Anyone take the plunge for ceramic film on the cockpit windows?

[MarkR]

Had the Portwagon in a car show today and talked with a tint guy about clear ceramic film to keep temps down in the MH. He gave me what I think is a great price, but I’d like to hear some real world experience with the product before taking the plunge. Does it reduce temps as much as advertised (60%)? Does it noticeably cut down glare? I like what I’m hearing about it, but I also liked the sound of the single gas tank. Until I talked with someone who took that plunge.

Thanks in advance

 

[LQQKatJon]

I had ceramic tint done on my windshields. Paid $500 and they guy said he wont do another. The space between the dash and the window on driver side did not make the job easy.

if you can find someone to do it, I would definitely reccomend then ceramic film. Anything and everything helps. I dont think it a massive/drastic solve the heat gain problem 100%. But it sure helps.

Now i dont have the single gas tank, but I have heard good and also very bad reviews from a few.
Dennis Hill had major issues with his coach sucking air on corners when below 1/2 tank. There has been some revisions but I still think they are installing surge tanks and other things to bandaid issues with one large still flat tank. But just conversations I have had. No personal experience with anything but my oem tanks.

 

[74_Coach]

Had the Portwagon in a car show today and talked with a tint guy about clear ceramic film to keep temps down in the MH. He gave me what I think is a great price, but I’d like to hear some real world experience with the product before taking the plunge. Does it reduce temps as much as advertised (60%)? Does it noticeably cut down glare? I like what I’m hearing about it, but I also liked the sound of the single gas tank. Until I talked with someone who took that plunge.

Thanks in advance

I am still trying to wrap my head around ceramic coating in general. My neighbor had her then new Range Rover ceramic coated on the paint and windshield. She says bugs just wipe off on the paint but didn’t share any thoughts of reduced heat from the windshield. It certainly does not protect against rock chips.

 

[Scotty]

I had the tint replaced on all of my windows with ceramic tint
(except the windshield / which is not legal to tint in my state).

I noticed a significant improvement in heat rejection.

 

[tmsnyder]

I put super inexpensive amazon tint on mine, claims to reject infra-red. My highly scientific test; holding my hand in the sun behind the new tinted window and the untinted window next to it, confirmed that it does indeed reject a lot of the heat. I'm sure it helps.

 

[kidjedi]

I had the tint replaced on all of my windows with ceramic tint
(except the windshield / which is not legal to tint in my state).

I noticed a significant improvement in heat rejection.

FWIW, you can get "clear" ceramic tint. It doesn't "shade," but still blocks the same amount of IR waves (and thus a lot of heat). Without extremely close inspection, there would be no way for anyone to tell you put film on the window (plus, I think because it's *clear* it's actually legal in all states).

EDIT: pretty sure you could get away with: "It was that way when I bought it! I had no idea there was any film on the window!"

 

[Scotty]

FWIW, you can get "clear" ceramic tint. It doesn't "shade," but still blocks the same amount of IR waves (and thus a lot of heat). Without extremely close inspection, there would be no way for anyone to tell you put film on the window (plus, I think because it's *clear* it's actually legal in all states).

EDIT: pretty sure you could get away with: "It was that way when I bought it! I had no idea there was any film on the window!"

hmmm

 

[GlenC]

For the windshield I plan to get the 3M Crystalline. I have it on all the windows and the windshield of my Bolt and Cayenne. I'm happy with the heat reduction. Especially with the large windshield in the Bolt.

 

[Tybalt39]

Has anyone done this yet? Looking for online resources showing how to apply the film with the least amount of seams. I'll have a "professional" do the work, but I may need to prove it can be done on glass of this size.

 

[LQQKatJon]

Has anyone done this yet? Looking for online resources showing how to apply the film with the least amount of seams. I'll have a "professional" do the work, but I may need to prove it can be done on glass of this size.

See above. I have mine done.

Passenger side was tough but the installer can work on it.

Driver side is darn near impossible because of that left corner in front of the dash. But my installer did get it done in one piece.

 

[JPB]

I have heard that ceramic tint works fairly well but after much searching online I'm unable to find what part of the radiation spectrum it actually blocks. This info would provide a quantifiable answer. IIRC ceramic tint is not available to the DIYer in the US.

 

[sailor man]

I have heard that ceramic tint works fairly well but after much searching online I'm unable to find what part of the radiation spectrum it actually blocks. This info would provide a quantifiable answer. IIRC ceramic tint is not available to the DIYer in the US.

I have calculated the actual glass area for all of windows and windshield. The drawing is somewhere in the Converting to LiFePO4 batteries and Sailor Man's LiFePO4 Build thread. I have not found it yet.

The post #281 on page 15 mentions it.

The best film that I found is the LLMAR Stratos II ceramic film that blocks 97% of the solar heat. There are many darkness available but the heat blockage is about the same for almost all of the levels of darkness. I think that I was going to use the 93% clear tint, which you can hardly see.

Go on the Llmar website. There is a table of all of the characteristics of all of their films. It is the most comprehensive table that I have found.

 

[Tybalt39]

See above. I have mine done.

Passenger side was tough but the installer can work on it.

Driver side is darn near impossible because of that left corner in front of the dash. But my installer did get it done in one piece.

So, the best time to install it is at the same time as replacing the dashboard? Going to a Mac Deluxe II.

 

[Don Jaksa]

Can I get the ceramic tint installed prior to installing new windshields?

 

[LQQKatJon]

Can I get the ceramic tint installed prior to installing new windshields?

Yes and No. people have done that. But almost every window installer will refuse to install a window with tint on it. There is too much liability if they rip or tear the film on installation.

So depends on who you have installing your windshields.

 

[Kendra]

I have a Freightliner Class 6 truck and an Isuzu Class 5 truck, both white cabs with grey interior. I had 3M almost-clear ceramic film applied to all of the Freightliner glass (including windshield) but not the Isuzu. The difference is slightly more green tint than OEM (barely noticeable even if you're looking for it). Parked all day in the sun and using a Fluke IR thermometer, the Isuzu truck interior was 19F warmer.

I'll be adding 3M ceramic to the GMC, even if that involves driver side dash removal.

 

[Inogame]

I know that technically you are not allowed to legally tint windshields, but I did. Talked to the tint guy and he showed me his at 40%. I did my daily driver and my wife's car. The ceramic does block significant heat.
Had the tints done four years ago and never had anyone say a thing about it.

 

[JPB]

I have calculated the actual glass area for all of windows and windshield. The drawing is somewhere in the Converting to LiFePO4 batteries and Sailor Man's LiFePO4 Build thread. I have not found it yet.

The post #281 on page 15 mentions it.

The best film that I found is the LLMAR Stratos II ceramic film that blocks 97% of the solar heat. There are many darkness available but the heat blockage is about the same for almost all of the levels of darkness. I think that I was going to use the 93% clear tint, which you can hardly see.

Go on the Llmar website. There is a table of all of the characteristics of all of their films. It is the most comprehensive table that I have found.

Thanks, That is helpful. I found a chart "WINDOW FILM PERFORMANCE DATA". https://llumar.com/content/dam/east...r-automotive-window-film-performance-data.pdf
It does mention Ceramic films but not Stratos II. The so called AIR series is closest to the specs you provide but that does not appear to be a ceramic film. Perhaps I'm not looking at the right chart.

JPB

 

[N2hcky]

I used Motoshield Pro 75% on my windshields before i put them in.
It was not easy to get the film shrunk in the curves but it can be done.
75% light transmission is actually almost not noticeable.....slight blue/green color.
Major difference in the heat.....before i did the side cockpit windows and you had sun coming from both at the same time....there was a very marked difference you could feel.