours of your environment.
DISCRIMINATING BETWEEN GOOD AND BAD
So how do you discriminate between premium quality and poor quality film if you arent a professional? The simple answer is price and guarantee. When talking to a supplier, find out how long the film is guaranteed for. If it’s not at least 12 years save yourself the pain. And also beware of the shady operator who offers you a guarantee on cheap film and hikes the price, to make it seem like it’s good film, but will either not be around, or simply do nothing if you get back to them because your tint has degraded.
Here’s the tip, (and by the way I’ve found this to be true with most things in life), if your only motivation in getting quotes is looking for the lowest possible price, then you will naturally find yourself with the poor product and the real price you pay will be in around 3 years when your windows start to blister, fade and/or peel and look ghastly. Be warned, the cheapest price is usually just crap!
BENEFITS OF INSTALLING TINTING
There are a range of benefits you can get from window tinting, and each particular film you use will bring together some of these advantages, so the first thing you need to identify is the most important reason for applying window tint in your situation. Lets look at each advantage in a little more detail so you can more fully the most applicable solution for your environment.
The main benefits of good quality window tinting are:
Heat Rejection: Premium window film rejects heat by blocking up to 73% of Total Solar Energy through windows. That’s cool!
UV Rejection: Good quality window film eradicates up to 99% of IR radiation from coming through windows. And as a bonus, it also blocks 93% of glare, which massively improves for your view and means things look really cool!
Privacy: The right film will also provide daytime privacy, allowing everyone inside to remain cool, enjoy the views, and at the same time have total privacy from onlookers in daylight.
Impact Safety and Security Films: These specialist films stop glass from breaking on impact. Safety films are designed to withstand the force of human impact, while security films can withstand an explosion without shattering. Since the collateral damage from accidents where windows are broken comes from shards of glass spraying like shrapnel, or large sections of glass falling like a guillotine, the major risks around safety are mitigated. It also stops your windows from becoming a soft and easy entry point for thieves, because both the impact and noise required to gain entry is so noticeable burglars would rather just move on in search of an easier, ‘softer’ victim.
Lastly there’s the matter of style: Good quality window film also makes windows look cool; and for many people it’s the aesthetic charm that tinted windows provide that is the primary driver for installing them.
ISSUES RELATED TO CARS & VEHICLES
The next point I want to discuss is relevant to vehicles and it concerns installing the darkest legal tint on your car, truck or work vehicle. Depending on where you live, the darkest legal tint legally allowed on a vehicle is one with a VLT (visible light transmission) level of 35%, on all vehicle windows (excluding the front windscreen, which cannot have any window tint with the exception of the visor strip across the top). The northern Territory and Western Australia are the only exceptions. In the NT you are legally permitted a minimum VLT of 16% for windows behind the driver; and in WA you are allowed 20% VLT on windows behind the driver. So here’s the critical point. Most vehicles already have a slight tint in the glass in the front windows, so this needs to be taken into consideration when adding tint to a window. Here’s how the maths looks. If your windows already block 30% of light, when a film with the “darkest legal tint” of 35% is added to this window, it will emit only 35% of light into a window that is already only emitting 70% of light, so the end VLT will be impacted by the combination of both VLT ratings.
This is really important because if a driver accidentally fails to comply with tinting regulations, the result can be a fine. But worse still, if a vehicle is involved in an accident and its illegally dark windows are considered by the court to be a contributing factor, this could mean the nulling of your insurance policy, leaving you exposed to the full financial implications of the accident. Furthermore criminal charge could apply if property is damaged or people are injured.
The final thing to consider is that by modifying a vehicle with darker than legal windows, the vehicle is deemed unroadworthy, which means the driver can’t drive the car again until it has been put through the pits, in which case the illegal tint will have to be removed. That’s why the combined VLT of both the glass and film really should be considered when you’re selecting the appropriate tint for your car.
So what’s the moral of this story? When it comes to window tinting, make sure you use a good quality product and that your installer has the expertise to be able to offer you the best solution for your circumstances. That way you’ll end up with a range of benefits, rather than a series of problems. And if you are looking for residential window tinters in Perth, get a quote from Precision Window Tinting.
