Window tint - looks cloudy with red haze when in direct sunlight

[slam]

Got my windows tinted by the dealer before I took delivery of the car. The tint looks great from the outside, but when looking out from the inside, it becomes very cloudy / opaque with a reddish haze whenever there is direct sunlight on the window.

The windows become so cloudy / opaque in certain light conditions that I've had to lower the windows when exiting junctions to make sure there are no cars / pedestrians around.

I've had many cars with tinting before, and I've never come across this problem before. Below are some photos:







Below is a photo of the tint in my other car which is dark but perfectly clear (parked in the same spot as the photo above for comparison)


The dealer has been excellent - they got the tint company to re-tint the whole car but the result is the same - still the same reddish haze when there is direct sunlight on the tint. Has anyone come across this problem before? Any comments / suggestions?

[Alok]

That is very strange. Which tinting company did the tints?

[slam]

That is very strange. Which tinting company did the tints?

It was Protech which did the tinting, the film they used is called "carbon 35". Apparently this is the only film they use.

I also thought it was very strange and unusual, but Protech seems to think this cloudy / red haze effect is normal and to be expected from the "carbon 35" film.

[dasrattles]

doesnt look normal to me. clarity actually looks pretty bad. last thing you want is to get into an accident (touch wood) because of it. talk to the dealer and if it cant be fixed ask for a refund (on grounds that the tint is defective).

i've never seen red carbon before

[Corey_R]

I've moved this to "General Discussion" for two reasons. One because it has nothing specific to do with a MK6 Golf (apart from you own one). Two because I hope that this thread may be seen by other people who can give you more feed back.

In my opinion, if Protech say it's normal for this tint, then I believe that is your answer.

If you don't like it, which I personally can't blame you, the only option I can see is talking to the dealer and asking for a different tint product. The dealer of course may or may not be open to this, being that it's now been fitted twice. I guess at a minimum they could remove it so you can go and get the tint of your choice.

There are many suggestions in the two tint threads in the MK6 Golf forum.

[Alok]

My partner recently purchased a mazda 3, her tinting was also done by Protech. Her tints are fine, they are definitely not red.

The fact that they did re-tint it suggests that they admit there is some fault (if it is indeed normal why would they do it again?). Also, the dealer would presumably have had many of their cars tinted through Protech, they would be able to tell you if this is the result in all the other cars or not (I would hope not).

[slam]

Thanks for your comments dasrattles, will discuss further with the dealer tomorrow.

Thanks for moving this to the General Discussion area Corey_R.

Alok, the tint looks normal 90% of the time, so most people probably won't notice it. It's only when there is sunlight shining directly onto the tint that you see the red haze. The more perpendicular the direction of the sun, the more cloudy / opaque it gets - ie you don't see much of the haze around midday, but it is quite obvious at 9am or 5pm when the sun is low. The last 2 photos in the original post were taken at 5pm, the sun was shining from the front left corner, I was looking directly at the front left window from the drivers seat.

Protech never admitted there is anything wrong - they didn't want to re-tint, it was the VW dealer who "forced" them to do so, using a brand new roll of film. I did ask the dealer if anyone has complained about this and they said no. I have no reason to doubt them - they have been very co-operative so far. Probably not too many people have noticed for the reasons I mentioned above.

What film did Protech use on your partner's Mazda 3? Was it also "carbon 35"? Can you please have a look next time when the sun is low and shining directly onto the window?

[Alok]

I didn't enquire about the type of film because she hasn't had any problems with it. I will ask her to pay attention to it and I'll let you know if she gets the red haze too.

[slam]

How did you go Alok? Did your partner notice anything similar to my red haze on her tint?

[Rays_R]

I think my dealer is going to put the same film Suntec Carbon series when it arrives. I'll let you know how it looks.

BTW have you managed to ask your dealer to see whether in their opinion whether this was a normal appearance and whether others have had similar issues?

[slam]

I think my dealer is going to put the same film Suntec Carbon series when it arrives. I'll let you know how it looks.

BTW have you managed to ask your dealer to see whether in their opinion whether this was a normal appearance and whether others have had similar issues?

Hi Rays_R, how did you go with your tint? Have you noticed the same haze? My dealer agreed with me that this does not look normal. However, they said no one else has made a similar complaint yet.

I did a bit more research and came across some information on another forum. Apparently this red haze problem with this particular film is a known issue, several tinting companies have returned their stocks of this film to the supplier as a result.

My tinting company has agreed to re-tint my car with a film which hopefully is not affected by the same red haze problem.

[Corey_R]

Tint films are made with multiple layers of material. When I say material, we're talking plastics/polymers, metals and more. In the metals, you name it, some tint uses it! Bronze, Copper, Steel, Silver, even Gold. It's likely that one of the materials they're using, is causes the red haze when the morning/afternoon sun hits it.

It's good that you're going with another tint.
However, why not go that extra step and find out WHAT they're going to give you, or what your opions are? Then do some research and pick the one that you think will be best for you.

[slam]

Just an update. The tint company removed the original film (Suntek Carbon XP) and put on another film, also manufactured by Suntek.

Very disappointed to find the same haze when the sun hit the windows at a low angle. This tint company does not offer any films by another manufacturer, so they ended up removing the film and giving me a refund.

I then went to another tint company and asked them to put on the "Onyx" film (manufactured by Madico). I had this film on a previous car and had no problems at all. Given all the wet weather in Sydney recently, I had to wait quite a few days before the sun came out to see if there was still a haze or not.

Happy to report that the clarity is excellent in all lighting conditions, there is no haze at all.

I'd be interested to find out if there is anyone else out there with this haze issue, and whether their films are manufactured by Suntek or not.