Jsteinb485

I am in the process of tinting the windows of my new 2002 CLK 430. I am new to window tinting, so i would like to know what i should look for and any obvious information that would be helpful to me. I am having a place on Long Island do it for me.

awiner

I have been told that Mercedes uses some pretty stiff and abrasive rub stips in the inside of the door panels. This has caused some people to complain of vertical scratches to the tint on their cars. These stories have basically scared me away from tinting, however, I would also be interested in other owners stories and expirences.

Furthermore, I have also been informed that when you tint the rear windowand your AM/FM antennas are located in the rear window, AM reception really gets bad. I don't know how FM reception is effected, if at all. Anyone care to comment ? I know there are many different types of window tinting films, some metalic, some not.... Ideas ?? Suggestions ??

Accord

Goto your local dealer, ask one of the salesmen there about tinting. Last time I was there I saw a brochure in all of the salesmen's offices about a Mercedes Window tinting service. If you do doit from a 3rd party company, it may void something on your warantee, I am not sure though.

Definetly check into this before doing it.

Thanks.

Mach430

First off, if you tint your windows without fixing your rubber moldings, your tint will become scratched and your windows will rub when opening/closing.
The solution is to get moleskin inserts on your window moldings. I had it done for cheap at Vision Tint in Orange, CA. If you're not in the area, I'm sure they could find someone to help you. No one else has seemed to know about it yet. What they do is remove your moldings, sand them down, stick moleskin on them, and put them back.
As for the radio reception. Metallic tints, which are typically used when trying to achieve the darkest tints, will screw up your AM reception. My response, is who cares, but you may so just use a non-metallic tint.

awiner

What exactly is moleskin ?

Mach430

I remember using moleskin products on my baseball gloves when I was little. I'm not sure exactly what it is. Maybe it's mole skin.


Here's the # for Vision Tint (714)630-0744

Frederick

This is great info! Do you know what brand of tint they use? llmunar? Solar Guard?

I only have 1 window that is scratching and they used Solar Guard before. It would be nice if I only had to re tint 1 window.

Mach430

They had other brands there as well. They won't give discounts or anything for getting more work done at once, and they do charge for tint removal

Newbie

I've had my 430 tinted twice (too light the first time). They have to put moleskin or velcro on the inside rubber strip to prevent scratches. I never listen to AM, so I can't tell you if my metallic tint affects the reception or not. The brand I used is Madico Onyx.

Mach430

Velcro??? I guess the soft end would be ok... I felt the window moldings in a BMW 5 series today, it's moleskin.

JAWS

I've had no problems with the tint on my CLK. Had it for over a year now. Also, make sure the tinting place puts a one piece tint on the rear windshield, makes it look much better. Dont have them cut it in two pieces, which is easier to apply. The place I went to...........the tint pieces were cut by a plotter which was hooked up to a computer with diagrams for different cars.

AM/FM reception is also fine. I got 35% tint, which is the legal limit in MASS. Not as dark as I'd like, but looks very nice, especially in the evening or at night.

--j

heres a pic
http://people.ne.mediaone.net/jthoma...JOSE-CLK01.jpg