Okay guys! What's up? Welcome back to The Durbin Compound! If you haven't met me already, this is
your first time on the channel, my name is Devin Durbin. Today we're here at Buckeye Sun Control.
This is my buddy Josh. Hey guys! So, he runs this Buckeye Sun Control and you can find him on
buckeyesuncontrol.com. Yeah! And they're located in Marysville, Ohio. So not a far drive from me.
I came down here to get my windows tinted. And so today I really wanted to go over what I think
would be a very beneficial video for people is... what to expect when you go in a window tint shop?
And like when I walked through the door, like when I first came into your shop I'm like, "Well what is he
going to ask me?" Like I had had multiple vehicles tinted before. But it was always like the guys like
literally stepped you through it. And I know that a lot of people would like to be a little bit more
prepared when they walk through the door, sure, for the kind of questions that you ask. So, we're going to
act like I'm just stepping through the door, you know. We'll talk about what you would, you know, what
do you originally asked? Say, hey! Hey, Josh! How's it going? I want to get my windows tinted today.
What do you think? Okay, so first I would ask what kind of vehicle they have. Okay, different vehicles can
look very different honestly with the same shade of tint, like we just talked about
on your Land Rover here. 15% on your Land Rover is going to look a lot lighter than 15% on your Mercedes.
Okay. Which I'm sure you probably can guess just from looking at it. And then secondly, I would
say if they need to understand the percentages of film because a lot of people just, I mean,
they know the number. Their buddy total them to 15 or 35, but that actually refers to the amount of light
that the tint lets through. Okay. So 15% is letting through 15% of the light. And like 5%, for instance,
is only letting through 5% of the light. So that's one big thing because a lot of times people
walk in, their buddies are like, go get 5%. And I don't think they really understand how dark those windows will be...
I heard it in a rap video one time, "5% tint, so you can't see in my windows." Yeah, yup, yup, and typically I try to talk people out of 5%.
I mean it is just really dark. Other than that, I mean...So, I'm like, okay, I come in. I have no idea what...
I'm like, yeah, I mean, my buddies say 5%, but I have no idea what I really want. How do you
help me decide on what actually would be the best fit for me? Because I know a lot of people
are like, well I want to be able to see when I back up at night, but I don't want people to see
me in my car. There's no really happy medium there. There's not a great happy medium. So how do you go about letting,
or having someone decide? So that's the first thing I'll ask. I'll ask if they're wanting to
more stay towards the legal side and just block some heat? Or if they're trying to be--get privacy film,
you know, to block people from seeing in? So that's where I start. And then I'll explain to them
what's legal on your front doors. And there actually aren't any rules on your back doors.
Typically people don't go with the legal film on your front doors because it is extremely light.
So we just kind of go through our different examples of tint. And, you know, I let them know what's legal
and kind of just gauge, you know, what they're going to want and give my opinion from there, typically 35% or 15%.
Okay, all right, cool. So, as always, with every window tint shop, they usually have the tint films
on the front door, like you've got. And you say, hey this is 5, 15, 35, 50. And, you know, do you ever
use that example? Do you ever go up to the window and say, hey this is it? Because it seems like
that 5% out there doesn't look dark at all. It doesn't, yeah. And that kind of goes
back to the first thing you're talking about is how different the same tints can look on different glass.
And like that's a flat piece of glass out there. So we do use that as close as we can.
And then a lot of times, you know, I'll have a vehicle sitting around that I've already tinted
or I'll use my car, to kind of give a better example, right, of how it's going to look on the vehicle. Okay, cool.
So, yeah bit big. So what I took away from our short conversation was, you know, you...based on
your experience, in your professional experience over the years, you know what it looks like on a certain car.
Right. And you're like, "Hey bro, you have a Nissan Xterra, and this is going to be either too dark,
or too light, for what you're really, really trying to get." For whatever they're trying to get. Exactly.
So you're going over the customer's needs and, you know, kind of what's motivating them to come in.
And then you're basing it on your experience and kind of recommending it. There's a lot of
recommendation into it, yeah, because a lot of people just don't...either they're talking about
the window tint and how it's going to look on the vehicle. So, yeah, there's definitely a lot of me just kind
of feeling out what they're trying to accomplish and then giving them my opinion. Okay. So how do I know that I am coming in to get a...
A lot of people think window tint's all the same. So they all think...
Well, like we talked about earlier...guy comes in, he says, "I want that purple tint." Yeah. And he comes in and
he's like, "Yeah, let's do that purple tint yo." And you're...So what do you go for then?
So the difference...the two main differences between tint is, you're going to have like the guys that will
say they'll tint your car and they'll do that out of their garage. And what they're doing is they're
going to Walmart or AutoZone and they're buying those rolls of film that you can buy. Right.
Well that is just dyed vinyl and it's going to turn purple really fast. The adhesive is going to fall off.
I mean, it's going to turn into concrete. There's all kinds of problems associated with that, but purple tint doesn't exist.
Yeah, purple tint is just faded tint. All right, and then you guys use...do you use
just one certain type of tint that you've gone with? So typically we use what's ATC, which is
a dyed film, but it's just a much higher-end dyed film. It does have a lifetime warranty through the company,
through the manufacturer, and through us. But then there's also CTX, which I do carry 35
and 15 of CTX in stock. Those are my two most popular shades. And then I'll do any other shade in CTX on
special order. But basically it's a ceramic film and not a dyed film. It just has a little more heat rejection,
a little more scratch resistance. And people say it looks crisper. It's a very, very
slight difference between that the ATC. Okay. And is there a huge price...I know we were talking
about price. So there's a huge price difference between the ATC and the CTX? There is. Yeah,
the CTX is about 100% markup, and that's at, I mean, basically any tint shop you're going to have...
you're going to pay about double of what you pay for ATC for the CTX. And those are kind of the nerdy,
obsessed guys. They're like, "I want CTX." And they come in knowing they want CTX. And they're trying to find somebody that does it.
Exactly! And I personally hardly push CTX because, yeah, I really just think it's a..it's a gimmick.
It's a gimmick, yeah, almost... I mean...maybe if you have like an Aston Martin or something like that.
Yeah, you know, but even then, you know...Yeah, it's going to look basically identical.
It's going to last the same amount of time. All right, cool. And so, I know we talked about baseline prices
and what can I expect coming through the door, you know, based on...I know every vehicle is different
depending on the windows, like my Land Rover is going to cost me a lot more than it would be
to tint a Honda Civic two-door. Right. Like, hey bro, I got a SI, you know, I want to put dark tint on it.
So I would say for any full vehicle, anything from a coupe up to your SUV, at the lowest grade
that a professional tint shop is going to have of film, you're probably looking at like $150 to $230-ish I would say
would be a good price. And then the CTX, you're starting to get like $325 to $425. None of those prices
have counted anything on your windshield. That's always typically extra, anywhere you go.
And then there's actually Formula One tints which is a metallic film. That's the highest grade,
but then you're getting into, you know, they could be $500-$600 for a sedan. Wow! Yeah!
Okay, cool. So, right around the $150 to $250 mark, based on how big your vehicle is. How many windows, yeah.
How curved they are. Cool! So, you know, when you mentioned curved, let's talk about the windshield now
because one thing that I didn't realize, and Josh taught me was, the windshield--
the way it's curved makes your windshield strip drop on both sides. Yeah, so a lot of people come in and
they'll tell me, specifically that they want the windshield strip that teardrops on the ends.
And that's actually a perfectly straight windshield strip right there. Actually, that teardrop is 100%
to do with how curved your windshield is. It just makes it appear like it teardrops,
but like on that windshield right there, even though it looks super curved, that is a perfectly straight edge
off of that. So, that's just not actually something window tinters do. They don't create
the teardrop windshield strip. They actually do create the windshield strips that you see that
follow the line of the windshield. That's just a common question I get. Yeah, but we don't really have
control over it. And yeah, I was talking to Josh about that because on my F-350, I might roll in
a clip of the windshield on the F-350 right here, but they'd actually teardrops way down on the end
because the windshield is so big and it's a full-size truck and it kind of a...they round on the ends too...
and it's a big bubble and it rounds on the ends. So it comes down way low on the outside. And it was shocking to you
that that was straight. Yeah, it was like wait! What? The thing is straight? I just thought
that it was a big semi-circle that you guys cut out of, and then like, because my windshield was so big.
semi-circle, you know. And that's, you know, a common misconception that people come in.
So, I think we did a good discussion there about what to expect when you come in to get tint. Just, you know,
these guys are going to help you through it. Don't be scared to walk through the door. I know that
keeps a lot of people from doing stuff, honestly. But when you're scared of the unknown and like a
lot of people won't even come into the tint shop, won't even come in to get their tint done because
they're scared of the questions that you're going to ask them. And that's just society.
That's just how some people work in their personality. So if this video helps one person to
be able to walk through the door and be a little bit more educated about the system and
what goes into it, all that much better. Yeah. Now another thing that I wanted to go over,
I don't know if you wanted to go over in this video is how to know if you got bash
or a bad product. Yeah we can go over that. So, we were talking earlier and I think that one of
the main points that I really wanted to get out here was knowing that you're getting
a good product or a good installation. Things to look for on somebody doing your tint if you're
that kind of person that needs to vet somebody. You need to come in and see what they do and how they do it.
Or maybe ask some probing questions and say, "Hey, how would you do this rear window?"
You act like you don't know anything. You say, "Hey, how would you do this rear window?" Kind of vet that person.
And we had talked about a couple different options of what to look for to say, "Hey that guy
shouldn't be doing that." And if he does that, he's not a very good installer and you might not
want to go with that guy. So, rolling into the same video, how would you vet somebody?
So first off, I would say find out if they have a warranty, how long the warranty is, and what it covers because
a lot of places won't have a warranty. And that's no good--period. There could be a lot of little touchy things
that your installer might not notice. There's the phone. No big deal! Just before the phone rang
you were talking about a warranty and not having it. Right, so that's the first thing
you definitely want to check on. All the smallest mistakes that a professional window tinter might miss
are filled with water when they first tint the windows. Let's say a tiny speck of dirt
or a tiny, tiny hair fiber. You're not going to notice that for the first couple days at all
because it's going to be filled with water. it's not going to be showing that air. There's just going to be
no way to see it because it's so small. And then a few days later, the water dries out and you have
little white dots everywhere where there's dirt or whatever else. And then, so that's where that
warranty is important because if somebody doesn't have a warranty and you take those little things
back to them, they're going to be like, you know, tough luck. And then you also have to pay attention to
what's inside their warranty because a lot of places will say they have a lifetime warranty,
but they're only talking about the warranty from the company, and referring to the film going bad,
or turning purple, or bubbling out. They're not referring to their shitty tint job. Sorry! Excuse my language!
Yeah you're all right! Or crappy tint job. So that's the first thing I'd look for. And then second thing
is actually price. I get a lot of people call me. They'll ask the price. I'll tell them and they'll be like,
well I have a buddy that can do it for $120. And, I mean, I'm just telling you from knowing the cost
of the materials and the amount of time it takes. And you have to pay, you know, yourself and
an employee. You are not getting a good tint job, or a good quality film, for less than $150. And even that's,
you know, that's really, really cheap. That's probably your buddy you're giving that deal to.
So that would be the second thing is just, you know, if it's that cheap, there's a problem. They're using cheap film probably.
Right, right! What else do I see a lot of? So, I see a lot of two-piece back windows. Okay.
There should basically never be a split in your back window. There are places that will say
that's how it's done. But that is not how it's done. A professional place can heat-shrink a window
and do it in one piece. I mean, there's some extreme exceptions, like a 1954 Dart. And some really old race cars,
basically with extremely curved back windows. But really, I mean, 99.9% of cars should never have
a split back window. And the same thing with the windshield, when people do full windshields. Gotcha!
Shouldn't have any seams. Okay! All right! Cool! Yeah, so number one thing is price. Just because, you know,
and that's funny because there was guy in Columbus, that I had my truck done by, and I don't
even know why I went to him. I'm not even sure, but that tint is trash now. The side window,
it's actually coming apart. Like I just cleaned it with regular Invisible Glass,
now it's just layers chipping off. So expect my F-350 sometime in the near future because
it's starting to come off. And that's from crappy tint. So another thing that he said was the warranty.
Not just the warranty from the product, but the labor warranty. The labor warranty that
this guy puts on his product, say hey, I will fix whatever comes up. Exactly! And a lot of the times people...
we were talking about this last time I was here. A lot of people freak out and they're like,
"Oh my goodness! Like it's Day 2 and I have all of these things wrong." Or I rolled down
my window, but I'm not going to tell you that I rolled down my window. Yeah. And now I've screwed up my film.
So what do you see when it comes to that? Well I, you know, usually give people some headway.
If they accidentally rolled down their window the very next day, I'm probably not going to make them pay, you know,
to have the window fixed again. And then, what was your first part of that again? The streaks and all
this crazy stuff that you're like, hey it comes in like two days later, and the guy's freaking out
because it's...So I always tell people, yeah, there's going to be some streakiness and water bubbles.
And then they go out and they're driving around and get in the sun, and the sun starts hitting
these water bubbles in different ways. And they can really show up. And that really scares people,
but it's just totally normal to have some pretty noticeable streaking on the outside.
And some extremely noticeable, what I call fish eyes, like little squishy water bubbles almost, on the inside.
And yeah, they will go away for sure every time. Okay. And if they don't, we would always fix them.
Okay, cool! So yeah, another important thing is, you know, that those little things that...maybe it was
a piece of hair. Or it was this or that. These guys are going to fully stand behind their work, instead
of just say, "Hey, good luck!" Yeah. So all right, cool. So I think we covered everything about what to
expect when you come in a place. Kind of same things along the line of clear paint protection? Yes.
I mean, exactly the same, really. It's going to have some streakiness. It's going to have some water bubbles,
less so, for sure, but any of those films, the reason you see that is because if you
sit there and you go over it with your plastic tools and stuff for thirty minutes to get every
single little water bubble out, you just go scratch the piss out of it. And then, you know, you kind of
defeated your purpose. Yeah! Totally get it! And yeah, actually just watching you
work with tint, it's surprising how durable it really is. Extremely! I just think that, you know,
hey it's a clear film, or a tinted film, and I think I'm going to mess it up by scrubbing
it a little bit extra with a paper towel. So that was a misconception that we got out in one of
the first videos. So good stuff man! I appreciate you letting me come out. Yeah! Any time! And we'll finish up the
Land Rover. And I hope you guys enjoyed the content. I hope it helps at least someone.
Really got nothing else to say. If you like my content go ahead and
hit subscribe. I'll put all of the information on Buckeye Sun Control, and Josh, if you want
to hit him up in Marysville, Ohio, all of his information will be in the description.
I'll probably link to your Facebook in the actual description. Awesome! You guys can
go over there and and check him out. Vet him as well. So, if you guys want to come in
he'll hook you up for sure. So thanks for watching! I'll see you guys next video!