I have made a few enquiries to the local tint shops in my area in regards to having the windows tinted in my IS350 F Sport.

Both places I visited seemed very hesitant at first with one of them eventually refusing to take on the job, the other advising I leave it be.

Both of them said there would be issues tinting the rear windscreen because of the rear parcel shelf. I made it quite clear that I didn't want the car disassembled to be tinted and they refused to remove the parcel shelf themselves anyway.

My question to those of you who have had your windows tinted is were there any issues that you know of with the tight space at the bottom of the rear windscreen. Did your installers remove the parcel shelf and high mount stop light?

One suggested that removing the rear windscreen would be an alternative but also recommended against it after gathering that I'm very fussy.

Both also said it would be impossible to tint without removing door panels because there isn't enough room to get the tint far enough down which could cause it to peel from rolling the windows down.

I really don't like not having tint, but if something was damaged or a rattle developed because trims etc had been pulled apart - I'd be mad as hell.

Can anyone post some pics of their tint jobs, focussing on the lower part of the rear windscreen, particularly around the parcel shelf and high mount stop light.

Thanks.

 

Tint shops are ridiculous. They are trained to upsell everything. Life time warranties, broken glass warranties, newest 3M tint film, extra work that has to be done when it really doesn't. I've seen them take apart customers, especially females, saying they need to do all these shenanigans just to raise the price. San Antonio Lexus did mine for free just for mentioning to them that I test drove Audi and BMW. I hooked up a friend with one of the techs there at SA Lexus to tint his Dodge Challenger, did it for $125. Talk to friends, usually someone knows someone who does tinting. At least that has always been my experience, in this case I was that friend. You could probably ask one of the installers, not the sales guys at those tint places if he would be down to install it on the side, gets the job done right, and keeps the cash. Win-win! Good luck amigo.

 

I had mine done and the shop did a fantastic job and didn't complain at all about taking my money . Find a better shop.

 

Trouble is there is only 2 shops in my area, the next closest is 2.5hrs drive.

They both said that the parcel shelf is the trouble they will have and weren't keen on removing it.

There is literally no room between the shelf itself and the window for the bottom 1-2" so I can see their point.

I'm also wondering if the Mark Levinson equipped cars are harder because of all the speakers in the parcel shelf?

 

weird.

my tinting shop has never rejected my car for tinting service due to difficulty.

they will just need different tools. none of my cars require any removal of panels and glass.

 

Money also isn't the issue - I'd rather pay double the price to be sure to get a perfect result... It was the quality of the job I was more worried about and they were well aware of that...

 

I am a window installer for 14+ yrs and can tell you first hand that removing the rear "shelf" is not necessary depending on what installation tools they have. If you want to cut the film around the 3 brake light then removing the 3rd brake light is required and is really easy to do...

There are certain cars that the panels need to be removed due to the tight window seal....if done correctly there will be no rattles or noises afterwards. I like to install my film pass the window seals in order for the film not to "lift" away from the glass over time, thus resulting in film failure to adhere to the glass.

But the IS is not that difficult to install depending on experience, of course.

 

Pretty much sums up my experience as well, they didn't mention any concerns about any area of the car.

 

I work for a Lexus dealership and our guys have no issues doing the 3IS rear glass. No complaints about it being difficult

 

One of the things I negotiated for with mine was free tinting. The guy came to the dealership, picked it up, and brought it back like 90 minutes later with no problems.

 

tint shop close to my apartment. Pulled up without an appointment or prior warning minus a call ahead for price. 45 minutes after I showed up the tint was completed and looked perfect.

 

Yea mine is done and nothing came out.

 

I did mine through the dealer included in the deal and was done within a couple hours with no issues or concerns.

IS350F: If you mentioned money is not the issue, perhaps time and "fuel" is not an issue as well? Perhaps you should consider calling the other place 2.5 hrs away and explain your story, see what they say.

 

Do you lot who have had it done have the ML sound system? Do the parcel shelves differ for those with ML as opposed to non-ML?

I can't see how it can be such a big issue and would of thought there'd be tools to get in to the tight spaces.... Every installer I've talked to though has said the parcel shelf needs to come out and they aren't prepared to do that....

 

Tons of people here have their car tinted. Mine has the ML system and they tinted it just fine. Only thing the Tint store and I discussed was price. Tint came out great. It's the PPF where I noticed a couple inconsistencies.