With my car now painted (OK, "dipped") I can turn my attention to enclosing the cabin, which means installing the glass.

I have extensive experience with vinyl in general but no experience with window tint in specific.

I haven't checked for quotes yet from a shop, I'm just exploring options at this point.

Obviously, doing it myself is tempting so the question here is:

How difficult is it and have you done it yourself?

Our glass is all basically flat and has been completely stripped, they're just sheets of glass. The hatch has a (surprisingly intact!) heating grid, which I imagine is probably the trickiest bit to deal with.

A very quick/casual eBay search leads me to believe I can get 3M film (which I'm assuming is considered "the good stuff") for @$75.

Any info/insight appreciated.

 

Yes, the 3M is the good stuff.

Way back, I briefly had a job tinting cars at dealerships and I’ve been tinting my cars for the past 20 or so years.
If you’re at all mechanically inclined, you can definitely do it, but if this is your first time, I would suggest purchasing a good amount of cheap tint from autozone or walmart.
Practice with that until you get the hang of it.
Don’t use the 3m until you’re pretty confident you’ll get it right.
That being said, the side windows are a piece of cake. They’re big and relatively flat.
Dust and dirt is your enemy.
Do this in a clean garage. Wet down the ground so you don’t kick up any dust.
Make sure you pull off the door panel and clean,clean,clean then entire area. One grain of sand or piece of lint can ruin an otherwise perfect tint job.
Clean,clean,clean the entire outside of the car.
Create a soapy water solution. The more soap, the better(this will allow you to slide the tint into place and more easily squeegee the air bubbles out). Put the soapy solution in a spray bottle.
Spray down the outside of one of the side windows.
Figure out which side of the tint has the clear film on it. Make sure that side is up.
Spray down the outside of the window.
Lay the tint, spray down the outside of the tint.
Squeegee out the air and water bubbles. The soapy water you sprayed on top of the tint will allow your squeegee to slide easily.
Cut the tint to fit.
Spray down the inside of the window.
Use a scrunge to clean the window. Then squeegee it off.
Spray it down again. Get a single-edge razor blade (not a carbon blade-that will scratch the window), and scrape the inside of the window. This will get all the dirt off.
Spray down the window again.
Pick up the edge of the clear backing on tint, while you are slowly removing the backing and exposing the glue, spray liberally.
Carefully pick up the tint and place it where it needs to be on the inside of the window.
If you’ve done a good job cleaning, then you’ll only need to worry about dirt/dust/lint getting on your tint during the above step.
Squeegee the air bubbles and water out.
That’s how you do the easy windows. Don’t worry about the “fingers” (creases) for now.
The back window is tougher—though our back window is easier than many, it’s still tough.
Don’t waste time trying to do it in one piece. Unless you’re really good, it’s not gonna happen.
To do the back window, cut the tint into 3 or 4 strips. Smaller strips allow the tint to flex more which is needed for the rounder windows.
To hide the seams, you’ll cut on the heater lines. You’ll be cutting on the OUTSIDE of the window.
Lay the tint like you did on the other windows. Use an exacto blade to make your cuts on the heater line. Put a good light on the inside of the window so that you can see and make a good straight cut on the heater line. Each strip should be around 8 to 10 inches long.
Once you’ve cut your strips, cut the outside edges.
Clean/clean/clean the inside of the window. Because of the heater lines, you cant use a razor blade, you’ll have to use a scrounge. Be careful not to damage the heater lines.
Lay the tint from the bottom up. Treat each strip like it’s its’ own window...make sure you lay it right, and squeegee it out before laying the next one. Be careful to lay the top line on the bottom edge of the heater line.
After you’ve laid all the strips, take your time squeegeeing out the entire window.

Dealing with Fingers
Putting tint on a curved window is like trying to wrap a baseball with a sheet of paper—there are going to be creases and “fingers”. Take your time using a hard squeegee and do the best you can with those fingers. The minor fingers, you can squeegee out. As you remove the water from under the tint, the tint will have an easier time adhering to the window and the fingers will disappear.
For the really tough ones, you’ll have to use a heat gun.
NEVER USE THE HEAT GUN ON THE INSIDE OF THE WINDOW. At worst it will melt your tint, at best it will “burn it” (discolor it).
Use the heat gun on the outside of the window on a low setting to mildly heat up the portion of the window above the finger. This will help activate the glue. Be careful not to use too much heat, or you’ll dry out the tint and it’ll never adhere.

Do the above 1 to 3 times with your practice tint and you s/b ready for the real thing and it should come out looking like a professional did it.
OR
You could just pay a professional to do it.

 

pay a guy, lifetime guarantee

 

Thanks for the info guys.

To be more clear...
This is for a 280Z, not a FC, so the glass is all essentially flat.
The glass has all been removed and is completely bare, I'll be working with it flat on a table.

I've always wondered...
I see that the film is usually cut about 1/4" from the edge of the glass.
Is this so the films' edge doesn't go under the weatherstrip and potentially peel or because the film was installed in situ and they couldn't do it any other way?

 

When its cut on the car its cut on the exterior, i guess the curvature gives it a small reveal around the edge. Combine that with not wanting to pick up dirt, lint, etc from moldings and the window needing to go into the door frame they leave a little off the edge.

Whats the cost of good film these days? $50-$75 a roll? Im sure you can do it yourself and it might come out good, but with the glass out a shop might do it for $100-$150 or so and it should come out great. Its one of those industries that has stayed cheap. 20 years ago it was $200 for a car and now its $250 and a little more for better quality film.

The back window can be done in one piece the defroster grid is not an issue.
Get true lifetime film it wont turn colors on you

 

My initial reaction is to agree with you Rob, I'm just exploring options.
When I did my 240, I found a shop who tinted and installed the glass (windshield and hatch) but they're now gone. I'm sure I can find someone else and if the logistics are not too onerous, that's the preferred option.

It's just that none of the procedures seems very difficult (tinting and installing the gasketed glass) and the cost to try it ourselves is minimal, so it's very tempting to DIY.

More research necessary.

 

It's really not too difficult with good film. The only issue is one spec of dirt in the tint will **** you off enough to redo the whole thing. Just make sure you take your time and clean clean clean any surface it could touch. The hatch will be much more difficult, doing the curvature and tint large enough to do it in one piece will be much more expensive.

For film make sure it states it will not purple (I think all 3M products won't change color over time now), and check the amount of heat that the tint will deflect, it'll make a world of difference on a warm day.

Freq makes a lot of good points, if you want it perfect practice is your friend.

 

Clay bar pr clean that glass with some 000 steel wool and plenty of glass cleaner. We used to
Use the steel wool doesnt harm anything

 

280z? ..and you've got the windows out already?
U s/b good to go. Def give it a shot yourself.

I've never done a 280z before, but looking at pics, that back glass looks pretty flat and somewhat small. You s/b able to do that back glass in 1 piece.

Put some pics up once it's done.

 

They been doing much larger back glass in one piece for almost 20 years. No one multi pieces anymore

 

Wld u mind detailing your technique?

 

Backround: i had a shop that sold window tint, I didnt do it myself but after watching my guy do it so many times i think i can accomplish it. To me the trickiest part of the job is cutting the film straight and neat, not pushing the bubbles out, and of course keeping the tint clean.
Every new car i buy i have tinted so i tend to get one every 2-3 years.

When they first started tinting the back glass in one piece he would put baby powder over the back window. Place the film on there dry and heat it to conform to the shape of the window. For all i know they may do it differently now but that was the process back then i don't sell tint anymore and i don't watch them do it either. If i went to a tint shop and he didn't know how to do it in one piece i would walk right out.

 

Shrinking. All professionals have been doing this for decades, myself included (though not for nearly that long). Your higher quality films have better shrinking properties. You get what you pay for and the end result is the product of your experience. I would never suggest DIY'ing a tint job. Even people that get paid to do it for a living aren't perfect, tint inherently will never come out perfect.

 

There's different techniques for different situations. As far as dry shrinking, baby power is still used by some, but not quite as compliant as dryer sheets. Dryer sheets are cleaner and easier and more workable IMO. You've got wet shrinking and then there's also lift-and-pull for really tight compound curved back glass.

 

OK, I've been watching some youtube vids and have some thoughts.

Seems to me that 95% of the "tricks & techniques" deal with issues only present because the glass is already installed in the car.
Not only do I have just naked pieces of glass but they are essentially flat with no compound curves.

I envision laying them flat on the table, squeegeeing on the film and then trimming the edges last.
All the pieces except the doors then get new rubber gaskets that cover the film/glass edge.

I'd think that cleanliness/surface prep would be my biggest concern rather than technique or skill as these would seem to be ideal conditions.

Am I missing something?

 

Well laying it flat will allow any air borne dirt to land in the window,so dirt can be an issue.
Like i said the hard part is trimming the tint straight. You cant let it run edge to edge it will get pulled by the weatherstripping

Give it a shot- lots of fresh razor blades and a few drops of baby shampoo in the water. My guy would use a new blade on each glass i guess its THAT critical to achieving good cuts

 

Not sure what "pulled by the weatherstripping" means or how that could happen.

 

the window has to sit on something?
either way you need to trim it right on the flat of the window and not where it curves around on its edge otherwise the edge of the film will lift, this is where cutting it will be critical. takes a steady hand