I am reluctant to use small shop to do tinting since had trouble in past, but Lexus austin wants $500 for both sides and back using ceramic. Any thoughts?

I need to have them tinted so I will share my experience.

Thanks.

2003 LS430 dark blue

 

$500 is too much unless they are tinting the whole car, including the windshield, are using the best high end tint like Llumar Pinnacle series, and offer a lifetime warranty.

Check this out:

http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc...#sortby=rating

 

try using 3m color stable for around 250$ great product have a 35 thats about 39% visible
great clarity great with heat reduction
makes the car look great

 

Find out what shop the dealer uses and go to them directly. My es 330 dealer wanted 300. Found their shop and paid 199

 

I think 3M makes a good film as long as you don't get the cheap stuff. Llumar seems to be better in the research I have done. I plan on having my whole car done sometime soon as well. The Llumar Pinnacle series is supposed to be really nice.

http://www.formulaone.com/pdf/FormulaOneSpecSheet.pdf

 

lavrish i had both the lumar pinnacle is good depending on color of car
the pinnacle i used had a brown hue my silver ls looks great with the black charcoal look fo the 3m color stable
for 250 the color stable is hard to beat
enjoy

 

That sounds a little high, even for ceramic tint.

 

That sounds high... and are you sure Lexus is going to do it...or are they subbing it out? Seems unlikely they'd have a tint guy on staff full time.

 

Im pretty sure the dealer is sourcing it out. They wont have a tinter on staff. $500 is dealer markup. Find the tinter and go direct or find a reputable one through friends.

 

^^ exactly what he said lol, $500 is a bit steep

 

I've found this to be the case at most dealerships. They send the car to a local tint shop and then jack up the price. Going directly to the tint shop the $500 tint job might end up being half of that.

 

And it's probably the same tint the shop charges $150 for if you didn't come through the dealership.
Usually the $500 tint jobs are when they use the really high end stuff like 3m ceramic. And there's no telling how many of these places say they're using the "good stuff" but substitute it for the economy line.

Personally, I think most of the "premium" tint is a rip off. The days of tint turning purple are mostly gone, installers won't touch that stuff because it's not worth having to redo it for customers to save $5 on the materials. I don't even know if you can buy that sort of tint any longer if you wanted to. And the heat rejection ability of one tint brand to the next for the same darkness level is really at the margins.

I use a shop that cost about $150 for the 4 side windows and rear, and it's quality stuff that he has a lifetime warranty on.

 

$500 is not high for ceramic.. my buddy does tint and charged me $340 for ceramic all the Windows including eyebrow.. ceramic is awesome


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I got my Formula One Pinnacle 35 in June 09 at a tint shop for $401 including tax.
It is awesome. The heat reduction is great and you need that for a black car in South Carolina.

 

From my experience in SoCal, that dealer quote is about on point for 3M Crystalline and FormulaOne Pinnacle. Huper Optik would likely run at least $100 more.