A question for those of you whom have tinted the windows on your cabrio: How?!

Whenever I've had (side) windows tinted on cars in the past, the tinter has always said, "Okay, now just *don't* roll down the windows for _______ (amount of time)."

That was easy enough to accomplish, but on the Mini cabrios, the windows automatically roll down a centimeter or so every time the door is opened. Wouldn't that cause problems during the tinting process, as well, i.e. the tint will be applied with the door open, so the film won't go all the way to the bottom? If the tint is applied from the inside with the door shut, won't it wrinkle at the bottom the first time the door is opened (i.e., when the installer wishes to get out of the car)?

Maybe I'm overthinking this, and maybe tint films have come along way. I don't know. I just know that I would like a light tint on my front windows, but I don't want to put the car through major surgery to have it done...

Any and all suggestions are welcomed!

 

The windows go down a little bit in the hardtops too. I just had my windows tinted and the guy who did it said not to put the windows down for 3 days. I got in and out of the car many times and it did not mess up the tint.

 

If the tinter is any good the window up/down should not be a problem. I had mine done a few months ago and like already stated they suggested not to roll them down for 3 days. They have a way to work around the door opening window down thing.

 

Yes, it happens like that on the hardtops too. I had mine done in December and whether he was blowin smoke or not he said they have a way to turn off that feature just temporarily while they're applying it. He said it shouldn't be a problem with normal use and that they put some extra "stickiness" or something on the edges. It wasn't stickiness I just can't remember the term he used. The place I got mine done does high end vehicles, and they know what they're doing. I didn't have a problem with mine, and I went darkest possible.


so...in essence: go for it!

 

The only way I could think of getting around it is to disconnect the battery, which I do hope they won't do. I hate losing all my presets, etc. Nonetheless, I'll call around to some well-recommended tinters in the area and see what's what. Thanks for the replies, all.

 

I do my own window tinting. I've done roughly 5 or so cars in the past few years. When I did our 2003 Cooper hatchback, I didn't know that the window dropped a fraction of an inch when the doors were opened. So imagine my surprise when all was said and done only to find out that as soon as I closed the door, the window went up and exposed a thin strip of untinted glass! I had to rip them out and do them over again.

Lesson learned.

My work-around was to simply cut the film so that it was about a centimeter taller than the glass. Once I peeled back the liner and applied the top half of the film to the glass, I got in the car and closed the door. The window went up and I was able to apply the bottom half the few mm of excess in behind the rubber trim.

We since sold the '03 and last weekend bought an '06 S convertible. I'll be tinting this one too (which will be easier with the top down and out of the way). Plus the back window is nice and flat. The curvature of the hatchback drove me crazy. Took me about 10 tries to get that one tinted.

Anyway, to address some of the questions above, the adhesive on quality film is pretty strong, so the auto-dropping/raising of the windows won't screw up a freshly-installed job. I still recommend NOT opening the side windows fully for 3-7 days (shorter in warmer weather). I also recommend parking the car out in the hot sun with the sunroof cracked open so the water can dry ASAP. Hope this helps!

 

Just had mine tinted and asked the same question. What he did was to use a heat gun around the edges of the windows this helped it to cure enough so the tint wouldnt move when the windows went down. Didnt have any issues.

 

Exactly. I used my heat gun to help the film conform (shrink-to-fit) the curvature of the window as well as speed up the drying process as the slip solution is sandwiched between the film and the glass.

Slippage should be a non-issue. The film should glide smoothly against the window edge felt.

 

hmm, yea I have no idea if they disconnected the battery...
the guy probably just told me a bunch of baloney

 

Mine was a multi step process first they did the rear window, then I put the top down and rolled up my windows. They did the front and rear windows and then put the top back up and it's still fine.

 

how long did it take?

 

About four hours for the install, I had to lower my back seats so he could get to the rear window...it's really tight he cursed the entire time but he got it.

 

anyone find a top notch tint company in atlanta? mine need to be redone. thanks!