M35/M45 Window Tinting Question

Post by **Sam K** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 6:29 am

If I get my windows tinted, will I have any problems with the tint causing interference with the GPS receiver of the navigation system? In case some of you are wondering why I'm asking, most window tints have metals in the film to make it more durable. Some Lexus GS owners had problems with window tint causing interference because the GPS receiver is inside the car. I just came from a 2002 Lexus GS300 and when I got it tinted, I had to specifically ask the window tint installer for non-metallic tint to prevent this problem.

In case anyone is curious, here's a thread from ClubLexus.com on metallic tint affecting navigation.

http://www.clublexus.com/forum...84705

Post by **AZhitman** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 6:38 am

Metalllized tints are cheap and not worthy of use on a real car like the M.

I'd only be loking at ONE product to put on a new M45, and that's Huper Optik.

I had one of the first cars in AZ tinted with it (over 5 years ago) as a test program (my work car - a black Interceptor) and it was simply amazing. Well worth whatever it costs.

BTW, welcome aboard, Sam! Glad to see you upgraded, can't wait to see pics of your M!

Post by **elwesso** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 7:57 am

Welcome sam!!!

Not sure where the GPS thingy is on the car... However, the bottom line is greg is right... Expect to pay $500 for a quality install of the huper optik, but it is leaps and bounds better than any other tint on the market.

Metallic tints will mess up any electronics that transmit signals.

Post by **Sam K** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 9:43 am

Thanks guys. I never heard of the brand huper optik. I guess huper optik must make that high quality ceramic tint I've read a little bit about on other forums.

I put SunGard non-metallic tint on my GS. I looked into SunGard, SolarGard and Llumar back in 2002. I always thought metallic tint was better quality than the non-metallic ones but this was before the availability of ceramic tint. I thought they made metallic tint to eliminate the fading that used to occur in the older films.

Post by **szh** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 10:20 am

Welcome to NICO, Sam!

The GPS antenna is in the rear deck. Therefore, if you use any metallic tint on the rear glass, it will definitely impact the Nav performance!

So, yes, I would certainly strongly recommend making sure that the tinting was non-metallic!

Z

Post by **AZhitman** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 10:20 am

Ceramic > metallic.

Huper > all others. Seriously. It's THAT amazing.

Post by **szh** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 10:25 am

elwesso wrote:Not sure where the GPS thingy is on the car...

Here is the location of the GPS antenna on a 2003 M45 (click on image for the larger version):

Z

Post by **szh** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 10:39 am

AZhitman wrote:Ceramic > metallic.

Huper > all others. Seriously. It's THAT amazing.

Here is more info: http://www.huperoptik.com/Auto...o.inc

The U.S. web site: http://www.huperoptikusa.com/consumer_auto.cfm

Z

Post by **Sam K** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 10:46 am

I went on the huper optik website and I noticed that the darkest shade of ceramic tint they have is 30% (i.e. Hyper Ceramic 30). Here's a link.

http://www.huperoptikusa.com/p...P.pdf

Do the percentages of the huper optik ceramic tint match the metallic tints or are they darker? I wanted to do 20% but they don't have anything that dark.

While searching around I also learned that FormulaONE also makes a ceramic tint called Pinnacle which comes in 3 shades, 50, 35 and 15. It looks like the 15 might be the closest to what I'm looking for. Has anyone heard anything about FormuleONE Pinnacle?

Post by **szh** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 10:52 am

szhosain wrote:The GPS antenna is in the rear deck. Therefore, if you use any metallic tint on the rear glass, it will definitely impact the Nav performance!

By the way, I went and looked at the other site for the discussion and I can assure you that the few folks who posted that metallic tint will not affect Nav systems are completely wrong.

I have very direct experience with GPS ... my company works with many after-market vehicle tracking systems (our customers) and we do road-tests of GPS antennas (particularly stealth ones used for car theft recovery). We have a GPS re-radiator in our test lab, with synthesized signal level re-transmit control and can see exactly what happens to GPS signals under degraded conditions.

Our tests with metallic tint (including the metallic film embedded in certain cars glass windshields!) demonstrate the reduction in performance easily!

So, please do definitely avoid metallic tinting if you want your Nav system to continue to work!

Z

Post by **szh** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 10:59 am

My experience with 10% transmittance on one of my cars shows that this is simply too dark for the rear windshield. Dangerous at night in some regards.

On my wife's Acura, we did 50% for the rear glass and this was a good compromise - chose 30% transmittance for the rear side glass and 70% (legal limit) for the front driver's and passenger side glass.

Note that the Huper Optik appears to have very good Infra-Red and Ultra-Violet reduction with 50% or 30% transmittance film, and would be sufficient (not for the dark VIP look , but the real reason I use film: for heat and fade control.)

Plus, does NY allow the darker 20% film? I do not know that ... you may know or should check into it!!

BTW, I am not familiar with the Formula One Pinnacle, so cannot comment on that.

Z

Post by **elwesso** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 11:26 am

the key with the optik stuff is that it transmits hardly any heat to the cabin (via UV or infrared)... 30% is plenty dark, IMO.... You can make 30% seem darker with a more reflective tint, not sure on the reflectivity of it.

you wouldnt want to go get darker, and then have to peel it off in front of the officer if its too dark... Ive herad of people having to do that... That woudl make me cry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Post by **Sam K** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 11:28 am

szhosain wrote:Plus, does NY allow the darker 20% film? I do not know that ... you may know or should check into it!

NY tint laws are ridiculously strict. 70% of the light needs to pass through the windows. I forget if it's just the front driver and passenger side windows or all of them. In the last year or so, I've been pulled over like 6 or 8 times in my neighborhood for window tint. Luckily I only got 1 ticket. The NYPD surgeon's shield that was given to me by my retired father has helped me out a lot.

Now you're probably thinking, why would you want to tint your car so dark if you're going to get pulled over all time? Well for several reasons. First, I don't want people looking in my car to see what they can break in and steal. I have a garage but when I go out at night and on the weekends, I sometimes park in the street. Second, I really like the look of a black car with the dark tinted windows. Lastly, I want to reduce glare from sunlight, keep the heat out in the summer and reduce UV rays.

Post by **AZhitman** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 12:03 pm

Sam K wrote:1) First, I don't want people looking in my car to see what they can break in and steal. I have a garage but when I go out at night and on the weekends, I sometimes park in the street.

2) Second, I really like the look of a black car with the dark tinted windows.

3) Lastly, I want to reduce glare from sunlight, keep the heat out in the summer and reduce UV rays.

You'll achieve about half of these.

1) Frankly, I'm of the opinion that if someone's going to break into your car, they know what's inside without seeing it... Infiniti has a damn good theft-deterrent system, and unless you're leaving valuables out in plain sight, 30% is just as good as 20%.

2) This one's subjective, but I know my black Interceptor looked killer with the 30% - but possibly not as dark as you'd like it.

3) This one's where you have to "adjust" your thinking. The darkness of the tint is IN NO WAY related to its capacity to block heat, glare and UV. That's old-school tinted plastic tint thinking. The Huper actually FAR outperforms anything on the market (including so-called "limo" 5% tints). My black Interceptor (in 120-degree heat) cooled off faster than my "loaner" car which was a white Lumina - You could put your hand on the inside of the Huper glass and there was literally no radiant heat - only ambient temp.

There's some good stuff out there, but I'm sold on the HO.

Post by **szh** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 1:02 pm

Sam K wrote:NY tint laws are ridiculously strict. 70% of the light needs to pass through the windows. I forget if it's just the front driver and passenger side windows or all of them.

Interesting! Every state is a bit different, of course.

In California, the laws are: (1) no tint allowed on front windshield, except for a band at the top can be done for sunshade equivalent purposes, and (2) 70% transmittance required on driver and passenger (front window) and (3) almost anything goes on the rear passenger glass and rear glass.

My choice of 10% (may have been 5% - I forget now) transmittance film on my old Q45 was a problem for me - too dark for good night driving! Like I said earlier, on my wife's Acura, the 50% on the rear glass proved to be sufficient.

We did this tinting for my son, by the way ... he had a sunlight-triggered "allergy" (eye problems) the first few years of his life. Seems to be okay now (so I did not do any tinting on my current M45) ... turned out he is green-red color-blind and we simply did not realize it till last year and this may have been the issue.

Z

Post by **JerseyEd25** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 1:50 pm

it will not. Make sure you go someplace that ONLY USES 3M TINT!!! Also, it should not cost more them $300....I got mine tinted for $275

Post by **Sam K** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 10:09 am

I did a little more research. I got a price quote of $450 from the only huper optik dealer in the NYC area. He also told me that he has a roll of 20% huper optik tint that isn't normally available here which he could do on my car. That made me a little more interested since the darkest percentage on the huper optik website is 30%.

I also found a FormulaOne dealer in the NYC area who would do the FormulaOne Pinnacle 15% tint for $225. Like I said in my earlier post, that's also a ceramic tint but it's half the price of the huper optik. This tinter told me that he has it on his truck so I'm going to go check it out one of these days.

I also found on the 3M website that 3M Scotchtint Color Stable (CS series) won't affect GPS or satellite radio. I'm trying to locate a dealer in my area.

All things being equal, I think the cermic tint is the better way to go because they reject more heat than the dyed films.

M35/M45 Window Tinting Question

M35/M45 Window Tinting Question

Re: (AZhitman)

Re: (elwesso)

Re: (Sam K)

Re: (elwesso)

Re: (AZhitman)

Re: (AZhitman)

Re: (szhosain)

Re: (Sam K)

Re: (szhosain)

Re: (szhosain)

Re: (Sam K)

Re: (Sam K)

Re: (JerseyEd25)

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