Hey guys. received the moleskin kit from http://www.tintprotector.com/ today, and did the install on the two front doors. I'll do the rear doors later on because I never use those windows anyways. The kit came with a long strip of felt with 3m-type tape on the other side and a thick packet of instructions + pictures for your SPECIFIC car. I thought it was just some general packet on how to install, but it had the instructions to my specific car, I was impressed.

 

wow and for that price it seems like a no brainer. nothing worse than paying for new tint and then having it scratched up. great job!

 

ehhh i waited too long to order the moleskin....i had to use my windows for 3 days before it arrived!!!!! so on my drivers window there is already a scratch on it...im pretty mad but at least i got the moleskin on now, better late than never!!!!

 

or better sooner than later !

good deal though... I would never recommend tinting without some sort of protection, whether it's felt or moleskin.
Most professional window tinters out there will highly recommend this from the get-go.
Those that don't know what moleskin is, are probably not the best tinters in the profession, and I would steer clear !

Carlos

Saprissa@aol.com

 

hmm... i should buy them since my front windows are currently de-tinted... thx for the link kev...

 

I just recently got my windows tinted, I made sure i mole skin'ed all my windows. After reading all the horror stories on here, might as well do it right.

 

Well when I bought my car it didn't have moleskin on it and the tint was scratched. Thank god it has it on it now Easy as pie and great directions.

 

I searched a long time to find a tinter that knew what moleskin was, but I'm glad i got it

 

did you have to remove the door panels or just roll teh windows down ?

thanks

 

just ordered it! my tint shop does not know about moleskin (not they are bad or anything), so i'll give them moleskin to put on my car (at least fronts)...

no, u have to remove the door panel...

 

Removing the door panels was pretty darn easy. I was impressed.

 

Thanks - i emailed tintprotector for a pdf file of the install and removable of the door panel.. I having my car tinted and maybe i will remove the panels for the tinters. and i can install the moleskin.. just wondering how easy the panels can be removed via DIY.

 

post a link when u get it...

 

yeah when doing my passenger side door, im not sure if i broke it or if it was semi-broken already but i snapped the interior door handle...so i ordered a new one today, $55...goddamn

 

Damn mine is scratched too, I just had the door panels off to do speakers but I was in a rush so i didn't take the time to figure out where the **** goes. I bought some felt pads to use. If I dynamatted my door, is it too late?

 

dynamat shouldn't have any affect on putting moleskin...

 

i def needa redo my tints esp the front windows and get that shiznit

 

I wasn't sure if you had to reach into the inside of the door. Basically what I'm saying is that I looked for the scraper, the thing that causes the scratches but I couldn't find it so I was worried I closed access it to it by covering everythng with dynamat.

 

the thing that causes scratches is at the topmost part of the door panel, its the rubber seal that prevents stuff from falling into the door

 

I did the moleskin myself this weekend. It was incredibly easy.

What you need:

a. Soft wedge or prybar, or a screwdriver with a semi-thick rag wrapped around it
b. T25, T27 torx screwdrivers (long and skinny to fit the holes...$6.48 at Advance Auto for a set of 6 - must have for a MB owner)
c. Clean Rag
d. Rubbing alcohol
e. Moleskin felt with high-temperature adhesive ($30 tintprotector.com)

(These instructions are for the driver door. The rest will be pretty much the same, but when I say 'lowe-left' it helps to know what door I'm talking about)
1 - Roll down the windows
2 - Unscrew the door pins
3 - Pop off the outer door handle piece: There is a small tab where you can insert the screwdriver (covered with the rag). Stick it in there and gently pop out the bottom, then use the screwdriver in the crack and work your way up. Gently pull the piece off without bending it upward.
4 - Unscrew the four screws. There is one that holds the door latch protector plate on the outer left side (where the door latch is). That one is the T25 and is silver/chrome in color. The other two screws are at the top and bottom of the door handle and under the SRS badge. These are T27 and black in color. Use the screwdriver (always with the rag, I'll stop saying that now) to pop the SRS badge off and carefully back out the screw. It's not a huge deal if you drop it, but be careful anyway. The other two are at the top and bottom of the door handle. The one on the top doesn't come out of the door panel. Just back that one off. The lower one will fall out when it's loose.
5 - Remove the tweeter cover: use the screwdriver to gently lift the tab in the lower right corner and pull the cover off. The tweeter will be attached as the cover comes loose. Use the screwdriver to undo the three tabs that hold the tweeter in place.
6 - Pop out the panel: the panel is anchored by plastic clips that pop out directly. Start in the lower left corner and use the screwdriver to pop the tabs off. Work your way counter-clockwise around and they will pop and you've got it loose except for the top edge.
7 - Lift/Pry off the panel from the top: Use the screwdriver from the outside-the-door side to gently lift the door panel out of the channel. There is some adhesive that holds it in there, so be gentle and work it out.
8 - Remove the window guard: Use the screwdriver to gently leverage (from the inside-the-door side) the window guard off of its track.
9 - Clean the window guard with alcohol, score it with light sandpaper or a blade, clean with more alcohol, let sit to dry, cut the moleskins to just a bit longer than the window guard, carefully stick the moleskin on so that it doesn't hang off of the top or bottom edge, cut with a razor blade to trim the ends off.
10 - put the window guard back in
11 - stick the door panel back in from the top (make sure you don't lock the tweeter inside the panel and line up the door-lock bar with its hole)
12 - stick the tweeter back in its mount
13 - put the tweeter cover back in place
14 - bang the clips back in
15 - screw the T25/T27's back in
16 - put the door pin back in
17 - put the outer door handle piece back on

That's it. Roll the windows up and leave them up for 12 hours (tintprotector remcommendation). After you do the driver door, you'll spend no more than 5 minutes removing any of the others. So if you're going to tint, spend the $30 for the moleskin and ~1 hour to do this yourself because most tint shops around here don't know what this is, don't understand why it is necessary, and don't want to take apart your door b/c they're afraid of messing up your MB.

 

Cool. I had done one with pictures and everything back in '06 but we can never have too many. Actually my DIY was more of a door panel removal one, but they're pretty similar.

 

Added to D.I.Y. sticky! Keep 'em coming!

 

I did this mod myself this weekend. Very easy to do......

Car is off to be retinted due to scratches.... Will replace moleskin if necessary.

 

Okay - time for a dumb question: what is "moleskin"?

 

Its a felt-like product to protect the tint film from being scratched when the window slides up and down against part of the door.