The Tint is In!

[gm4life]

As many of you know I have been busy as of late. Landscaping the house, building a new retaining wall, a new mailbox and stuff like that. Monday the Torrent was suppose to get its windows tinted, until she played a special trick on me. NOT starting, and then the key wouldn't remove. I called GM and they sent a tow truck to try to get me jumped. No such luck, and an hour later he was unhooking something under the hood so we could roll it out of the garage down to the wrecker as it wouldn't shift out of park. It was towed to the closest GM dealer, a Chevy one whom I do not go to but don't have anything against. The tech found out a there was a bad cell in the battery and they re-flashed the module and installed a new battery. I had it back in the afternoon only 5 hours later. So the tint was put off until today, and here are the results... First a comparo and then some of the photos of things I was working on. I do not have any of the wall or mailbox yet, and also a quickey of the LS's new flaps. Please be sure to comment and tell me how everything looks!

Tomorrow the Torrent goes to have its wiper motor replaced again under warrenty and then she should finally be good for a while... Including our family trip to Colorado!

Before...

After...

Before...

After...

Before...

After...

And just a few extra...

The 2005 Impala LS's splash guards... (Sorry it was just a quickey!)

And some of the landscaping...

Front Side

Front side again another angle

Side view

Another side view

Well that about all for now... Enjoy and tell me what you think!

Edited July 29, 2009 by gm4life

[Blake Noble]

Not bad, not bad. What percentage is that tint? I'm thinking five percent for the Monte.

[Justin Bimmer]

Nice looking! I had to do a double take on the timing of the photos because the before were done during Christmas and the after were done now. Bare trees and snow vs. Full trees and grass.

[gm4life]

Well thanks guys. It is a 15% SUV/Minivan style tint on the windows behind the front doors only. Very close to what they did from the factory, and it was only $185 pre-tax with a lifetime warrenty.

[GMTruckGuy74]

Looks much better (more upscale) with the rear windows tinted. What % of tint was used??

As for the landscaping, nice work!

[GMTruckGuy74]

Oops, saw you posted the tint % after I made my post. Thanks for the info!!

[A Horse With No Name]

Amazingly nice, gm4life. That dark tint will keep the car soo much more cool on a summer trip.

You trained your son well. Your cars and yard look great.

Chris

[Intrepidation]

Looks good! Though it won't be for a while, I do plan to get a 35% tint all the way around on my car.

[gm4life]

Amazingly nice, gm4life. That dark tint will keep the car soo much more cool on a summer trip.

You trained your son well. Your cars and yard look great.

Chris

That was EXACTLY my our idea. My wife also didn't like walking into a warm car after work! Well my son has just waxed both the 2005's and will be doing the Torrent before the week is over. Also the '01 will get a wash and wax before we leave, end of next week. And yes the yard looks good, I'll get one of the other side and the retaining wall. The back is NEXT summer.

Edited July 29, 2009 by gm4life

[gm4life]

Looks much better (more upscale) with the rear windows tinted. What % of tint was used??

As for the landscaping, nice work!

It really does have a more "premium" and not stripped look. The Purple Haze/Chrome Wheels/Tip and tinted windows work well on her I think! And yes it was a 15% which is according to them is the standard SUV/Minivan tint. It was actually $185 without tax and it still was slightly under two hundered with tax. I was pleased to say the least, they did A GREAT job upon inspection.

Edited July 29, 2009 by gm4life

[gm4life]

Looks good! Though it won't be for a while, I do plan to get a 35% tint all the way around on my car.

35% is that legal in your state? That would be double mine and SUPER dark. I think it would look good on your Dodge!

[fightingbee]

Very nice. Rear tint does a lot for the looks of an SUV. Not a bad deal either IMO. I think I paid $90-ish for just the two rear doors on the VUE when I bought it, as it looked kinda strange with the rear three windows factory tinted but not the rear doors.

[ocnblu]

Hey gm4life, that is a snazzy vehicle, and your house looks really good, sir.

[gm4life]

Hey gm4life, that is a snazzy vehicle, and your house looks really good, sir.

Well thank you very much sir. The house is finally getting close to where we would like it. It is miss another car stall or two...

[gm4life]

Very nice. Rear tint does a lot for the looks of an SUV. Not a bad deal either IMO. I think I paid $90-ish for just the two rear doors on the VUE when I bought it, as it looked kinda strange with the rear three windows factory tinted but not the rear doors.

I know I couldn't believe the difference. I didn't know on the Vue the skipped the two rear door, interesting.

[Intrepidation]

35% is that legal in your state? That would be double mine and SUPER dark. I think it would look good on your Dodge!

Apparently so, as a fellow Intrepid owner a few towns over got it done. I may not go that dark...I dunno yet. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

[gm4life]

Apparently so, as a fellow Intrepid owner a few towns over got it done. I may not go that dark...I dunno yet. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Actually I think tinted windows on sedans look bad-a$$ but have never done it on any of mine.

[GMTruckGuy74]

Actually I think tinted windows on sedans look bad-a$$ but have never done it on any of mine.

Well, I have an appointment set-up for this Thursday (8/6) at 1:00 PM to have the G6's rear door windows and the rear window tinted. I'll be sure to snap 'before' and 'after' shots for a comparison. I'm tempted to have the front door windows tinted too, but know the car won't pass NJ inspection. So it will just be the rear half of the car. It's a surprise for the wife - she doesn't know it's gettong done - but I think she'll like it and besides making the car look cooler, it will aid in keeping it cooler Are you thinking about doing it to your Bonneville??

BTW gm4life, how satisfied are you with the tint job almost a week later? Any problems?? And off-topic slightly, how's the rear wiper motor? That's the 2nd one put in, right? My mom's 2005 Saturn VUE had to get a new rear wiper motor this year too (February). I wonder if there's a known problem with that motor?

Edited August 3, 2009 by GMTruckGuy74

[Intrepidation]

See on wagons, CUVS, SUVs, and so on, tinting the rear windows looks good, but on sedans, I dunno it looks weird if only some of them are tinted.

[GMTruckGuy74]

Is there someway that you can photoshop "tint" on a window to see what it would look like? I've attached a side-shot of the G6 just in case you can. It would be the rear door and the small triangular window too. TIA!!

[gm4life]

No problems after nearly a week. They look good, I will give you the REAL feedback after my 2,000 family vacation! The wiper motor was just toast and a new one was put in. Working good again. I think just the rears even on a G6 would look nice. GMTruckGuy I'd do a photoshop for you but my good PC with CS3 on it, is currently getting shipped to Dell to fix a crack in the plastic.

[Intrepidation]

Is there someway that you can photoshop "tint" on a window to see what it would look like? I've attached a side-shot of the G6 just in case you can. It would be the rear door and the small triangular window too. TIA!!

Why yes I can...right after this episode of Top Gear. :wink:

[Intrepidation]

[GMTruckGuy74]

Ohh... that looks nice DF! Thanks for the photo-shopped pictures.

Though there is a downside with your work... with the 2^nd photo-shopped picture. It's making me want to get the front windows tinted too

Great work and now I gotta do something thinking

[Intrepidation]

It doesn't look right without both windows tinted. :wink:

[GMTruckGuy74]

Actually, while I like and would prefer all windows tinted (except the front windshield), I'm okay going with just the rear windows being tinted. While the balance isn't all there because the fronts are not tinted, I'd much rather be able to get the car to pass NJ State Inspection in three years and also not to get the unwanted attention of any police officer. Unless NJ allows a small % of tint on the front windows, then I'm just going to leave the fronts untinted. Thanks for your efforts with the photo-shopping... it eased my concerns that the car would look totally awkward with just the rears tinted (and IMO, I don't think it looks as awkward as I was imagining! ).

[GMTruckGuy74]

Dodgefan, would you mind working your photo-shopping magic on the following two pictures (all I want is the rear door windows and rear windshield 'tinted' please):