While waiting for my F55S to be built, I’m planning what I’m going to do about tinting the windows. I’ve had 3M Crystalline on my Countryman since I bought it in 2011 (70% on the front windshield and 60% on all other windows and the moonroof) and I have to say it doesn’t keep out as much heat as I expected. On a hot 80+ degree day, my car still feels like a furnace. I’m exaggerating a little bit — I’m sure the car would be even more scorching without it — but I’m wondering if it would help to go with a darker film for my new car. I don’t tint the windows in my car for aesthetic reasons. It’s purely for the UV heat reduction properties of the film so I’d rather not go darker than 60%-70% if I don't have to, but if going with 50% or lower would result in a cooler (temperature) car, I’d consider it. How much of a heat reduction difference is there between the different levels of Crystalline?

 

Check out http://www.prestige-films.com/docs/p...eet_072114.pdf
I put 55 on my Side and Back Window, 75 on Front Window and 35 on my Sunroof. The Tint has really cut down on the heat, have not had 90 temp yet but have had 80 temp. It is not cheap but I feel it is well worth it so far.

 

There is a similar chart for 3m, I'm sure. Or the shops will have a brochure with this info. It's a similar scale, but like 10% higher levels of insulation. I doubt you can really feel much difference. I got 3m, something like 50 on front sides and 20 on the rear 3. Next time I will do a brand like prestige- it's not as painfully expensive, the heat rejection is close enough, and the 3m has this weird purple color diffraction when you look at the car from outside.

 

I did Llumar CTX film on my MCS (30 front, 15 rear) and it's been fantastic. We haven't had any ridiculously hot days here yet (only got the car in October) but on the days it's been high 70's-low 80's, the tint has kept out a very significant amount of the heat.

Llumar has a chart here:

http://cdn.llumar.com/drupal/llautos...20140715_0.pdf

that shows solar energy reduction, etc for all of their various lines and levels of tint.

 

I agree.. I have the 3m Crystalline on my Deep Blue F56 and I've noticed the blue tint as well. Not really what I was looking for, but oddly seems to go with the car... until I replace it. Since I've only had the car for a year I can't bring myself to replace it since it was so expensive. As a side note, I have 50% and have been very impressed with the heat reduction.

 

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I found the 3M chart for the five different types of Crystalline: http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/6...s-brochure.pdf

There doesn't seem to be a significant dropoff in heat reduction properties going with 60/70 rather than 50 so I'm probably going to do something along the lines of 70 on the windshield, 60 on the other windows, and 50 on the moonroof.

 

I have put on my sunroof and on sides results are quite impressive. Satisfied with the results.
full overview here:
http://tint-shop.com.my/products-overview.php

 

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