Car Tinting In Cold Weather

Infra Red Heat Lamps To Dry Window Film

There are lots of considerations when you're acting to windows in the winter, the first thing you need to think about is the temperature in your workshop. Make sure it's as warm as you can afford to make it.
That brings me to the point about the heating of the workshop, how do you propose to keep your temperature above freezing. There're a variety of heaters in the marketplace, and I suppose it depends on your insurance requirements whether you are allowed to use a naked flame in the building. Many insurance companies will not allow you to have life flames due to the risk of fire.
It's a good idea to get the vehicle temperatures as warm as possible which will obviously increase the temperature of the glass. If you try and tint with the temperature below freezing you asking for trouble if you don't take the right steps in the process.

Make sure you have a very weak slip solution, has too much soap will prolong the drying time of the window film and this can lead to trouble with your customer, the window film will be hazy due to the moisture retention and their are cases where the trapped solution between the film and glass has frozen!

The addition of some IPA in the slip solution will promote faster drying of the window film, but don't overdo it as it can soften the glue if you're not careful. So do you would do normally but make sure you give an extra pass with the squeegee to remove as much water= as possible from beneath the film, as this is a time of year is when lots of people tinting window can get problems

Choosing the right window film can make a difference as well to the jobs. I like a film with a fast acting adhesive such as Global QDP, combined this with your week slip solution and you should have a fast tacking film that makes life a little easier.

You may also find it necessary to heat the vehicle to dry the film there are a few ways to do this, aif it's very cold outside,close the doors and put the heating on and medium temperature, this is my least favourite way of doing this I much prefer to use infrared heat lamps to dry the film, just don't get too close to the vehicle as you may get a bubble forming due to the film drying fast and pushing any slip solution out as it dries.




If you do suffer with peeling with your installations that normally down to the patterns been incorrectly sized. Maybe you're trying to hide too much film below the top of the rubber trimming the door at the sides. Become more economical when cutting your patterns and you'll find that this will improve,obviously you need to make sure you round off any corners were making your patterns

So it's not easy tinting in cold weather and I'm really glad I don't live in a climate that stays below freezing for long. I've seen people just use something like a Yellow Turbo squeegee on the film and then take the car outside, surely this is asking for trouble as you leave too much slip solution between the film in the glass. My preferred method is to use a blue max squeegee,then a hard card with some masking tape

on the edge, a blue hard card works well, and really go to town on the film and get it is dry as possible, if you don't have any infrared lights, than use the heat gun on a medium setting but make sure you dry the film evenly from the outside of the glass.

For the back glass, some people prefer to turn on the heated rear screen and leave the vehicle sat with the engine running, not very economical way of doing it really!

So before you jump in and just tint the car in the normal way, think about the temperature and how you are going to adjust your method to suit the cold weather, this job ain't easy