MK6 Front Tint to match factory 'Dark Tint' option

[Pepe]

There are pictures of Pepe's car several pages back. This was asked of me this morning too in the "Best Window Tint" business thread. I'll get some next time I wash the car... but the problem obviously is that almost no one has calibrated cameras and screens etc (just look at how many different "Rising Blue" colours there are in the picture thread ). So the only real way is to see it in real life, or just get it done

This is the post btw : http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/f112...tml#post554052

And yes, you just have to get it done... but in order to match it, you will need to go dark. I've seen tons of Mk6s around with mismatched tints front/rear, its really obvious when it's sunny.

[Lucas_R]

Robert from Hunters Hill Window Tinting did my Golf on Saturday as well as my sisters Audi TTS. Both of us are very happy with his service and professionalism. Rob came up to Newcastle to do our cars. Took about 4.5 hours to do the cars with a few coffee stops and a lunch thrown in.

The rear windows (which had the privacy tint from the factory) are still ever so slightly darker than the front windows, but they are at least the same charcoal colour now.

I would certainly recommend him to anyone in the Newcastle / Central Coast / Sydney area.

Pics of my car: (pics were taken early this morning on a semi cloudy day)

[Corey_R]

Hey Lucas_R. Thanks for the pics. It's always very hard to tell tints from pictures, but being that there seems to be such a close match on them, I'm guessing Solargard HP Supreme 22 on the front and HP Quantum 52 on the back?

[Lucas_R]

Robert suggested 16% on the fronts and then used 35% over the top of the privacy glass area. So that's what I went with.

The other option was, as you mentioned, 22% on the fronts with 52% on the rears.

Hey Lucas_R. Thanks for the pics. It's always very hard to tell tints from pictures, but being that there seems to be such a close match on them, I'm guessing Solargard HP Supreme 22 on the front and HP Quantum 52 on the back?

[Corey_R]

Aaah cool, very dark then!
So it was the combination of Supreme and Quantum?

[Lucas_R]

Im not sure Corey. I was paying attention but not that much attention as to note which styles of tint he was using. But as im sure you know, he has it down pat and knows what he is doing.

In hind sight, i probably should have picked the lighter 22% (fronts) and 52% (rears) combo, as the 16% and 35% is quite dark from the outside looking in. I was umming and arring on the day but he convinced me to go with the darker one.

Aaah cool, very dark then!
So it was the combination of Supreme and Quantum?

[SilvrFoxX]

Now I have a reference point I think I would probably prefer a lighter tint, that looks very dark

[Corey_R]

Im not sure Corey. I was paying attention but not that much attention as to note which styles of tint he was using. But as im sure you know, he has it down pat and knows what he is doing.

In hind sight, i probably should have picked the lighter 22% (fronts) and 52% (rears) combo, as the 16% and 35% is quite dark from the outside looking in. I was umming and arring on the day but he convinced me to go with the darker one.

Now I have a reference point I think I would probably prefer a lighter tint, that looks very dark

Yeah, on my car I have the HP Supreme 35 on the front sides, because I've been in cars with 22 on the front sides and I personally feel it's too dark at night, plus 35 is the minimum legal amount for most states in Australia (SA is 70!! eek). I've then got HP Quantum 52 on the rear side and rear window. That makes it roughly 22 (the VW "factory tint" is ~42, so the math is .42 x .52 = .2184.)

So on my car the front windows are slightly lighter than the rear, yet colour tone wise, the Quantum combines well with the factory tint to match almost identically in colour tone with the Supreme. If I had wanted 22 on the fronts, then the light transference would have matched perfectly too.

Update:
I have got in contact of a mobile guy who is a friend of a friend (he has a workshop where he does a few caryards from as well)
Once I get my car he was going to come over and tint mine.
He has done quite a few Golfs and knew exactly all the % to match it closely.
Even was able to tell me it was Solaguard HP supreme and was explaining the different colours it will produce given the front glass is more green than the rears.

If it all works out I will see if he wants his details shared out.

The reason the Rob from Hunters Hill suggests Quantum on the rear of the R is because the VW factory tint is even greener than the front windows, even though they're darker (colour and lightness/darkness are two separate things). Whilst the Supreme compliment european OEM glass well, the Quantum is slightly silverish making the front and rears balance even better.

I think this combination is even more important if you still to 35 on the fronts, as the darker you go the less important colour match is, but at 35, colour match is still very important.

[Corey_R]

Ok, so I've taken some photos of my car's tint.

I cannot stress enough how much I hate taking photos of tint as it's almost useless to give an actual indication of what it's like in real life, but since you asked for it, here you go. The day is overcast, the car hasn't been washed for 3 weeks.




The tint was installed by Rob at Hunter's Hill Tinting on Christmas eve (from memory).
The tint used is Solargard HP Supreme 35 on the front passenger and drivers window, as well as Solargard HP Quantum 52 on the rear side and rear windows.

The HP Supreme 35 was used on the front windows as it was developed to compliment European "greenish car glass" well and as it is 35% LVT it is 100% legal in most states in Australia, except at least South Australia where they have a minimum of 70% VLT for the front row of windows.

The Volkswagen "factory/dark/privacy tint" has been measured to be around 42% VLT so on those windows we used a HP Quantum 52 which is 52% VLT rated film to bring the VLT down to about 21% VLT (.42 x .52 = .2184). Whilst that isn't legal for passenger vehicles, if it were a commercial vehicle there is no requirement to have any rear side or rear windows at all, so I don't believe them to be important, and I don't believe the police would have issue with any respectable driver and the rear windows anyway.

The reason Rob suggested using HP Quantum 52 for the rears instead of sticking with the Supreme was that the Quantum is slightly more "silverish" and therefore balances out the colour tonality between the front and rear windows better. If I were going really dark on the car like Lucas_R did (16 VLT front, plus 35 VLT rear for an effective ~15VLT, then this might not be as important - but I would 100% trust Rob's advice there.

Another option for those who want darker front windows than I is to have the HP Supreme 22 on the front row. Whilst that's not legal in Australia, it would match both colour tonality and % VLT with the HP Quantum 52/Privacy glass combination.




So as I said, the front windows are completely legal as they're a 35% VLT film. Yet they are not so much lighter than the rear windows ~22% VLT that they look out of place - at least in my opinion.




On the above picture you can just see a small wedge of grass and fence through the left rear and then front window, to compare the ~22% VLT to the left front's 35% VLT.




Car is too shiney...




From the other side to just get some difference in light...




From the inside. Please note that it is not glarey in the car, it's just the camera is now trying to compensate. You can see the difference between the 22% VLT of the rears and 35% VLT of the fronts.




And finally from the other side. On this one I was actually standing outside the front passenger door, with the door shut but window down. I've used an angle to get the sunroof in. I have NOT added any tint to the sunroof - so that's the standard VLT level that VW ships their sunroofs with. Just in case anyone wants to use that as any reference point.

But again, remember when looking at those photos, particularly the last two, that the driver's and front passengers window there are 35% VLT and is the darkest legal in Australia. The rear is 22% and is darker than legal. I've no idea what the sunroof VLT is because I don't know anyone who's measured it.


As I said, I really don't think that the average camera, the average monitor, and the average photographer, can do anything useful to accurately represent what the tint looks like in real life - and I can assure you, these photos are no different - but I guess it's at least another reference point.

[SilvrFoxX]

Hey Corey, thanks for posting, first, what a great colour for an R

Now this gives me some indication of what mine should come up like, though I note your rear windows do look a smidge darker than the fronts. I will have to see mine in the light to see how they currently look.. just havn't had time today

[Corey_R]

Yes, the backs are darker, as I stated in my post. That is on purpose. It doesn't look too different though, and I don't mind it that way.

If you don't want them to be different then you have a few options:
Use 22% VLT on the front and make your car illegal (and there is no way you can argue around having the front row darker...)
Use a "clear tint" on the rear sides/rear over the factory tint, but then you'll have less of a colour match. A "clear tint" still only has around 75% VLT, which means .42 x .75 = 31.5%, or about the same as the 35% on the front.

[TG.20T]

Hi everyone.
Thanks to all the great posts in this thread I am now the very happy owner of a tinted 3Door CW R.

I booked in with Rob from Hunter's Hill Tinting a couple of weeks ago and had the following done:
- 35% fronts (Solargard HP Supreme 35)
- 52% rears (Solargard HP Quantum 52)
Same set-up as Corey_R.

There were two things I wanted to achieve:
1) Factory / OEM look, i.e. rears darker than front
2) Not too dark - previously had 35% on my Black MKV GTI and had to roll down the windows to park. Also wanted to keep legal.

Rob did a great job - he is a real perfectionist and made sure that he got each window just right.

It really is testament to the quality of information on this forum that I was able to make a good and informed choice about my tints.

End result (apologies for the crappy iPhone pics)

[Corey_R]

It looks great mate! I really like having that setup on mine

[INASNT]

You see - this is what I hate about the factory tint, because there is just not enough specs on it.

Firstly, VW is only calling it 'Dark Tint', not privacy glass. I've searched but cannot find any reference to 'privacy glass' in VW documentation made publically available.

In the Golf brochures VW state it's 65% light absorbing - which in itself is probably a rubbish statement. But most people, myself included, have taken that to mean 100-65 = '35% Visible Light Transmittance'. Of course, if it really did absorb 65% of light, then you'd also have to take out what it reflects to reach how much it transmits, amoung other factors too technical to think about.

But this new figure of 17% is something new. I personally doubt that as none of the photos posted would seem to show it as being that dark. Although admittedly it's always hard to tell from photos.

Does ANYONE have any specifications for the VW factory tint?

Without reading the rest of thread, a guy that tints audi's bmw'setc has confirmed to me that you need 18% tint on the front to match the rear on my Golf R. Getting the fronts done for $80 as hes a friend of a friend

[Corey_R]

Without reading the rest of thread, a guy that tints audi's bmw'setc has confirmed to me that you need 18% tint on the front to match the rear on my Golf R. Getting the fronts done for $80 as hes a friend of a friend

That's way off what other tinters have measured. In the 18 months since the post of mine you quoted, the average measured VLT for the rear windows appears to be around 40%. So even putting the "darkest legal" of 35% VLT tint on the front will result in those windows being slightly darker.

Unless you're using some funky tint which is "very enthusiastic" with their ratings, people who have put ~20% VLT tints on the front windows have also put a ~50% tint on the rear windows to match...


So I'd suggest people to be weary of your comment.