Why the Edges Tell You Everything

If you want to know whether a tint job was done properly, ignore the middle of the window. Look at the edges.

On a good install, the film runs right to the edge of the glass with a hairline gap you have to look for. On a rushed one, you get a visible light gap along the top of the door glass, which appears as a bright band whenever the sun is behind the car.

Next, look at the corners of the rear windshield. That glass curves in two directions, and the only way to make flat film sit on it is heat shrinking. Creases, fingers, or wrinkles in those corners mean the shrink was rushed.

Third, check for contamination. Hold your phone light at an angle and look for specks under the film. A couple of tiny particles happen in any environment; a scattering of them means the bay was not clean or the glass was not prepped.

Finally, look at the defroster lines through the rear glass. They should be crisp, not blurred or lifted at the ends.

We inspect every vehicle this way before it leaves, under light, panel by panel. If something is not right, we redo the panel — which is far cheaper than doing it a second time after you have driven home.