Tint only rear glass?

[n1accord]

I really had wanted to tint my glass, but the reports of scratched windows on 7th Gen have caused me to research with these findings:

Scratches results from 2 problems:
1. 7th Gen has solid rubber, rather than felt, weatherstripping against the windows. So any grit is held against the tint film as the window is raised and lowered. Adding felt has helped but does not eliminate scratches on the four windows.
2. The mechanism inside the door (guides, rollers, acuators) can scratch the tint film and some installers take various measures to prevent this.

I also checked with a couple of SA at 2 dealerships and heard:
1. "Honda no longer allows dealerships to have window tinting done for customers. Customers are on their own."
2. "We see a lot of tinted Accords come for service and most of them are scratched. Honda's design just does not allow for the addional thickness of the tint film on the glass."

My conclusion is that trying to have tinting without scratches on a 7th Gen is risky.

However, the back glass alone does not have this problem. Also, my guess is that the heat load from the back glass is much greater than the windows, so just tinting the back glass would be better than nothing - - except maybe for appearance, which I think would be no problem as long as the tint was not very dark.

What do you folks see as the pros and cons of tinting only the rear glass?
THANKS!










Looking for opinions based on your tinting experience

[Tiger W]

n1accord,

I would agree with your findings (I sound sort of like a scientist saying that)

I have not yet made a decision on tinting our future accord. I may tint the back glass and rear doors. I figure those windows don't move as much as the others. I would be interested in others experience.

TW

[RTexasF]

I had my '04 done a week afterI bought it with 3M film. No scratches or marks of any kind for a year + now. All windows, except windshield of course, were tinted. I'll likely have the sunroof done with a reflective tint. I like the light from above but the Texas sun is relentless.

[CA05LXDriver]

Had just the rear sides and back done a week ago... $140 for 20%... .looks totally P I M P :thmsup:

[VTECaddict]

i was wondering if we could somehow remove the solid silicone weather stripping and replace it with felted ones from a 6th gen or something...

i use my windows a lot (remote open feature to cool down the interior) and im really heasitant about getting them tinted too...

[princess]

just something I found....

Door Glass Weatherstrip
Damage From Tinting
Are owners of ’03–05 Accords complaining of
window noise and binding after having their
windows tinted? The cause could be door glass
weatherstrip damage by the window tinting guys.
To save time, window tinting shops often leave
the door trim panels on. But with the trim panels
left in place, there’s just not enough room to apply
the tint far enough down the glass to hide the end
point of the film. To get around this problem, the
tinting guys fold the door glass weatherstrip
wipers under so the wipers are pointing straight
down instead of straight up like they should. This
lets them apply the film where they want it, but it
permanently deforms the wipers, causing the
windows to make noise and bind when you raise
or lower them.
So what’s the bottom line? Tell the window tinting
guys they’ve got to remove the door trim panels,
and they should never fold the door glass
weatherstrip wipers under. Damage to the door
glass weatherstrip from doing this isn’t covered by
warranty.



I only have the rears tinted....& luckily the scratches are on the front, so it didn't mess up tinting.... but I AM ANNOYED at having scratches. I may have them put in new front door windows before my warranty is up & then have something felt put in there to prevent it again. :dunno:

[psyshack]

I had my '04 done a week afterI bought it with 3M film. No scratches or marks of any kind for a year + now. All windows, except windshield of course, were tinted. I'll likely have the sunroof done with a reflective tint. I like the light from above but the Texas sun is relentless.

Wife wants to tint hers way bad. I myself dont like anymore tint than factory. but she likes all the law will allow. Checking into tint no body here will do the sun roof. I for one would love that tinted. Okie sun as hateful has texigan sun.

She had her old Escort tinted and also used windex on it. fine scratchs showed up and the nice purple look came out. I liked the purple being a vikes fan. But not the tint and the scratchs made it worse.

Its her car so i guess I will do as asked. She does as asked. Cant wait to get mine... lololololol

[04blkpearlcoupe]

Ive heard of tinters replacing the inside window lining with felt strips inorder to avoid the scratch problem in our cars. The factory lining/wiper is a hard rubber which is what causes the problem. I found the info at tintdude.com