2 months ago I had my tint installed at a tint shop in hayward. the next morning I noticed very tiny water bubbles in all of my tints. i went back to the shop and showed them the bubbles. the tint guy said for me to wait a few weeks and the bubbles will go away. needless to say 2 weeks went by and the bubbles did not go away.

one more problem appeared during the 2nd week. i began hearing a paper crimpling noise coming from the driver's side door, which was when i saw the film being picked up when rolling the window up and down.

i brought the car back to these guys and they had the nerves to claim that i rolled the window down before the 1 week wait periord! they claimed that it is not possible for the tint to be picked up unless it was still wet. i was furious, but kept my calm and showed them the bubbles that never went away. the tint guy told me that those bubbles will go away eventually and that i should wait a few more weeks. he said that if it does not go away, he will replace the film for me, but there is a good chance that my defroster will be damaged. he is also charging me another $80 to remove and retint the driver's side window! i demanded to see the owner of the shop and to my surprise, the tint guy was the owner!

i need help! the bubbles are still there and they want to charge me money to redo the front window.

i have several questions for you guys:

i. how long does it take for these bubbles to disappear?
ii. does removing the tint damage the defroster?
iii. should i pay to have the driver's door retinted?
iv. how long does it take before i could roll down my front windows?

i know you guys are very helpful, so thank you in advance.

 

I had mine tinted a couple of weeks ago. All the bubbles were gone in a day. I did have tiny sand pebbles behind the film on three windows. They re-did them for free. I asked about removing tint from the back window and they said that they use a special tool so not to damage the defrost wires. They said I could roll down the windows in 48 hours. I waited 72 and have no problems. Find another tint installer.

Mark

 

It's been my experience that the bubbles have always gone away within a day or two after tinting. After I had the G tinted I was told to wait a few days before rolling my windows down. My dealer accidentally rolled them down the very next day when I went in for service, but it didn’t do anything to the tint. Also, my guy will re-tint a window for free if you’re not happy. It sounds like you need to find a new window tinter.

03.5 5AT Sedan
<font color=black> Black on Graphite / Prem / Sport / Winter / Tint / Aero Package </font color=black>

 

Hopefully you put this on your credit card. In which case I would call them up and let them know that you refuse to pay for this because of poor service, etc. etc. I would then go to another tint shop, take the loss and have them pull off the tint (at least they won't damage anything) and then have them re-tint the windows.

I've read that when you take the tint off and reapply it that you need to have even more skill/experience than when first applying. Obviously this shop is lacking that so I wouldn't trust them again.

If you paid cash well just go complain as much as you can. Hopefully he'll give you cash back & remove the tint (I wouldn't trust him), but this guy doesn't sound like he's into customer service.

I always put car work on my credit card for this reason. They immediately freeze payment to that vendor and they do all of the arguing with them for you, it's great! Good luck,

Nate

 

ok I just re-read and saw it's been 2 months, so there goes the credit card idea.... hmmmm, I'm stumped.

 

The water bubble issue is going to also depend upon the type of tint you have. For example, Huper Optik tint is known to take some time for the water bubles to fully dry out. I have that tint on my sedan, and it took a good 3-4 weeks for all of the water bubles to dry out - they are all gone and everything is fine now. I too was getting a little bit nervous, but other people I talked to told me to be patient, and it did work out. Essentially the water has to dry out, so weather / humidty conditions will also effect the length of time it will take.

As for the window tint catching / rolling up... I was told to wait 24 hours before rolling down my windows, but I extended that to 48 hours. I have not had any problems in my case.

 

there is usually a haze that goes away in like 3-4 weeks and usually all the bubbles are gone around that time too. i have had problems with pulling off the tint in the rear window. but this was several years ago so i dont know if they have anything better these days. but in spots, the defroster strip gets pulled away and they have this paint that the put in place to make it look like the orange defroster strip is still there. but when you hit the defrost button there were spots that didnt defrost anymore.

 

how long does it take for these bubbles to disappear?
There shouldn't be any bubbles after 2 months.

does removing the tint damage the defroster?
Not if done correctly. I had the tint removed and redone on my old car. No damage to the defroster at all.

should i pay to have the driver's door retinted?
HELL NO!

how long does it take before i could roll down my front windows?
I was always told 24 hours.

Tell us what the name of the tint shop is so we NEVER go there. Keep complaining to the install shop and DEMAND your money back. Call the Better Business Bureau and complain about these guys. Or complain online http://complaints.bbb.org/Welcome.asp

 

Wow, everyone here gave some pretty good advice......here's my 2 cents:

There really shouldn't be any "bubbles" at all...........this term is used way too often. Can you describe them? What's the size of it.........is it about the size of sand or dust? If so, these are actually dust that got on the glass when applying the film, which means they didn't clean it good enough.

-Removing tint off the rear glass will NOT damage the defroster as long as the installer knows what he/she is doing
-You really shouldn't have to pay to have the front done, but there's really nothing you could do since he's asking for $ to redo it.
-You should be able to roll the windows down in a day or two

With all of your complaints, there really shouldn't be any reason for you to go back to him. According to your profile, you're not that far away from the city..........just swing by and let me take a look at those bubbles. If it's not too bad, I'll take care of it for ya no charge.

Certified Window Tint & Detailing Specialist
3M / VentureShield Paint Protection Film Dealer
Madico Window Film Dealer
syu@machiii.net
2003 AT Sedan / 2004 6MT Coupe

 

i am a bit frustrated at this point because i hear the tint crimping everytime i open and close the door. i dont even like looking at my rear glass at this time because of all those bubbles. it kinda makes me wanna get a new car. this really sucks and seriously opened my eyes to poor installation. i definitely need to find someone else to redo the tint asap!!!!!! i cannot stand seeing my car look like [censored]!!!

just pmed you wil - i will come by tomorrow morning and take you up on your offer.

thanks to you all g buddies i may finally get this problem resolved. i'll keep you guys updated with everything. hopefully with good news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Hope that things work out for you. I too would feel pretty upset if this had happened to me! Hang in there!

 

mygee, what is the name of the bum tint place? If you don't want to post it then PM me with the name. Thanks.

 

i would rather not name the shop since he refunded me half of my install cost. i threatened to file a claim with bbb and he wrote me a check on the spot

 

Your profile says that you are an attorney. You should have just used some big legal words codes and scared his a$$ into giving you all your money back.

 

wil, since you're in the business do you think it's being unreasonable to be dissatisfied and want the tint redone if there is three or four bubbles due to dust or lint caught underneath. Appreciate your input.