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Tint for front windows on an SEL


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OK...hoping I can get some clarification here. I have seen several posts indicating that the front side windows are laminated and in one thread Dingo posted several pictures of the edge of the glass. My front windows look much the same so when I contacted my tint guy I mentioned this to him. He said he contacted Ford and his tint supplier and they did not think the windows were laminated. I then noticed another picture Dingo posted that had the code AS1, mine says AS2. According to this site AS1 is laminated and AS2 is not. So all signs point to not laminated but if I make the wrong decision it could cost a lot more later. Just concerned because the code site doesn't seem to official so I would like to get some confirmation.

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Did some more research and still coming up unsure. From what I have read AS2 can be laminated glass but it would use 0.015" thick laminate or it could just be tempered. But from other sites it seems to indicate that tempered glass should say that somewhere on it. Also, I seem to remember a conversation with DIngo where he mentioned that the SE and SEL do not have laminated side windows but the LTD and Sport do. So I did a search on fordparts.com, couldn't find door glass for the Sport but the LTD seems to call for the same P/N (21410) as the SEL and SE. Thoughts?

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So all signs point to not laminated but if I make the wrong decision it could cost a lot more later.

How or why? Please educate me as I'm looking to get my fronts tinted as well. I have an '07 SEL+ (the LTD of its debut year). The sticker on my window also has AS2.

 

Speaking tint and Dingo...Dingo, did you apply your own tint or do you have a local shop you'd recommend to a local??

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I do it on some of my cars, but the edge is too much of a bitch. I have the perfect tint guy. If you want to drop by and see his work on mine, let me know.

 

The easy way to tell if its laminated is to feel the edge. If it is, you'll feel two individual pieces of glass with rounded edges and a shallow depression between them. If you only feel one edge, its not laminated. That being said, why does your tint guy care if its laminated?

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That being said, why does your tint guy care if its laminated?

Well he quoted two different prices depending on laminated vs non laminated. I had great results with the cheaper material on my last car so If I don't need to spend the extra money I can use it elsewhere on the vehicle. Besides I haven't seen the other tint so I don't know if it is super reflective or what it final appearance would be.

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Well if it is laminated film I thought you should be using something that reflects more heat out and doesn't absorb much. I thought if it absorbed too much heat you can delaminate the windows. In the past this installer has used Madico Charcool on my car and it was great over the 5+ years I owned it. No fading or turning purple and it looked great. So I could get the same done now but I am not sure if it rejects enough heat. In his email he said they could also do Madico (Lintec) Wincos which rejects more heat. It isn't much more but I have found some of these tints that reflect more tend to have a bluish color and are more reflective looking.

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He's wrong. Reflectivity is irrelevant. The heat is either retained in the car, or reflected through the window. Lamination is uninvolved.

First I find it funny you say reflectivity is irrelevant but then say heat is either REFLECTED or retained in the car. If you are referring to my reference to some tints being more reflective I am referring to the visual look of them not necessarily what they are doing with the solar radiation.

 

Anyway, from various tinting sources they specifically state certain films are not suitable for laminate windows because they can cause heat stress issues. The quote from my installer was, "Cheap tint absorbs too much heat and doesn't distribute it evenly across the glass. When too much heat accumulates in one spot it can make the laminate layer contract which puts a lot of stress on the glass and could crack it." Basically he didn't think either one would be a problem but again I am not even sure if these windows are laminated.

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I know what you mean...just thought it was funny. But again, not having seen this other film I don't know what it looks like and other films I have seen that claim higher rejection seem to be more reflective (visually) and I am not sure I want that. In NJ any tint on the front windows is illegal and if the officer can't see in you are more likely to get pulled over. My last car had 35% all around and only once in 5 years got pulled over for tint. Got plenty of tickets for it but most of the time the officer was nice enough to right up the ticket for tint rather than speeding. I did some google image searches but think tint really looks different in person. I guess if I can't confirm if the windows truely are laminated or not I should just go with it because replacing the glass later will be much more expensive.

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